BootsnAll Travel Community

Hey everyone. I'm getting ready to go on my long, solo trip. I've been reading the threads about Chichen Itza and cannot find a single thread on hostels in Piste.

Does anyone know of a really cheap place to stay that is relatively close to the ruins? All the rates I find never seem to go under 30. I won't have a tent, so I can't camp.

Keep in mind...
I am flying into Cancun
I want to be able to see the light show.
I want to be as cheap as possible.
I want to make it to the ruins right when it opens to beat the crowds and take some pictures.

If anyone has any suggestions as to where I should stay, or any must sees while I am there, I would love to hear it. Also, if anyone has a better suggestion, let me know.

Thanks all!
Cheers.

I don't remember there being a hostel in Piste, but there is at least one budget hotel. It's listed in the Lonely Planet guide (don't have mine handy). Chichen Itza is quite overrated, in my opinion - especially the sound and light show. You're doing right by wanting to get there as early as possible, as the site is utterly mobbed by late morning.

If you're out to see Maya ruins, Uxmal is far more impressive than Chichen Itza, and much less crowded.

Piste has no hostel but it has a concrete block motel that doesn't cost much more than it is worth. It doesn't have a pool but there is a well-worn path through the bushes to the neighboring hotel's pool, and the owner will tell you it is alright to for you to swim in the blue-green water. Piste is only a one-mile hike to the ruins.
I suggest you go to Valladolid and stay in one of the good cheap hotels there. The restaurants are also a lot better. Come morning, there is a staff shuttle van to Chichen if you want to get in really early. Then buses and vans every 15 minutes. You can store your bag at the main entrance for the day and take an afternoon express bus to Merida.
Most light shows are bad. Chichen's is not even that.

thanks for the information guys! it really helps a lot. Do you know if the shuttles run early enough to get you to the entrance by sunrise? And do the hotels in general have a certain check in time? Because I probably will spend the day at the ruins, and then head out to find a place to stay.

Yes, DO stay in Valladolid! It's a beautiful little town where it's easy to spend some time, if that's an option for you. If not, you can certainly get a ride with the public taxis to Chichen Itza. Just ask around the evening before where the cars leave from, and you'll be fine.

However, while you can get to Chichen Itza in time for the sunrise, I'm not sure the park authorities will let you go inside until the park officially opens, which is either at 7am or 8am. If you want to be sure you can get in that early, I suspect you may have to stay at the rather posh hotels inside the actual site.

When I visited in May 2007, I remember I had to wait for the ticket office to open. That was no problem. I still had more than an hour more or less alone in the park before the buses from Cancun started arriving.

You can see some of the photos I took that day on this page:
http://www.pvv.org/~bct/meso/
(Valladolid + Chichen Itza will be images 62 through 70)

The check-in time of the (cheap) hotels in Mexico are generally that you can arrive any time you want, as long as there's an empty room they can give you.

Happy trails!

Bjørn
http://bjornfree.com/

I visited Chichen Itza a few days after New Year 2008. I stayed with my wife at the Hacienda Chichen in Piste which is more expensive, but it does give you access to the back way into Chichen Itza. You can avoid the queues and get in early enough to have the place almost entirely to yourself. You can get there at the same time as the street vendors start to set up their stalls.

As you can see from my photos you are able to get good clear views of the ruins.

Unless you speak spanish I would skip the nightshow if I were you as it sounds great until you get there and then can't understand a word of it. My wife translated most of it after the show for me, but the effect was lost by then.

There are a couple of hotels in Piste. The least expensive and closest to the ruins is Pyramid. I think they also have outside hammocks under palapas for 'camping'.

I stayed at Dolores Alba which was about $35(US) a night. They had free shuttles to the ruins starting around 8am in the morning. It's about 3kms from the ruins.

You can stay in Valladolid (which is my favorite town on the peninsula) but it is a schlepp to and from the ruins.

For visiting Chichen I recommend staying somewhere close by so you can visit either late in the day or early in the morning (or both!)