The seaside view of El Castillo at Tulum
Tulum is the most attended amongst the Maya sites within the Yucatan because of its vicinity to Cancun even though the Tulum ruins are structurally much less incredible than Chichen Itza or Uxmal and considerably less extensive. Since the location is small and there exists moderately little climbing, you’ll get an excellent appreciation of the site within a few hours.
Probably the most essential contribution to your enjoyment here is your arrival time – the site is open in between 8:00am and 5:00pm and from around 9:00am as many as 80 tour buses each day will deposit holidaymakers from Cancun and cruise ships outside the gates. Arriving at 8:00am is best; otherwise wait until the end of the day.
In 1994 access to the site was redesigned to ensure that vehicles and coaches could no longer park adjacent to the ruins, and a new car park was built about 10 minutes walk away. A shuttle now offers simple access (at a fee) for those unable or unwilling to tackle the flat and paved pathway. The contemporary and shiny-clean visitors’ center in the car park houses many souvenir shops in addition to cafeterias, refreshment stalls, toilets and telephones.
The massive number of tourists visiting the site these days belies the reality that as recently as the 1960s the site was accessible only by sea. Actually this was how the Spanish came across the city during Juan de Grijalva’s expedition of 1518, at which time it was – uniquely amongst the Maya cities – nonetheless inhabited. Grijalva reports with the fortifications and buildings painted red white and blue, and compares the city favorably in size and stature to Seville.
You will find 3 major structures of interest: El Castillo (the tower which dominates the region and is perched on the cliff edge), The Temple of the Frescoes and also the Temple of the Descending God.
El Castillo will be the result of a number of phases of building. Steps lead to an upper temple featuring columns decorated with plumed serpents as noticed in Chichen Itza and an indication of Toltec influence. It would also have been utilized as a watchtower, with visibility over land and sea. Beneath El Castillo is really a little but ideal beach, exactly where the Mayans would have landed their canoes.
The Temple of the Descending God is to the left of El Castillo when searching out to sea. Above the door of the temple is a stucco relief of a figure prevalent at Tulum, the upside-down winged god that also shows bee-like functions. This figure is occasionally referred to as the “diving god” due to its position and also the resemblance to a bee signifies the significance of honey to the Mayans.
The Temple of the Frescoes lies in between El Castillo and the entrance to the site. Here fragments of color may be noticed on murals depicting Maya life. Amongst the frescoes is really a portrayal of a man on a horse, which indicates that these drawings had been still being worked on following the Spanish invasion.
We are confident that while visiting Tulum you will enjoy the Mayan ruins though they are not that stunning like other ancient structures of the great Mayan civilization.