Chichén Itzá from Tulum: how to get there and what it costs

Chichén Itzá is 156 km from Tulum by road, about 2.5 hours each way by car through Valladolid. Foreign visitors pay MXN 697 in 2026, Mexicans MXN 310, and the site opens daily from 8:00 to 16:00 Yucatán time. That is one hour behind Tulum, so 8:00 at the gate is 9:00 on your phone if it is still on Quintana Roo time.

You can drive, take a bus via Valladolid, ride the Tren Maya the long way round, or book a day tour with pickup in Tulum. For most people without a car, the tour is the simplest.

Chichén Itzá entrance fee and hours in 2026

Who	INAH (federal)	Yucatán state	Total
Foreign visitors	MXN 105	MXN 592	MXN 697
Mexican visitors	MXN 105	MXN 205	MXN 310
Yucatán residents	MXN 105	none	MXN 105

Checked October 2026. Totals from Diario de Yucatán, 24 March 2026. Hours 8:00 to 16:00 daily from Expansión, 1 June 2026.

There are two parts to the fee: INAH’s federal charge and a much larger state charge set by Yucatán. Until March 2026 you paid them at separate windows. From 27 March the state introduced a single ticket (boleto único), paid once at the visitor centre. Por Esto reported a lower total of MXN 676 for foreigners in January 2026, so the board at the ticket office has the final word.

Mexicans and foreign residents of Mexico enter free on Sundays. Children under 13, over-60s, students and teachers are exempt from the federal part.

The site does close without much warning. In May 2026 INAH shut Chichén Itzá for nearly two weeks during a dispute with local artisans over the visitor stop, reopening on 1 June. Check the news the day before you go.

How to get from Tulum to Chichén Itzá

Driving

Take Highway 109 west from Tulum toward Cobá, carry on to Valladolid, then follow the road west to Chichén Itzá. A routing engine gives 156 km and 2 hours 13 minutes with no traffic; allow about 2.5 hours. Expect speed bumps (topes) where the road passes through villages.

Driving lets you split the day well. A good order:

1. Leave Tulum by 6:30 to reach Chichén Itzá around opening: 8:00 local time is 9:00 in Tulum.
2. Spend two to three hours at the ruins before the midday heat.
3. Drive 3 km to Ik Kil for a swim and lunch.
4. Stop in Valladolid on the way back, 42 km east, and swim at Cenote Suytun just outside town if you have energy left.
5. Drive back to Tulum, about 1.5 hours from Valladolid.

Or stop at the Cobá ruins on the way out, just off the same road. Cobá to Chichén Itzá is about 115 km.

Bus

ADO runs buses from Tulum to Valladolid, about 1.5 to 2 hours according to booking sites, and from Valladolid buses and colectivos continue to Chichén Itzá, about 45 minutes. We couldn’t confirm a current direct Tulum to Chichén Itzá timetable from ADO, so check ado.com.mx or ask at the Tulum terminal. It works best with a night in Valladolid.

Tren Maya

The Tren Maya has stations at Tulum, Valladolid and Chichén Itzá. On the train map, though, the line from Tulum runs north through Playa del Carmen and Cancún Aeropuerto before turning west, so it is the long way round, and you may need to change trains at Cancún Aeropuerto. Check the route, times and fare on trenmaya.gob.mx before you plan around it. From Chichén Itzá station, Ik Kil’s operator says the cenote is about a 5-minute taxi ride.

Day tour

These day tours run 11 to 12 hours and add a cenote and Valladolid. The first two pick up in Tulum; check the pickup options on the third.

• From Tulum: Chichén Itzá, Cenote and Valladolid (Amigo Tours): the cheapest, with a swim and buffet lunch at Cenote Chichikan near Valladolid.
• Chichén Itzá, Cenote and Valladolid, small group (Mexico Kan Tours): a smaller group, a community-run cenote (Xux-Ha) and a walk around Valladolid.
• Cobá and Chichén Itzá with cenote swim: both inland sites in one day, about an hour at Cobá and two at Chichén Itzá, with three hours for lunch and a swim at Cenote Chichikan.

None of these stops at Ik Kil or Suytun. If those are on your list, drive or hire a private driver. Our tours page has the full list.

What to see at Chichén Itzá

UNESCO added the “Pre-Hispanic City of Chichen-Itza” to the World Heritage List in 1988. In 2007 it was voted one of the “New 7 Wonders of the World” in a poll run by the private New 7 Wonders Foundation, which UNESCO said it had no link with.

El Castillo (Temple of Kukulcán). The stepped pyramid is about 30 m high with a 6 m temple on top. Climbing has been closed since January 2006, when a visitor died after a fall. Around the spring and autumn equinoxes, the late-afternoon sun throws a pattern of triangles down the edge of the north stairway that looks like a serpent’s body.

The Great Ball Court measures 168 by 70 m.

The Sacred Cenote is covered in its own section below.

Give yourself at least two to three hours, and bring a hat and water.

The Sacred Cenote

The Sacred Cenote (Cenote Sagrado) lies north of El Castillo at the end of a 300 m raised road (sacbe). It is a round sinkhole about 60 m across, with sheer walls dropping about 27 m to the water.

For the Maya it was a place of offerings. Edward Thompson, an American, dredged it from 1904 onward, and later expeditions, including INAH’s in 1961 and a 1967-68 attempt to drain it, brought up jade (the largest category of finds), gold, copal incense, pottery, obsidian, rubber, cloth and human skeletons. Many objects were broken on purpose before they went in. A Spanish bishop, Diego de Landa, wrote in the 1560s that people were thrown in alive during droughts. The Maya cenotes guide goes into what the evidence does and doesn’t show, and what is a cenote explains how sinkholes like this form.

You can’t swim here. In August 2026 Riviera Maya News reported that INAH restricts access to the water. Look from the platform at the edge, then swim at Ik Kil or around Valladolid.

Cenotes near Chichén Itzá

• Ik Kil, 3 km from the ruins: a deep, round open cenote with stairs down to the water. MXN 240 general entry (operator’s site, October 2026).
• Cenote Suytun, about 8 km east of Valladolid: the cave cenote with the stone platform and shaft of light. MXN 250 online, bought a day ahead (operator’s site, October 2026).
• Cenote Zací, in the centre of Valladolid, a short walk from the main square.

For context on these deep, inland sinkholes compared with the shallower cenotes along the coast, see the Tulum cenotes homepage, which lists the cenotes around Tulum.

Tips for the day

• Set an alarm on Tulum time and remember the gate works on Yucatán time.
• Bring cash pesos for the ticket, parking and cenotes, plus a card as backup.
• Pack a swimsuit and a towel for the cenote stop.
• Want an inland ruin with a pyramid you can still climb? The Cobá ruins are an hour from Tulum.