Visiting the Coba Ruins

While in Mexico, like many people, we wanted to visit one of the Mayan Ruins. The first choice for most is the famous Chichen Itza Ruin that is about 3 hours away from where we were staying at the Sandos Caracol Eco-Resort and Spa. Unfortunately, due to deterioration and preservation of the ruin, people can no longer climb it and see the view from the top like the Mayans did. It is said that the great ruin and city was a major port and trading centre for the surrounding area. We opted for visiting Coba not only because it was closer to us but also because you can climb the major ruin there and it was in the jungle away from the blistering heat. Not many people would choose Coba so it's nice to see something that isn't as famous as the others so you can see a bit more of it without the crazy numbers of tourists that would flock daily to it.

Instead of choosing the tours that were offered by our resort where the cost would amount to about $100 USD each and having side trips to places we were not interested in, we opted to take the ADO bus. As mentioned in my previous article about going to Playa del Carmen the day before, we visited the ADO bus station on 5th Avenue to see what the prices are as they may have changed from what was quoted by other people in forums. The cost was excellent at $120 pesos on way so costing each person $240 pesos. The person was fairly fluent in English if you had any questions and there seemed to be only one time going there and back. The bus leaves the next day at 9:00 am and will pick you up at Coba at 3:00 pm. She didn't quote me any other times so I assume that is the only time available. The cost for us to get to and from our resort to the bus station will cost us $160 pesos each way. So the total cost for 2 people just on transportation alone would only cost about $56 CAD and that's a steal considering the sad currency exchange between the CAD and USD lately.

We arrived early at the bus station the next day around 8:30 am just in case. Look for a bus that says "Coba" at the front. Unfortunately, you cannot get on to the bus early. We pretty much had to wait in line as we were directed after confirming with the driver about the bus until exactly 9:00 am in which we were able to hop on. There is a stop to Tulum beach as well as the bus station so if you do decide to head to the Tulum Ruins instead, you would be taking the same bus although, my guess, the price of the bus ticket would be much lower. The ride to Tulum is about an hour and then another hour to Coba. It does stop at the Tulum bus station for about 15 minutes where you can stretch your legs or head to the bathroom although there is a bathroom in the bus. The bus driver does say (though in Spanish) that the bathroom on the bus is for #1 only and not #2 :)

Once the bus arrived at Coba, it will drop you off just in front of the gates before the parking lot and the entrance admission gate. I know from research that others said that the bus stopped about 7-10 minutes away from the entrance and you had to walk it (we did see a group of people do that on the way back) but it was nice it dropped us off at the gates just next to the small cafe ADO bus station that is there in front of the gates. It was a quick walk to the admission office where each person pays $60 pesos to get in. I recommend to leave the shopping and restaurant last as they surround the perimeter of the lot.

Once you pass the entrance into Coba, there will be guides waiting in case you do want to hire one. We didn't. If you did, you will be walking with the guide as we have seen with those that do hire them. There is also an option to rent a bike and a bike taxi. We decided to go on our own by foot. Big mistake on our part. It started off well with us going around but what we didn't know (as we didn't have a map nor a booklet like others), it was about at least 1 km between each ruin and there were about 6 I believe. We envied the people who were smart to rent bikes but envied those with the taxis more! There are bike parking lots so to say in every area and you will have to approach most of the ruins by foot walking about 100 - 400 meters depending on which ruin.

Without a guide or a book, we were hoping to make it somehow to Nohoch Mul Pyramid so we can climb it especially after our first ruin visit and our legs getting tired and being fatigue from the heat despite being in the jungle. We did guess correctly and approaching it was such a wonder in particular seeing all the people climbing up and down. There are about 130 steps and is about 42 meters in height. We took off our hats as there was a bit of wind and we didn't want to lose our balance. The steps were steep and you have to be careful. The climb up was easier than the climb down. We did rest at the top to enjoy the view, catch our breaths and see the vast amount of jungle that surrounded this area. On the way down, I chose to go on my rear. Even though I had good hikers on, the edge of the steps were rounded and some deteriorating that it was easy to slip even with good shoes and no rain. I saw one gal with just fashion sandals climbing up using a selfie stick to video tape her climb as I went down. That was dangerous and not worth the video unless you have a hero camera strapped to you, which is a safer option. After our climb down, I was drained. We decided to get a bike taxi to take us to the rest of the ruins as time was short and there was no way we can finish in time to catch the 3:00 pm bus, shop and get a bite to eat. We were charged less as we started later at $150 pesos. Our driver worked hard to take us to each ruin and we made an effort to stop and take our time at each so he can have a breather too. We tipped him well in the end as you can hear him huffing and puffing taking the 2 of us in one cart. Together we probably weighed 235 lbs. We gave him the tip at the end and paid for the taxi at the little rental shop at the beginning of the site.

We were famished and headed towards the first restaurant we saw. In hindsight, we would have chosen to try the Mayan restaurant right by the bus station outside the parking area but we wanted to shop for souvenirs after eating so we just chose the restaurant near us. We ordered something small such as salsa and tortillas (that I have been eating religiously every day) and chicken enchiladas. They were both pretty tasty but the black bean and rice were delicious. Such a simple dish that really is flavorful at the same time.

After eating, we went from one shop to another comparing prices and such. We were given so many chances to haggle. Some didn't budge while others were willing to do some bargaining. We ended up buying our stuff at the first shop (of course that always seem to happen) with only minutes to spare to catch the bus (we wanted to head to the bus stop at 2:50 pm in case). The bus arrived on time and stayed waiting for about 15 minutes before heading back to Playa del Carmen. It was a nice ride back as our legs were getting heavy (we did lots of walking over the past couple of days plus climbing). We even did one last shopping through a bit of shopping back in Playa del Carmen again and glad we did as some artists that were not there previously had shown up and we bought small artworks for a couple of people who would appreciate it. Although we didn't take a tour, we recommend using the ADO and finding cheaper ways of getting to the ruins as it's quite an experience.