Yucatán · Mexico · Northern Maya lowlands
Chichén Itzá.
The city at the well.
A pyramid with 365 steps, the largest ball court in Mesoamerica, a cenote into which offerings were thrown for centuries: Chichén Itzá is the most visited Maya city and one of the least understood. Here is everything for your trip: the history of two cities in one place, tickets and admission with the rules for Sundays and the equinox, how to get there from Cancun, Mérida and Valladolid, and our own map of the site.
Chichén Itzá lies in the north of the Yucatán Peninsula, 115 kilometres east of Mérida and 200 kilometres west of Cancun. According to INAH the name means “at the edge of the well of the Itzá”, referring to the cenotes that open access to the groundwater here. The older buildings in the south belong to the Puuc style of the 7th to 9th centuries; the Kukulcán pyramid, the Great Ball Court and the Temple of the Warriors to a new city of around 900 to 1050 that combined Maya tradition with central Mexican forms. Chichén Itzá has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1988. Source: UNESCO
Four ways into the city
Understand, plan,
find your way
01AI vision1000El CastilloFrom the painted platform around 1000 through the abandoned city, the pilgrims at the cenote, Stephens and Catherwood in 1842 and the excavations of the 1920s to today: the time journey in front of El Castillo.Start the journey 02Real photo600–1250The historyFrom Old Chichén in the Puuc style through the florescence on the great platform to the fall of the city and the pilgrims at the cenote.Read the history 03Checked 25 Sep 20262026Tickets & admission697 pesos for foreign visitors, one ticket for federal and state fees, free Sundays for Mexicans only, Maya Train and buses from Cancun, the equinox.Plan your visit 
04Own plan19 sitesThe mapPlan of the site with El Castillo, the ball court, the Sacred Cenote, Old Chichén, the entrance, museum and car parks.Open the map Chichen Itza in brief
Chichen Itza in brief
Where is Chichen Itza?
In the north of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, 115 kilometres east of Mérida, 45 kilometres west of Valladolid and about 200 kilometres west of Cancun, two kilometres east of the village of Pisté. The Maya Train stops at Pisté, with a shuttle to the site.
When was Chichen Itza built?
In two phases. The buildings in the Puuc style, Las Monjas, the Iglesia and Akab Dzib, date from about 600 to 850. The Kukulcán pyramid, the Great Ball Court and the Temple of the Warriors belong to the new city of around 900 to 1050. In the 11th century, during a period of severe droughts, the city lost its power.
What can you see today?
The Kukulcán pyramid (El Castillo) with its four stairways, the Great Ball Court with the Temple of the Jaguars, the Temple of the Warriors with the Thousand Columns, the Sacred Cenote at the end of the processional way, and to the south the Caracol and Las Monjas. Climbing is prohibited everywhere.
How long do you need?
Two to three hours for the northern group and Old Chichén, half a day with the Gran Museo. From Cancun add three hours of driving each way; arrive at 8 am and you have the platform almost to yourself for two hours. Our map has three routes.
Looking beyond Yucatán
At the same
time, elsewhere.
When Chichén Itzá flourished around 1000, Tikal had lain abandoned under the forest for a century, the Colosseum in Rome served as a quarry, and Angkor had only its first temple mountains. Drag the marker and discover the other sites.
- 100 BC – 79 AD A city still inhabited
- 600 BC – 90 BC Before Rome
- 89 BC – 61 AD Roman municipium
- 62 AD – 78 AD After the earthquake
- 79 AD – 79 AD The destruction
- 500 BC – 200 BC The Forum of the Republic
- 199 BC – 1 BC Villas on the Palatine
- 1 AD – 79 AD Nero’s lake in the valley
- 80 AD – 437 AD The amphitheatre in use
- 438 AD – 599 AD Last games
- 600 AD – 1348 AD Fortress, workshop, quarry
- 1349 AD – 1500 AD After the earthquake of 1349
- 600 BC – 481 BC Before the Parthenon
- 480 BC – 448 BC After the Persian destruction
- 447 BC – 433 BC A monument takes shape
- 432 BC – 399 AD The Classical ensemble
- 400 AD – 1000 AD New uses, the same rock
- 300 BC – 1 BC A Hellenistic framework
- 1 AD – 149 AD Roman living spaces
- 150 AD – 269 AD The age of the library
- 270 AD – 800 AD A building changes its role
- 1 AD – 149 AD The city grows
- 150 AD – 249 AD An axis for the city
- 250 AD – 599 AD Life between the monuments
- 600 AD – 700 AD A centre in transition
- 600 BC – 199 AD Before the great temples
- 200 AD – 694 AD A Classic Maya city
- 695 AD – 733 AD After the victory over Calakmul
- 734 AD – 799 AD Monument and memory
- 800 AD – 950 AD An urban world in transition
- 600 AD – 849 AD Old Chichén
- 850 AD – 899 AD Between two cities
- 900 AD – 1049 AD The florescence of the new city
- 1050 AD – 1199 AD After the fall
- 1200 AD – 1250 AD The age of Mayapán
- 800 AD – 1112 AD Before Angkor Wat
- 1113 AD – 1150 AD A temple takes shape
- 1151 AD – 1180 AD After the builder
- 1181 AD – 1295 AD The age of Jayavarman VII and after
- 1296 AD – 1350 AD Zhou Daguan’s Angkor
- 1351 AD – 1430 AD Droughts and monsoons
- 1431 AD – 1500 AD The capital moves on
The bands show editorial windows from our stories, not complete settlement histories. Window boundaries organise the narrative; not every change can be dated to a single year. Photographs show the surviving condition, not the selected year. Present-day coastlines provide orientation.
