Valladolid & Ek Balam

Valladolid sits about 160 km east of Mérida, a 2 to 2.5-hour drive or direct ADO bus ride from the Calle 69 terminal, and is often paired with Chichén Itzá on the same day since the ruins lie roughly 45 minutes further west. The town itself is compact and colorful, built around the Parroquia San Servacio and the pedestrian Calzada de los Frailes, lined with pastel colonial facades leading to the Ex-Convento de San Bernardino. Cenote Zaci, right in the town center, offers an easy, walkable swim inside a partially open cavern. About 25 minutes north of Valladolid, colectivos departing from Calle 44 reach Ek Balam, a smaller but strikingly preserved Maya site whose central pyramid, the Acropolis, remains open for climbing and features a rare, well-preserved stucco frieze of a jaguar-mouthed doorway. Ek Balam typically draws far fewer visitors than Chichén Itzá even at midday. A short bike or taxi ride from the ruins leads to Cenote X'Canché, a cool cenote with zip-line and rappel options for those wanting more than a swim. A comfortable day combines Valladolid's town center in the morning, Ek Balam and its cenote in the early afternoon, and the drive or bus back to Mérida by evening.