Experiencing The Ancient Mayan Ruins At Tulum

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning if you decide to make a purchase through my links I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. See my disclosure for more info.

The Hard Rock Hotel in Cancun couldn’t have been a more perfect location for our family vacation. If you haven’t read my review on the all-inclusive resort, please check it out. There’s not much that can beat our stay there, but we decided to venture out and experience the culture of Mexico.

The Hard Rock Hotel offers a setlist of world-class tours that are sure to make your stay that much more unforgettable. Tours include:

• CHICHEN ITZA
• TULUM / HARD ROCK HOTEL RIVIERA MAYA
• SWIMMING WITH DOLPHINS
• CANCUN ISLAND TOUR
• PARADISE SUB-SEE & SNORKEL TRIP
• ZIP LINING

While the resort offers these tours, they are not included in you initial cost of your room. Please keep that in mind while you are planning your stay here. You can learn more about these attractions by visiting www.hrhcancun.com.

During our stay we decided to head to Tulum to learn all about the Ancient Mayan Ruins. We figured this would be educational for the kids and give our family a bigger appreciation for the history of the area in which we are vacationing at.

Tulum is the archaeological site of a Pre-Colombian Mayan walled city. At the time Tulum was one the most important commercial trading ports. The ruins are perched on a cliff top overlooking the Caribbean Sea; among them El Castillo “The Castle”, is one of the most impressive buildings at one time a temple and a fortress.

After you book your Tulum tour, a van with your tour guide comes and picks you up right outside the Hard Rock Hotel Cancun. From there you drive about an hour until you get to Tulum.

During our drive to Tulum, one of our tour guide told us all about Cancun, the history of the roads we were driving on, the wildlife on Cancun, and so much more. It made the drive to Tulum go by quickly and it was so interesting to learn all about Cancun and the cities surrounding as we drove past.

When we arrived, we hopped on a little train that took us to the entrance of Tulum.

Once in, we walked on a paved road through the jungle where we saw a lot of wildlife. It was amazing to see iguanas in their natural state. We even saw huge nests on trees where termites live. The nests were bigger than a Volkswagen Bug, it was insane.

After about a quarter of a mile through the jungle we saw the walls to the city. There was a small walk-through that led us into the Mayan city.

The wall around Tulum is 16 ft high and 1,300 ft long, and runs on the western wall parallel to the sea.

Once inside we had no idea what to expect. The beauty and history of Tulum is something everyone must experience in person.

Being that Tulum was a major crossroads of trade from both land and sea managing trade from Central and South America into the Yucatan, you have the most gorgeous views of the Caribbean Sea while on your tour.

The earliest date associated with this site dates back to A.D. 564, so as you can imagine the history we learned as we walked around. It’s hard to put into words the beauty in ruins, so here are some pictures just to show you.

Our tour of Tulum lasted around two hours. I could have spent more time there if I were allowed. So much to learn that you need more than 2 hours. As we made our way out of the walled city, we stopped to take a photo. Look how gorgeous the view is there.

We headed back out an entrance in the wall and back to the jungle where we made our way to the train.

The train took us to a fun little market place while we waited for our shuttle to pick us up. There we got a taste for the Mayan culture and what it was like back in the day.

After wandering around, we made our way back to the shuttle but got distracted as a local was there with his monkey’s. Being that this is something we never see back in California we just had to stop one more time before getting on the shuttle.

On our way back to Hard Rock Hotel Cancun we stopped at Hard Rock Hotel’s sister resort in Riviera Maya to eat lunch and explore the resort a bit.

If you are planning a visit to the Hard Rock Hotel in Cancun, we highly recommend you book an attraction tour like Tulum. It will have you experience something so unforgettable.

Thank you hard Rock Hotel Cancun for hostin our stay and for providing an attraction tour free of charge. All opinions are 100% mine.