Recommended tours of Chichén Itzá in Mexico for a solo traveler

I've been to Chichen Itza about 4 or 5 (maybe 6?) times across the decades, first in the late 1980s, most recently last April. I'm not big on guided tours, so cant help you with any recs for one there (although I'd say with a good guidebook, I've never felt the need for one there; you may feel differently).

For anyone interested in seeing Chichen Itza, I would strongly recommend spending the night there, the night before you visit the ruins themselves (rather than attempting to make it a day trip, out-and-back from Cancun - which puts you there in the most crowded, hottest, and worst time of the day). Go to Chichen the afternoon before your visit to the ruins, and spend the night. Get up early, and be at the gates before they open (you'll need to get your tickets, which is a chaotic and needlessly complicated process with competing bureaucracies - it's insane, but...welcome to Mexico). Spend the morning and early afternoon at the ruins, then get outta Dodge, leave the day-trippers behind (in the hot sun) and move on (in your case presumably back to Cancun to catch your flight out the next day). Maybe you could visit a Cenote on the way back.

There are several decent hotels near the ruins. I've always stayed at Villas Arqueologicas (Chichen Itza) and have always found it comfortable (though not five-star luxury), clean, safe, quiet, and even charming. Originally built as staff housing for the archeologists excavating Chichen Itza, at one point it was part of the Club Med brand. Has a nice pool, rooms are OK but won't wow you, A/C works and it's quiet and peaceful at night. Its best feature is its close proximity to the ruins. Back in pre-COVID times, one could walk from this hotel to the ruins, and enter through a private gate - allowing you to be the first into the ruins every morning. Alas, that's no longer allowed (like many other things that once were allowed, eg climbing the big pyramid). It's still worth staying at the ruins, not in a hotel back in Cancun, because you can enter when the general gates open, and the crowds are thinner first thing in the morning. After 10 or 11 am, all the buses from Cancun and from cruise ships roll up (there will be a lot of them) and thousands of people flood the place. Your golden hours are from opening until the buses arrive, make the most of it. For me, it's worth lots of minor inconveniences to be there before the day tripper crowds show up.

This part of Mexico is a very popular tourist destination, so it's worth taking what steps you can to mitigate the crowds you will experience. I'm not a fan of Cancun, I prefer staying in smaller places down the coast - but in your case, you're just doing a quick drive-by, so Cancun may make sense. Just be aware that more authentic (and IMHO vastly better) places and experiences are available if you get away from the mega resorts. Maybe on a future trip? Hopefully this trip will whet your appetite: this part of Mexico has a lot more to offer than this set of ruins and the mega-developed coast.

Expect serous crowds (and serious heat) at Chichen Itza. It's still worth seeing. As you've traveled in South America a bit, you should be well-equipped to visit this part of Mexico, which is easy and accessible compared to anyplace in South America. A bit of Spanish is helpful but not required, they get millions of foreign visitors.

You will hear many people warn you that going to Mexico is akin to asking to be robbed, assaulted, perhaps kidnapped or killed. Though well-meaning, I believe these folks are disconnected from reality. Millions of tourists less experienced than you enjoy travel to and through Mexico every day. It's a beautiful, fascinating, generally friendly and safe place to visit if you have any common sense. We are lucky to have such a diverse, welcoming neighbor. Do be careful and do be smart, but don't let the hysteria scare you away.

Hope that helps. ¡Vaya con dios!

She says she only has one night, so for David’s plan, which is a good one, to work, she’d need to fly in, travel several hours to Chichen Itza, spend the night there, see the ruins the next day, then go all the way back to Cancun airport to catch an evening flight to MEX. Valladolid is a nice little city that’s a good base for a daytrip to Chichen, but with so little time there’s no point going there. There is so much to see in that area of Mexico that frankly, it doesn’t seem worthwhile to go all that way just for a couple hours at one ruin, good as it is — especially when there is one just as interesting, Teotihuacan, just an hour from Mexico City, and an endless array of other attractions and day trips in the capital. Enjoy that and save Yucatán for its own trip when you have time to do it properly.

