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How much do you spend at Chichen Itza?

How much do you spend at Chichen Itza?

If you are a foreign visitor exploring Chichen Itza on your own, the most basic expenses cost approximately $1719 MXN per person

How these expenses are divided

If you are a foreign visitor traveling to Chichen Itza, you should account for 2 basic costs:

Chichen Itza Entrance Fee: $671 MXN
Transportation to Chichen Itza: $524 MXN
Transportation back from Chichen Itza: $524 MXN

But there are still more expenses

You'll need a few more things to make your visit to Chichen Itza more pleasant:

Water: A bottle of water is essential, as the heat can be intense. An approximate cost is $35 MXN for a 1-liter bottle of water, but you can avoid this expense by bringing your own reusable water bottle
Guide: While entering Chichen Itza, we recommend hiring a guide. They truly bring the place to life; without their knowledge, you'll just be looking at rocks. The approximate cost is $1200 MXN per guide for 1-5 people, for 45-60 minutes of explanation
Food: Keep in mind that between 3 hours of travel to Chichen Itza, 3 hours back, and the time spent walking around the archaeological zone, you're looking at roughly 9-10 hours. Trust us, you'll get hungry. A meal can cost approximately $500 MXN per person, though you can always bring your own snacks like a sandwich, fruit, cookies, or yogurt to save money.

Guide cost

If visiting Chichen Itza is one of the main reasons for your trip to Mexico, and something you've long awaited, hiring a guide is incredibly important. The guide will explain how the city functioned, its architecture, cosmology, and more.

In short, the guide will bring the place to life and answer all your questions, ensuring your expectations are met.

A guide in English or Spanish costs approximately $1200 MXN for a 45–60 minute explanation of the most significant buildings at Chichen Itza.

If your budget allows, hiring a guide is a great idea. Remember, you don't visit a wonder of the modern world every day, so you should make it count!

There's a hack: you can buy an audio guide. With this, you can stand in front of each building, press play, and get an explanation through your headphones. However, it's not highly recommended because it lacks the personal interaction that only a human guide can provide

Food cost

Visiting Chichen Itza on an empty stomach is not a good idea. If you haven't eaten enough, your mind will be preoccupied with hunger, putting you in a bad mood and preventing you from concentrating on enjoying your visit to Chichen Itza.

Keep in mind that Chichen Itza is not close to Cancun, Playa del Carmen, or Tulum. We're talking about approximately 2-3 hours just to get there, and you also have to return to your city, so you need to add another 2-3 hours. This is just for travel to and from the site

In addition, you need to factor in 2-3 hours for visiting the archaeological zone itself. We're talking about 9-10 hours in total. Believe me, you need to be prepared to budget something for your stomach, whether it's a formal meal or perhaps something light like a sandwich, a cookie, some fruit, etc.

You can bring a small backpack with water and some light snacks, and this way you can save money, as food at Chichen Itza is not cheap.

However, if you have the budget, I recommend trying the local food, as that's also part of traveling.

Souvenir Cost

When you visit Chichen Itza, the temptation to buy a souvenir – like a magnet or a t-shirt – will be very high.

You should definitely set aside some money in your budget for a small memento to put in your living room or on your fridge.

Here's a hack: if you're in a big city like Cancun, Playa del Carmen, or Tulum, you can visit Walmart or any large supermarket. They all have entire aisles dedicated to souvenirs from this region, and you can always find Chichen Itza-themed souvenirs at much lower prices there

Cenote cost

There's also the option to visit a cenote, which are natural wonders found only in this part of Mexico essentially underground rivers

After sweating from your walk at Chichen Itza, visiting a cenote is incredibly pleasant. However, this comes with an extra cost, as you'll need to pay for a round-trip taxi and the entrance fee to the cenote itself

Conclusion

As you can see, you need to be prepared and keep these suggestions in mind to ensure your visit to Chichen Itza meets your expectations. These are just the most common expenses, but there can be more, especially if you're traveling in your own vehicle, like gas, tolls, parking fees, etc.

This is just a little help with the most important things you should consider. I hope it's useful and gives you a clearer idea of what you can expect in terms of expenses.

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