Archaeological Sites and Ruins in the Riviera Maya, Mexico

Ball Court  © Karl-Heinz Müller

The Riviera Maya offers some of the most spectacular ruins of the Mayan civilization. From Tulum to Coba or Xcaret, you are about to discover and understand the Mayans, their civilization and their culture.

Coba: The Mayan ruins at Coba (Water stirred by wind) are unique because they have been barely restored, merely cleared. Only a few of its estimated 6,500 structures have been uncovered. This site has one of the highests pyramid ever build by the Mayans.
It is hard to imagine that Coba may have once had the largest population of all the ancient Mayan cities. This Mayan archeological site dates from 600-900 A.D. and it was estimated that 100,000 people where living in its domain.

Kohunlich: Kohunlich is a large site about 25 kilometers east of the Rio Bec region, and about 65 kilometers west of Chetumal on Highway 186. The site was settled by 200 BC, but most of the structures were built in the Early Classic period from about 250 to 600 AD. Many of them are still covered with thick vegetation and overgrown trees. The city appears to have functioned as a regional center and stop along the trade routes through the southern Yucatan, from Campeche and Rio Bec area on the west, to the cities along the east-coast and South, to the Peten region of Belize and Guatemala.

Muyil: Muyil, the Mexican name used to refer to this archaeological site, comes from one large lagoon located within the confines of the Sian Ka´an Biosphere Reserve.

Information obtained up to now indicates that Mayan groups began to populate the site around 300 B.C. This is centuries before the height of such ancient Maya cities as Chichen Itza, Uxmal and Tulum. It is thought that the site was in used by the Maya until the first decades of the 16th century

Tulum: Tulum is the only walled city the Maya ever built on the Caribbean coast. Unique among other Mayan cities, Tulum was still a thriving trading community when first visited by the Spanish. Spanish sailors were very impressed with Tulum and reported it to be as big as Seville.