From your screen to the great platform
Experience Chichen Itza yourself
The zone opens daily at 8 am, last entry at 4 pm; tickets are sold online by INAH or at the main entrance, since 2026 as a single ticket for the federal and state fees including the Gran Museo. Tours from Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Mérida or Valladolid bundle the drive, a guide and a cenote; if you come on your own, hire a certified guide at the entrance.
Affiliate link: we may receive a commission when you book through GetYourGuide. The historical interpretation remains independent.
Sources and context
This overview relies on UNESCO, INAH and current research on chronology and drought; each subpage cites its sources alongside the content.
- UNESCO: Pre-Hispanic City of Chichen-Itza
- INAH: Zona Arqueológica de Chichén Itzá (location, hours, prices)
- INAH bulletin: calendrical and astronomical aspects of El Castillo (28 April 2026)
- INAH bulletin: spring equinox 2026 operation
- Science Advances 11 (2025): Classic Maya response to multiyear seasonal droughts in Northwest Yucatán
Images and usage rights
Kukulcán pyramid (El Castillo), north side: photo Arian Zwegers, 2013, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Map: own plan based on OpenStreetMap data (ODbL).
Angkor Wat from the west across the lotus pond, photographed on 10 December 2019. Balon Greyjoy / Wikimedia Commons · CC0 1.0. Resized to 1600 pixels wide and converted to WebP; no cropping or content alterations. Framing varies by screen. Derived photograph under the same licence.
The Kukulcán pyramid (El Castillo) at Chichén Itzá, north side with the restored stairway, seen from the Great Platform. Photograph taken on 31 May 2013. Arian Zwegers / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0. Resized to 1600 pixels wide and compressed as WebP; no crop or content alterations. Framing varies by screen. Derived photograph under the same licence.
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The excavations of Herculaneum seen from the access ramp: the boat houses on the ancient beach below, above them the terrace of Marcus Nonius Balbus, the town and Vesuvius; modern Ercolano on top. Photograph taken on 27 March 2023. Diego Delso / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized to 1600 pixels wide and compressed as WebP; no crop or content alterations. Framing varies by screen. Derived photograph under the same licence.
View from the upper tier into the Colosseum: the exposed hypogeum, the partly reconstructed arena floor and the tiers opposite. Photograph taken on 15 September 2022. Diego Delso / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized to 1600 pixels wide and compressed as WebP; no crop or content alterations. Framing varies by screen. Derived photograph under the same licence.
View from the Pnyx towards the Acropolis of Athens and the Parthenon, photographed on 20 May 2020. George E. Koronaios / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized to 1600 pixels wide and converted to WebP; no cropping or content alterations. Framing varies by screen. Derived photograph under the same licence.
The façade of the Library of Celsus in Ephesus, Turkey, photographed on 8 April 2015. Carole Raddato / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0. Resized to 1600 pixels wide and converted to WebP; no cropping or content alterations. Framing varies by screen. Derived photograph under the same licence.
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Temple I at the Great Plaza of Tikal, Guatemala. Photograph taken on 26 June 2015. Kaldari / Wikimedia Commons · CC0 1.0. Resized to a maximum edge of 1600 pixels and compressed as WebP; no crop or content alterations. Framing varies by screen. Derived photograph under the same licence.
View across the Avenue of the Dead at Teotihuacan: the Pyramid of the Sun stands to the right, with the Pyramid of the Moon at the far end of the axis. Photograph taken on 27 December 2017. Ralibreros112 / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized to a maximum edge of 1600 pixels and compressed as WebP; no crop or content alterations. Framing varies by screen. Derived photograph under the same licence.
The Great Plaza of Tikal with Temple I, seen from Temple II; the North Acropolis stairway on the left, the Central Acropolis on the right. Photograph taken on 21 July 2010. Mario Bollini / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0. Resized to 1600 pixels wide and compressed as WebP; no crop or content alterations. Framing varies by screen. Derived photograph under the same licence.
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