Dzibilchaltún

5 Carlos Rosado - a week ago

A wonderful archaeological site just 10 miles north of Merida. There are tons of structures to see other than the most famous like the house of the seven dolls. There are a bunch of little jungle paths you can take and explore to find ancient temples... As well as a good deal of wildlife. Definitely worth a trip.

5 mayryanna Shakti - 8 months ago

Having visited Chichenitza and Teotihuacan, I wasn't expecting much of this small archeological site after reading some of the other reviews, but we were pleasantly surprised! The main city center near the cenote is quite expansive with several Mayan structures (as well as a Spanish church that was built after the site was originally found five centuries ago). There's a garden near the cenote on the far end of the central plaza, and three of the standing stones (after which the site was given its name) are on the opposite side of the city center, on the right as you are heading to the temple of the Seven Dolls. It was not crowded at all but the few other groups that were there seemed to miss these standing stones all together, so keep your eyes open if you go! On the other end of the ancient white road, you'll find the temple with another standing stone right in front of it.
The cenote and museum are closed for the time being, but there's an exhibit of Mayan carvings on the pathway outside the museum which was pretty cool. The cenote is full of water lilies too, which is absolutely beautiful. The admission price for foreigners came to be about 13 USD per person, which is pretty high for the lesser known archeological sites we've visited in Mexico, but honestly both my partner and I felt it was money well spent after our visit.

1 Deana Adams - 2 months ago

The ruins are closed. There is no clear sign for the ruins. There is a sign saying the cenote is closed. I have visited the ruins before and they are beautiful. There is a great museum. We were very disappointed. A clear indication of closure online would be appreciated.

4 Rick P - a year ago

Not anywhere near as awesome as Uxmal or chichen itza but if you are staying in Merida it really is a must do.

As of Jan 2021, both the museum and cenote are closed, which was unfortunate because every one seems to love the museum - we could only look through the window.

Site is broken up into two sides, the hut pyramid on one end of a raised road and the rest of the ruins on the other end. About a 1/4 mile apart on a raised road.

Bring water because if its hot out you will need it.

There are also over 20 monoliths in the city, three that we found while exploring. You can also climb on the structures - but not the hut looking one.

3 R C - 2 weeks ago

First, the ruins are absolutely breathtaking and soo awesome. Unfortunately that’s about all that’s good about this place. You pay full price (I’m a permanent Yucatecan resident and they still charged me almost full price) even though the cenote is closed, along with the museum. You also have to pay for parking. They basically charge where they can. And the signs are misleading because one of the signs said the archaeological site closes at 5pm and we came around 3pm so we thought we had time, but no they changed it on us and kicked us out at 4pm while laughing at us. So we were there for less than an hour and before we paid, they didn’t have the decency to tell us what time they actually closed.
Be prepared to get eaten alive. We forgot bug spray and I got bitten about 10-15 times by the mosquitoes. The mosquito population is HEAVY here. Also bring lots of water and wear sunscreen or have something for shade. Be prepared for distance walking.

All in all we wished we had had more time and we wish we weren’t nickeled and dimed because it makes us not want to go back since there are FAR less expensive and extremely beautiful sites (Mayapan) we would happily go to.

5 Charles Williams - a month ago

The last time I visited Dzibilchaltun was in the fall of '77 and as I recall, I paid $7.50MX to a parking lot attendant and maybe $50MN as an entrance fee. (In the exchange rate then, about 50c parking and maybe $3 entrance.) I'd been in Mexico less than a month and I was exploring in a rented VW bug around Merida.

No museum. No guides. A few modestly rebuilt structures but a mostly untouched collection of ruins with little context beyond the books I'd read in the few days I'd been in the Yucatan.

This weekend I came with my wife on her first visit to Mexico and was very pleased that we could learn from a qualified guide a lot that I'd missed.

I was disappointed that the cenote was closed to swimming due to the pretext of "pollution" (I've been in the water business for a generation, so please don't blow smoke at me!), but I can understand their reasoning. I hope they can see their way to reopening soon.

All in all, they have vastly improved this historic site.

1 Jay Mic - a month ago

My husband and I are American and we paid with USD and received our change in Mexican Pesos. They gave us change back for 1 person as if we only purchased 1 ticket. We knew they cheated us but we figured they may need it more than us!