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My first time hearing about Valladolid was when I got to Tulum. I would say it’s a lesser known city in Mexico and it’s known for its cenotes. Valladolid is around an hour away from Tulum. For some background, Valladolid was a Mayan town named Zaci but was named after the previous capital of Spain, Valladolid, after they colonized it. The architecture in Valladolid is very colonial which is different from Tulum. Valladolid is also in a different time zone than Tulum since it’s in the Yucatan state so just keep that in mind.
This was also my first time renting a car which I got at Alamo in Tulum. I booked it online the day before. Its also worth mentioning that Chichen Itza is near Valladolid but since I had visited before as a kid, I didn’t want to go again.
Here are other transportation options to Valladolid.
Regarding masks, Valladolid is much more strict about wearing masks everywhere compared to Tulum. The COVID regulations felt much safer and everyone wore a mask walking around and inside, of course.
Here is the full itinerary of the day:
8:30 AM:
Met at Alamo in Tulum to pick up the rental car. The rental was $40 for the day but since I am under 25, it was an additional $15. I went with 3 other friends I met in Tulum so it was still cheaper than a taxi. It was a nice, brand new Nissan sedan.
10 AM:
Arrive at Cenote Suytun. This has been on my bucket list and it’s absolutely magnificent. It was 120 pesos to get in which is cheaper than the cenotes in Tulum. We grabbed our life jackets and walked down the steep staircase to the cenote. It had been raining the whole last week so there was about 7 meters of water above the platform. Typically in pictures, you can stand on the platform of this cenote.
There was a maximum of 20 people in the cenote at one time due to COVID restrictions. Since we got there right when it opened, there were only around 10 people. We had to wear lifejackets and even got yelled at a couple times trying to take them off to take picture (whoops). There were so many catfish in the water which was cool. Of course, we had to do a little photoshoot there. The cenote is absolutely stunning and when the sun is shining through, it looks like a different world.
12:00 PM
We arrive in Valladolid which is about a 10 minute drive from the cenote. Before entering, we were stopped by a station of police or people checking for COVID. It turns out they were asking if we had any questions about Valladolid. They were super helpful in telling us where to park. Most people we met in Valladolid don’t speak English so knowing some Spanish will definitely help. We found a street to park and explored the colorful streets of Valladolid.
1:00 PM
We decided it was time for lunch when we spotted some street vendors. We had amazing pork tortas. Each were 15-30 pesos or less than $1-$2. They were absolutely delicious. We shopped around more and got coconut candy which amazing as well. All of the street food in Valladolid was super cheap and so yummy.
2:00 PM
We walked around a little more and got some coffee at a local shop. Once we felt like we had seen most of the city, we decided to go to one more cenote before we left Valladolid. We decided to go to Cenote Zaci since it was really close by. Cenote Zaci was 100 pesos which I thought was very cheap. This cenote was bigger than Suytun and it looked like a more popular tourist destination since it had a restaurant and a market attached to it. Cenote Zaci also has walls you can jump from which are about 3-5 meters tall (I didn’t because I’m scared of heights).
3:30 PM
After Zaci, we decided to do some shopping at the little market attached. I didn’t buy anything but this was a great place for souvenirs, especially since the prices in Tulum are pretty expensive.
Before leaving, we stopped at a bakery we saw on the way to the car and bought some delicious goodies for the ride home. Everything was 10-30 pesos. After a full day of cenotes, exploring, and eating, we headed back to Tulum to return the car.
