How To Get From Tulum To Chichen Itza: Drive, Tour & Bus

The seaside town of Tulum has a bunch of interesting Mayan ruins to visit, but if you want to see something bigger and better, then a day trip from Tulum to Chichen Itza is a great idea.

Chichen Itza is a popular tourist site in Mexico and it used to be one of the Mayans’ biggest and most important cities. It dates back to 600 AD, and the giant pyramid at the center of the place is especially impressive!

You can get from Tulum to Chichen Itza by booking a tour, driving yourself in a rental car, or taking the ADO public bus. In this travel guide, I’ll explain how to use each of these transport options, as well as their pros and cons.

Overall, it’s not very complicated to visit this wonder of the world on a day trip from any of the tourist towns in the Yucatan peninsula, and it’s also pretty budget friendly, so you should definitely add it to your Mexico to do list!

Where is Chichen Itza?

Chichen Itza is located in the middle of the Mexican state of Yucatan.

The distance from Tulum to Chichen Itza is about 150 kilometers (90 miles), so it can be reached in a little over 2 hours of driving.
 

How To Get From Tulum To Chichen Itza

 

• Join A Group Tour

One of the cheapest and most convenient ways to get from Tulum to Chichen Itza is by joining a group tour with other travelers. You can book a tour online or arrange it with your Tulum hotel when you arrive in Mexico.

Chichen Itza tours are very popular, so there are many companies offering them every day of the week. You’ll be picked up from your hotel in the morning, driven by van or bus to Chichen Itza, and then given a guided tour of the ruins.

We used one of these tours ourselves and had a great experience. Oftentimes these group tours from Tulum to Chichen Itza also include other great sights of the Yucatan peninsula, like the Coba ruins, Valladolid, and a swim at one or two of the many scenic cenotes (natural sinkholes) in the area. These tours usually include a buffet lunch and hotel pickup / drop-off as well.

The only downside of a group tour is that you have a fixed itinerary, so you usually only get to spend about one hour or less in each location you visit on the tour. Personally, we could have stayed a bit longer, but for most people this is probably plenty of time. We tend to take a lot of photos.

In an arrangement like this, you’re also sharing the tour with a bunch of other travelers, although we didn’t mind that since Chichen Itza is going to be crowded anyway, and the bus ride is a chance to meet other travelers. There are also small group tours for a more personalized feeling.

• Book A Private Tour

If you want to visit Chichen Itza with a tour but don’t like the idea of joining a big group, there are also private tours and small group tours from Tulum to Chichen Itza departing every day of the week.

This option is more expensive than a group tour, but if you have the budget then it can be a great way to get from Tulum to Chichen Itza! This way you’ll have a private driver and a multilingual tour guide to transport you to each location and explain the history of the archaeological sites in detail.

Some of these private tours also include buffet lunch and hotel pickup / drop-off from Tulum, Playa Del Carmen, Cancun, or other locations in the Riviera Maya.

• Take The ADO Public Bus

One of the cheapest ways to get from Tulum to Chichen Itza is by taking the ADO bus, which departs daily from Tulum at around 9:37 AM and returns to Tulum at 4:00 PM.

This can be a good option if you’re a solo traveler on a budget and don’t mind a bit of extra hassle in arranging your own transportation rather than taking a tour. You can get to the Tulum bus station by taking a quick taxi or Uber.

The bus journey from Tulum to Chichen Itza (or vice versa) takes about 2 hours and 45 minutes of driving, and costs about 300 pesos ($15 USD) for a one way ticket. You can buy these tickets online at the ADO Bus website, or in person at the bus station in Mexico.

The ADO buses are clean, with air conditioning and bathrooms. Just be careful and keep a good eye on your bags and any valuables, because theft is common in the buses and at the bus terminal. You’ll also want to show up to the bus station early, because the check-in process on a busy day can be tedious and messy.

If you go to Chichen Itza by bus, this should give you at least 3 or 3.5 hours to walk around at the archaeological site, which is plenty of time for most people.

For Chichen Itza, keep in mind you will still need entrance tickets to visit, even if you go without a tour. It’s a good idea to book your Chichen Itza entrance tickets online in advance, that way you can skip the line when you get there and spend more time touring the ruins.