Cancun to Chichen Itza by Tren Maya: A Day Trip Without a Tour Bus

The train and the early start

By road the site is about two and a half hours from Cancún. The train runs on the line that also serves Valladolid and Tulum. Check the departure times before you travel and take the earliest one you can manage, because on your own you decide how long you stay.

Zona Arqueológica de Chichén Itzá is open from 08:00 to 16:00 every day, and everyone goes in through the CATVI visitor centre. That single entrance is where the queue forms, so get there early. There is no shade on the plaza and the walk round the site is long, so the morning is the better half of the day.

Don't plan around the evening light show. It is suspended while the projection equipment is maintained, with no date for its return. If you drive out instead of taking the train, parking is MX$124 for a car.

Inside the ruins

The pyramid of Kukulkán stands on its own on a wide mown lawn, with carved serpent heads at the foot of the north stairway. Climbing is banned, so the visit is a walk between the plazas, with the low forest behind them. Mexican nationals pay MX$303. Yucatán residents pay only the MX$105 federal part of the ticket.

The site closed in May 2026 after a dispute with the artisans who sell there, and reopened on 1 June 2026 on its normal hours.

An afternoon in Valladolid

Valladolid is 160 km from Cancún, around two hours by road. It has a Tren Maya station of its own and frequent ADO coaches. Coach tours tend to give the town 45 minutes, which is nowhere near enough. Pastel colonial houses line the Calzada de los Frailes, and the street runs down to the ochre stone ex-convento de San Bernardino de Siena.

Cenote Zací is in the town, a short walk from the main square. It opens from 09:00 to 17:00, with last access to the water at 16:30, and entry is MX$150.

Casa de los Venados is a private colonial house full of Mexican folk art. It opens for one bilingual tour each morning, and the tour runs 90 minutes. You don't need to book, and the suggested donation is MX$100. That morning slot clashes with an early start at the ruins, so keep the house for a day when the town is the whole plan.

In the evening a free video show is projected onto the front of the ex-convento, at 21:00 in Spanish and 21:25 in English. The 2026 dates aren't confirmed, so check before you go.

Ek Balam, north of Valladolid

Ek Balam is 25 km north of Valladolid and about two hours from Cancún, so most people see the two on the same day. It is far quieter than Chichén Itzá. You can climb the Acrópolis, and part way up there is a stucco doorway carved as a fanged monster's mouth, with winged figures around it. It opens from 08:00 to 17:00, with last entry at 16:00. Foreign adults pay MX$691, more than Chichén Itzá charges.

The pyramid you can climb

If you want height, go to Cobá. The staircase up Nohoch Mul reopened on 8 December 2025 after six years closed, and the wooden stairway over the 42-metre pyramid is still open in 2026. Entry is MX$209, and Mexican nationals and residents go free on Sundays. The site opens from 08:00 to 17:00, with last entry at 16:00. Raised white limestone causeways run between the ruins through tall jungle, and the distances are long, so hire a bicycle for MX$50 to MX$80. Cobá is about two and three-quarter hours from Cancún.

Tulum on the same line

Tulum has a Tren Maya station too. It is 130 km south of Cancún, around two hours away. Foreign visitors pay MX$265, which covers both the ruins and the Parque del Jaguar around them. It opens from 08:00 to 17:00, and ticket sales wind down through the afternoon, so arrive at opening. The car park is a kilometre from the gate, so either walk it or pay MX$20 per person for the electric cart. El Castillo stands on a low cliff directly above a turquoise cove, and this is the Maya site where you can swim after the walk.

Before you go

All of these sites open every day of the week. Chichén Itzá shuts earliest, so put it first and fix your train time before anything else. See the Cancun guide and the Cancun hotel search.