Thank you for the responses. With so much of the world left to see, this will likely be my sole visit to Mexico, and I'm accustomed to maximizing visits, even if it means have to speed through (not ideal perhaps, but better than not visiting at all). I didn't realize that you could visit Chichén Itzá without an official guide? I'd read that one was required? Thanks for any additional insights.

If your sole intent is to visit Chichen Itza, I'd recommend you fly into and stay in Mérida instead of Cancun. Mérida is significantly closer to Chichen Itza than Cancun, about a half hour less drive time each way. There are tours from Mérida that leave early enough to get you there before the crowds and the heat. I did one in late October 2025 that also visited a cenote for lunch and a swim and stopped in the Pueblo Mágico of Izamal.

This is the tour I did, which was very good: https://www.getyourguide.com/en-au/merida-l1903/merida-chichen-itza-cenote-food-experience-izamal-tour-t641577/

Mérida is also a very pleasant city with excellent restaurants. Not nearly as touristy (or as expensive) as Cancun.

You don't say when your trip is, but at the end of October I found neither the crowds nor the heat to be excessive.

I agree that Merida is great but the OP won't have any time to spend there. Far fewer flights from US than Cancun, although there are some. But if that worked, that is good advice. No, you don't need an official guide for Chichen Itza, although a good one would help you understand the stones you're seeing -- and if you're going all that way just for this site, maybe that would be a good idea. My opinion of Chichen Itza is that it is certainly well worth visiting, and I'm glad I did as part of a trip through Yucatan, but the reason it's so famous is that it is close to tourist resorts and has been heavily promoted. It is expensive, heavily restored (that is true of some other Mexican sites as well), and very crowded with tourists and annoying souvenir vendors. It is not the best ancient Mayan site; Tikal in Guatemala is much better in every respect except accessibility, and I have heard very good things about Uxmal near Merida, Palenque in Chiapas Mexico, and Copan Honduras, although have not had the opportunity to visit these. My favorite Mexican site is not Mayan, but the Zapotec site of Monte Alban near Oaxaca.

Merida is indeed a lovely city and worth some time. Yes, it's also a bit closer to Chichen Itza. Sounds like the OP will be making a quickie side-trip from an already-planned business trip to Mexico City. I assumed she already had flights into and out of Mexico City booked. If that's the case, then it would still be worth looking at the trade-offs for flights between Mexico City and Cancun/Merida. One might be obviously better than the other, it might be a wash, or it might be moot at this point if flights to/from CUN are already booked.

To the OP: No, you don't need any kind of guide (official or otherwise) to see and appreciate the ruins. If anyone tells you that you do (and someone inevitably will), ignore them. (If you read that somewhere, don't believe anything else they say.)

As I was driving to the ruins last April, there were literally dozens of guys wearing yellow vests waving signs and imploring me to enter the "official" parking lot they were hawking. There's plenty of nonsense and scams everywhere. I just smiled, waved, and drove on (and on) past a dozen other "official" guys in yellow or green or orange vests hawking their own "official" parking lots, eventually arriving at the actual parking lot (end of the road) which was right at the ruins. Expect lots of equally laughable minor scams. They're harmless, if slightly annoying, just people trying to make a quick buck off of clueless tourists - but be skeptical.

There will be thousands of other tourists there. Only a handful of them will have sprung for "guides."

No guide required.

Yes, Uxmal (near Merida) is at least as good as Chichen Itza. Calakmul (quite a bit further south) is even better. Palenque is also great. Tikal in Guatemala is indeed awesome. There are dozens of sites that are great, the whole region is full of them (among other worthwhile attractions).

I had been reading the OP’s plan as flying from the US to Cancun, then from there to Mexico City for the business part (3 trips, US-Yucatan-MEX-US) but looking at it again, you may well be right that she’s going to MEX, then flying from there to see Chichen and then back to MEX (4 trips, US-MEX-Yucatan-MEX-US), in which case Mérida might well work best.

Thanks everyone for the tips! Much appreciated. It sounds like Mérida is the best place to fly in and out of for my quick visit.