Valladolid and its Cenotes

Valladolid is a quiet colonial town of pastel single-storey houses, a wide main square and the Calzada de los Frailes, a restored street of colonial houses running to a sixteenth-century convent. Its practical appeal is position: Chichén Itzá is forty minutes west, Ek Balam twenty minutes north, and the coast two hours east, which makes it a far better base than the ruins' own hotels. Its distinctive feature is water. The Yucatán has no rivers, and rainwater collects in cenotes, sinkholes in the limestone, and Valladolid has one, Zací, inside the town itself, with others a short ride away including Ik Kil near the ruins, a near-perfect circular shaft hung with vines where you swim under a hole in the ground.

What you actually see

• Cenote Zací - a swimmable cenote inside the town.
• Cenote Ik Kil - the circular vine-hung shaft near Chichén Itzá.
• Calzada de los Frailes - the restored colonial street to the convent.
• Ek Balam - the Maya site north of town with a climbable pyramid.

When to go

November to March is cooler and drier; the cenotes are refreshing year-round and are the best answer to Yucatán heat. Going to Chichén Itzá at opening from Valladolid beats the Cancún coach parties by a couple of hours, which transforms the visit.

Honest expectations

The famous cenotes near Chichén Itzá, Ik Kil above all, are heavily commercialised and packed by mid-morning with tour groups, with life jackets required and queues for the stairs; the smaller ones around town are quieter and often better. Sunscreen is banned in most cenotes to protect the water, so shower before entering.

Nearby

Chichén Itzá is forty minutes west; Ek Balam and Río Lagartos lie north.