4 Best Sights in Yucatán and Campeche States, Mexico

A historic mansion just south of Valladolid's central square contains Mexico's largest private collection of folk art. Rooms around the gracious courtyard contain some 3,000 pieces, with Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) figures being a specialty. The selection is impressive, but even without it, the house would be worth touring. This hacienda-style building dates from the early 17th century, and the restoration was led by the same architect who designed Mérida's ultramodern Gran Museo del Mundo Maya (don't worry—the results here preserved its colonial elegance). Casa de los Venados opens to the public each morning for a 90-minute bilingual tour. Just show up; no reservations are needed. The suggested donation of MX$100 is a bargain, and all proceeds help fund local health-care projects.

Begun in 1561, Mérida's cathedral is one of the oldest on the North American mainland (an older one can be found in the Dominican Republic). It took several hundred Maya laborers, working with stones from the pyramids of the ravaged Maya city, 37 years to complete it. Designed in the somber Renaissance style by an architect who had worked on El Escorial in Madrid, its facade is stark and unadorned, with gunnery slits instead of windows and faintly Moorish spires.

Inside, the black Cristo de las Ampollas (Christ of the Blisters) occupies a side chapel to the left of the main altar. At 23 feet tall, it's the tallest Christ figure inside a Mexican church. The statue is a replica of the original, which was destroyed during the revolution in 1910 (also when the gold that once adorned the cathedral was carried off). According to one of many legends, the Christ figure burned all night and appeared the next morning unscathed—except for its namesake blisters. You can hear the pipe organ play at the 11 am Sunday Mass.

A major metropolis in its day, Edzná was situated at a crossroads between cities in modern-day Guatemala and the states of Chiapas and Yucatán, hence it features a mélange of Maya architectural elements. Roof combs and corbeled arches evoke those at Yaxchilán and Palenque, in Chiapas, and giant stone masks resemble the Petén-style architecture of southern Campeche and northern Guatemala.

Edzná began as a humble agricultural settlement around 300 BC, reaching its pinnacle in the Late-Classic period, between AD 600 and 900, then gradually waning in importance until being all but abandoned in the early 15th century. Today, soft breezes blow through groves of slender trees where brilliant orange and black birds spring from branch to branch. Clouds scuttle across a blue backdrop, perfectly framing the mossy remains of once-great structures.

One highlight is the five-story Pirámide de los Cinco Pisos, which was built on the raised platform of the Gran Acrópolis (Great Acropolis). Hieroglyphs carved into the vertical faces of the 15 steps between each level (some re-cemented in place by archaeologists, although not necessarily in the correct order), as well as into stelae throughout the site, depict the opulent attire once worn by the Maya ruling class—quetzal feathers, jade pectorals, and jaguar-skin skirts. On the pyramid's top level sit the ruins of three temples and a ritual steam bath.

The Pirámide de los Cinco Pisos was constructed so that on certain dates the setting sun would illuminate the mask of the creator-god, Itzamná, inside one of the pyramid's rooms. This still happens on May 1, 2, and 3, the beginning of the Maya planting season, and on August 7, 8, and 9, the days of harvesting and giving thanks. 

West of the Great Acropolis, the Puuc-style Plataforma de los Cuchillos (Platform of the Knives) was so named by the archaeological team that found a number of flint knives inside. To the south, four buildings surround a smaller structure called the Pequeña Acrópolis (Small Acropolis). Twin sun-god masks with huge protruding eyes, sharp teeth, and oversize tongues flank the Templo de los Mascarones (Temple of the Masks, or Building 414), adjacent to the acropolis. The mask at the bottom left (east) represents the rising sun; the mask to the right represents the setting sun.

If you're not driving, consider taking one of the inexpensive day trips offered by tour operators in Campeche. Convenience aside, a guide can point out features often missed by the untrained eye, such as the remains of arrow-straight sacbés. These raised roads in their day connected one important ceremonial building within the city to the next, and also linked Edzná to trading partners throughout the peninsula.

Encompassing some 1.8 million acres along the Guatemalan border, Calakmul was declared a protected biosphere reserve in 1989 and is the largest of its kind in Mexico (Sian Ka'an in Quintana Roo is second with 1.3 million acres). All kinds of flora and fauna thrive here, including wildcats, spider and howler monkeys, hundreds of exotic birds, orchid varieties, butterflies, and reptiles. There's no shortage of insects, either, so don't forget the bug repellent.

The reserve's centerpiece, however, is the Maya city that shares the name Calakmul (which translates as "two adjacent towers"). Although Carretera 186 runs right through the reserve, you'll need to drive about 1½ hours from the highway along a 60-km (37-mile) authorized entry road to get to the site. Structures here are still being excavated, but fortunately the dense surrounding jungle is being left in its natural state: as you walk among the ruined palaces and tumbled stelae, you'll hear the guttural calls of howler monkeys and see massive strangler figs enveloping equally massive trees.

Anthropologists estimate that in its heyday (between AD 542 and 695) the region was inhabited by more than 50,000 Maya. Archaeologists have mapped more than 6,800 structures and found 180 stelae. Perhaps the most monumental discovery thus far has been the remains of royal ruler Gran Garra de Jaguar (Great Jaguar Claw). His body was wrapped (but not embalmed) in a shroud of palm leaf, lime, and fine cloth, and locked away in a royal tomb in about AD 700. In an adjacent crypt, a young woman wearing fine jewelry and an elaborately painted wood-and-stucco headdress was entombed together with a child. Their identity remains a mystery. The artifacts and skeletal remains have been moved to the Museo de la Arqueología Maya in Campeche City.

You can explore the site along a short, medium, or long path, but all three eventually lead to magnificent Templo II and Templo VII—twin pyramids separated by an immense plaza. Templo II, at 175 feet, is the peninsula's tallest Maya building. Scientists are studying a huge, intact stucco frieze deep within this structure, so it's not currently open to visitors.

Arrangements for an English-speaking tour guide should be made beforehand with Servidores Turísticos Calakmul, Río Bec Dreams, or through Chicanná Ecovillage near Xpujil. Camping is permitted at Km 6 with the Servidores Turistícos Calakmul after paying caretakers at the entrance gate. You can set up camp near the second checkpoint. Even if day-tripping, though, you'll need to bring your own food and water, as the only place to buy a snack is near the second entrance inside the museum. In addition to separate fees to enter the reserve and the archaeological site, you'll also pay MX$42 per person and MX$70 per vehicle to access the first 20 km (12½ miles) of road into the reserve, which runs through private land.