Overview & Highlights
On this Yucatán Peninsula self-drive holiday, enjoy a good road network that suits independent drivers who want flexibility to explore fascinating Mayan ruins and colonial towns. Car and hotels are pre-booked.
Mexico is ideal for independent exploration by self-drive car hire, particularly in the Yucatán peninsula and along the Caribbean coast. Your point-to-point itinerary planned out for you, with hotel reservations made in advance and maps provided, so you can explore the Mayan ruins and colonial towns at leisure..
Here, you’ll find vestiges of the once supreme Maya civilisation. Sites replete with temples and pyramids festooned with sacred carvings were, once abandoned, swallowed up by a rapacious jungle but are now gradually being revealed. The best known sites, Chichén Itzá, Uxmal and Tulum are easily accessible; smaller, less well-known sites are always close to minor roads and with your own car you can explore at will.
You’ll also visit graceful Spanish colonial towns with their friendly Maya inhabitants. Markets, restaurants and entertainments flourish here.
Round off at a beach hotel just north of Tulum on the Caribbean coast. Time to laze on the beach, take part in water sports or visit nearby resort towns.
- Discover the colonial cities and ancient ruins of the Yucatan Peninsula
- Drive and explore the region at leisure, stopping off whereever you wish en-route
- Relax on the white sandy beaches of the Caribbean
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Outline itinerary
Day 1
Arrive in Cancún, collect hire car.
Day 2
Drive to Mayan archaeological site at Chichén Itzá. Overnight.
Day 3
Drive to hacienda near the historic city of Mérida, capital of Yucatan; 3 nights.
Day 4
At leisure at your hacienda; explore Merida or visit Uxmal.
Day 5
At leisure or drive to Celestún on the Gulf coast.
Day 6
Drive to Campeche; 2 nights.
Day 7
At leisure in this Spanish colonial city.
Day 8
Drive to Calakmul; 2 nights.
Day 9
Visit local Mayan sites and Calakmul.
Day 10
Drive to the Caribbean coast; 3 nights.
Days 11-12
At leisure on the beach in the shadow of Tulum ruins; optional trips in the vicinity.
Day 13
Drive to Cancún and drop off car at airport; take international flight home.
Things to do
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Accommodation
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