The Archaeological Sites You Can’t Miss in Cancun
Cancun is known for its beaches and big resorts, but the island and the coast around it were Maya territory long before the first hotel went up. If history is part of why you travel, four archaeological sites sit within a short ride of your room, and two of them are inside the Hotel Zone itself. Here is what to expect at each one.
1. El Rey Archaeological Site
El Rey sits at km 18 of the Hotel Zone, which makes it the easiest Maya site in Cancun to reach: get off the bus and you are there. The buildings you see today date from the Late Postclassic period, roughly 1200 to 1500 AD, although the area had been settled centuries earlier. The name comes from a sculpture found here in 1909 that was interpreted as the image of a ruler. Some 47 structures have been uncovered, among them palace-like buildings and small temples, and the whole complex worked as a religious and administrative center. Its most photographed residents are the iguanas, which sun themselves on almost every platform.
2. Temple of the Scorpion (Yamil Lu’um)
Yamil Lu’um, better known as the Temple of the Scorpion (Templo del Alacrán), is a single small shrine on a rocky rise between two hotels in the Hotel Zone, the highest natural point on Cancun’s coast. It was built in the Late Postclassic, between about 1200 and 1550 AD, and takes its name from a scorpion sculpture found inside. It may also have served as a beacon for the canoes that sailed along the coast. The reward is the view over the Caribbean. If you are staying nearby, it makes a good detour of a few minutes.
3. San Miguelito Archaeological Site
San Miguelito shares its grounds with the Museo Maya de Cancún at km 16.5, and you enter through the museum: the same ticket covers both. The settlement dates from the Late Postclassic, between about 1200 and 1550 AD, and was mostly residential: fourteen restored structures spread over five groups, with houses, palace-type buildings, altars and a main pyramid about eight meters tall. The path through the jungle gives you a sense of how people actually lived here, something the big ceremonial centers rarely show. Pair it with the museum and you have a full morning.
4. El Meco
El Meco lies about 8 km north of downtown Cancun on the road to Punta Sam, past Puerto Juárez, and it actually belongs to the municipality of Isla Mujeres. Its centerpiece is El Castillo, a pyramid about 12.5 meters high and the tallest pre-Hispanic building on this stretch of coast. The site faces the channel to Isla Mujeres and worked as a port and trading center: for a long time this was the crossing point to the island, an important sanctuary in the Late Postclassic. Fewer visitors come here than to the sites in the Hotel Zone, so you can take the place in at your own pace, without the crowds.
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