Mexico
Ek Balam
A stucco jaguar mouth you can still climb into, the jungle canopy spread below.
You can still climb this one. One hundred and twenty steps up the Acropolis, the jungle canopy spreading below, and at the summit — a stucco monster mouth, its fangs framing a doorway into a royal tomb. The plaster is 1,200 years old, the detail astonishing, and you're standing right beside it. No ropes, no glass, no distance.
Ek Balam is a Maya archaeological site 30 kilometres north of Valladolid in Yucatán, distinguished by one of the best-preserved stucco facades in the Maya world — a monster mouth (representing the entrance to the underworld) flanking the tomb of the ruler Ukit Kan Le'k Tok', who governed between 770 and 801 CE. Unlike Chichén Itzá, visitors can still climb the 32-metre Acropolis to reach the stucco facade at the summit, making it one of the last major Maya pyramids where physical contact with the architecture is permitted. The site was a major political centre, fortified by a double defensive wall — unusual in the Maya lowlands. After exploring the ruins, a short cycle ride through the jungle leads to Cenote X'Canché, a deep, vine-draped cenote perfect for swimming. The site receives a fraction of Chichén Itzá's visitors, and the combination of climbable pyramid, preserved stucco, and jungle cenote creates one of the Yucatán's most rewarding half-day excursions.
Solo
Climbing a Maya pyramid alone, examining stucco that most visitors to the Yucatán will never see, then cycling through jungle to a cenote — Ek Balam is the solo traveller's antidote to Chichén Itzá's crowds.
Couple
The climb, the tomb, and the cenote swim afterwards — Ek Balam offers a Maya experience that is intimate, physical, and followed by cool water in a vine-draped sinkhole.
Friends
Climbing together, examining the stucco fangs, and jumping into Cenote X'Canché — Ek Balam packs archaeology, adventure, and swimming into a morning that leaves the afternoon free for Valladolid.
- The Acropolis contains a stucco facade in the form of a monster mouth — one of the best-preserved in the Maya world.
- Unlike Chichén Itzá, you can still climb the main pyramid — reaching the jaguar-mouth tomb at the summit.
- The nearby cenote X'Canché is a short cycle ride through the jungle — swim after the ruins.
Cochinita pibil tacos at the community-run restaurant near the site entrance — the pork cooked underground since dawn.
Xtabentún — anise-honey liqueur — served ice-cold at the cenote swim stop after exploring the ruins.
Totnes
England
A hilltop town that declared itself independent, prints its own currency, and means it.
Assomada
Cape Verde
Tabanka drums echo slave resistance songs through a highland market that spills into every street.
Esna
Egypt
A Ptolemaic temple buried nine metres below a modern town, its zodiac ceiling still overhead.
Kaji-Say
Kyrgyzstan
An abandoned uranium processing site above Issyk-Kul's south shore, Cold War ruins overlooking a holiday lake.
Cuetzalan
Mexico
A cloud-wrapped mountain town where Totonac voladores leap from a pole above the cathedral every Sunday.
Batopilas
Mexico
A canyon village so deep the sun only reaches it four hours a day.
Real de Catorce
Mexico
A ghost town reached through a mine tunnel, where Wixárika pilgrims walk the sacred desert.
Calakmul
Mexico
Pyramids taller than the jungle canopy, where spider monkeys swing above unexcavated temples.