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.
Rye
England
Cobblestoned lanes so steep and crooked even the houses lean in to listen.
Shell Grotto, Margate
England
Millions of shells arranged in unexplained mosaics beneath a mundane street — origin unknown.
Abydos
Egypt
Temple paint vivid after thirty-three centuries, concealing an underground granite chamber that still puzzles archaeologists.
Casabindo
Argentina
Argentina's only bull ceremony strips ribbons from horns at 3,400 metres each August.
San Miguel de Allende
Mexico
Colonial light turning pink at dusk, every doorway hiding an artist's courtyard.
San Cristóbal de las Casas
Mexico
Highland mist curling through colonial arcades where Tzotzil women weave galaxies into cloth.
Oaxaca City
Mexico
Seven varieties of mole simmering in a city where every wall is an altar to colour.
Guanajuato
Mexico
A city poured into a canyon, its houses stacked like a tumbled box of pastels.