Dzibilchaltún

Dzibilchaltún is a Maya city fifteen kilometres north of Mérida, occupied for more than two thousand years — one of the longest continuous occupations known in the Maya area. On the equinoxes the sun rises directly through the doorway of its Temple of the Seven Dolls.

Overview

The site’s cenote, Xlacah, is over forty metres deep and yielded thousands of offerings when it was dredged in the 1950s; you can swim in it. A sixteenth-century Franciscan chapel stands in the main plaza, built when the Spanish established a mission on the still-occupied city. The seven crude clay figures found buried under the temple floor gave the building its name.

Highlights

The equinox alignment draws a crowd on 20 March and 22 September; the effect is visible for several days either side with almost nobody there. The cenote is the reason to bring a swimsuit and is at its best before the heat. It is half an hour from Mérida and combines with the Progreso coast in one trip.

Overview

Highlights

Location