Exploring & Climbing The Yucatan Mayan Ruins Of Ek Balam

Valladolid, Mexico

Ek Balam is an ancient Mayan city located on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. It's a wonderful pre-Colombian archeological site to spend the day exploring.

The ancient stone structures at Ek Balam are some of the best Mayan ruins you can visit in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

To get there from Valladolid, I took a collectivo, taxi-vans that wait around until there are enough people going to the same place before it leaves. It's the cheapest way to get around in Mexico.

On a typical day, I'd get asked 3 different times by collectivo drivers if I wanted to go to Ek' Balam while out walking around Valladolid.

But for some reason this morning, when I actually wanted to go, I couldn't find any!

Packed Valladolid Taxi Ride

I finally gave up and decided to find a taxi. I talked a taxi driver into cramming all 5 of us into his tiny 4 passenger car.

For $40 MXN each, he would drive me over to the ruins (a 30-minute drive), and wait there 3 hours to drive me back into town.

On the ride in I could see and smell the burning forest. Our driver told me they are clearing the land to build more tourist facilities in the area.

This is kind of sad, as I think the sites lose their mystery when they start adding giant tour bus parking lots and hotels all over the place.

Mayan Ruins Of Ek' Balam

The ruins of Ek Balam were very impressive. It's estimated they were built around 800 A.D. The name Ek' Balam means "Black Jaguar" in the Mayan language.

The main Acropolis structure is 95 feet high, and the stairs are very steep. It was quite a workout to hike up it.

One of the great things about this site is that you can still climb on all the ruins. Another plus is that it isn't as heavily visited as some other ruins in the area, and if you go early, you can often be the only people there.

Swimming X'Canche Cenote

Right next door to the Ek Balam ruins is a cenote called X'Canche, a sinkhole in the ground filled with fresh water.

This cenote is about 1 mile away though, and because it was closing soon, we had to rent bikes to get to it in time for a swim before it closed.

Swimming in the cenote was cool. It had a suspension bridge and a rope swing too. This was not inside a cave like other cenotes I'd visited in Mexico, or places like Rio Secreto.

A roof opened up to the sky. We swam for 25 minutes before they closed it up for the day.

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Ek Balam Entry Fee: $413 MXN ($21 USD)
Opening Hours: 8am - 4pm

Packing Guide

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Book Accommodation

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Protect Your Trip

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Recommended Guidebook: Lonely Planet Yucatan
Suggested Reading: The Maya: Ancient Peoples & Places
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