Mextrotter - Azteca Maya Small Tour Groups

Day 1 - Arrival

After arriving you will be expected from a English-speaking transfer employee. Then
in the morning you meet your English-speaking guide who will accompany you on
the rest of the trip.

Day 2 - Citytour

Today at 8.30 am (Hotel Monte Real) or 9.30 am (Hotel Holiday Inn) you meet your
guide for a walking tour around the historical center. You see the Palacio de Bellas
Artes, the main post office - art work of the architect Adamo Boari. The main square
Zocalo is dominated by the cathedrale and the palast of the president.
Against noon you go by a small bus to the anthropological museum. There you have
the opportunity to get an impression of the Mexican cultures or you can go to the park
Chapultepec and visit the castle.
The round trip goes further through the quarter Condesa. In the early evening you
will be back in your hotel.

If the day of the City Tour is on Monday, it will be changed with day 3 (visit
Teotihuacan), because the anthropological museum is closed on Mondays.

Day 3 - Teotihuacan

The pyramids of Teotihuacan are located approx 60 km northeast of Mexico City and
are an impressive cultural heritage of Mexico. The city was founded more than 2000
years ago. You go on the sun and the moon Pyramid and admire the Quetzalpapalotl
Palace. After the common (a little late) lunch (not included in price) in one of the
typical bars, you go to the Basilica of Guadalupe. The temple of the "brown
Madonna", who is celebrated on 12 December by millions of Mexicans, is the largest
sanctuary in the world.

Day 7 - Juchitan - Sumidero Canyon - Chiapa de Corzo - San Cristobal

Today you continue at 8.00 to Juchitan where you visit one of the most colorful Indian
markets in the country. Around 14.00 you come to Sumidero Canyon, the most
significant natural spectacle in the southeast of Mexico. On a 1.5 hours boat ride you
admire the 1000 meter deep canyon. Then you eat lunch / dinner (not included in the
price) in the sleepy town Chiapa de Corzo, which is located just ten minutes from the
entrance of the Sumidero canyons.
Then it goes over the highway to San Cristobal (70 kilometers away), which is
located on over 2,000 meters high and it is marketplace and meeting place for local
indigenous groups.

Day 8 - San Juan Chamula - Zinacantan - San Cristobal

At 9.00 you go from San Cristobal to Zinacantann (15 kilometers), where you can eat
freshly made corn tortillas with an Indian family of the Tzotzil ethnic group. In San
Juan Chamula, close to San Cristobal, you will see rituals that go back to the
"heathen" pre-Hispanic times. In the village church chickens are sacrificed for the
sick and exorcize evil spirits. For lunch (not included in the price) it goes back to San
Cristobal. In the afternoon you will visit the Santo Domingo church and then you have
time to stroll in the pedestrian zones.

Day 6 - Tule - Mitla - Tehuantepec

Departure to Mitla is around 9.00. On the way you stop in Tule, where you can admire
the 2000 years old "árbol del Tule", a huge cypress tree. Then it goes on to Mitla,
which one of the most important centers of the Zapotecs. After the visit of the
excavations, it goes to lunch (not included in price) in a quaint restaurant where you
learn about the local specialty Mezcal. In the late afternoon you continue the trip
through the Sierra Madre del Sur to Tehuantepec (approx four hours) where you stay
the night, to make the very long distance Oaxaca- San Cristobal more pleasant.

Day 4 - Puebla - Oaxaca

At 8.00 in the morning you start from the hotel. You drive through the urban jungle to
the highway to Puebla. At about 10:00 you come to a rest stop, where you have in
good weather a wonderful view to the more than 5000 meters high volcanoes
Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl. At noon you reach Puebla, where you have lunch in a
local restaurant on the main square (not included in price). Try the local specialty:
mole, a filling cocoa and chili sauce, which is poured over chicken.

From Puebla it takes about four hours on the highway to Oaxaca. The trip goes
through beautiful, wild, romantic landscapes of the Sierra Madre.

Day 5 - Monte Alban - Oaxaca

In the morning you go to the local market Benito Juárez and buy food. You cook then
in a village outside Oaxaca in a Zapotec family (the mole amarillo is a delicious
stew).
After this detour away from the mass tourism you explore Monte Alban in the
afternoon, the citiy of the Zapotecs, which was built over 2000 years ago on a hill
above Oaxaca. The tour takes about two hours. In the evening you can go for a stroll
or a drink at the main square.

Day 9 - Agua Azul - Mishol Ha - Palenque

In the morning you leave the highlands of Chiapas. On the winding road you come
after three to four hours to the cascades of Agua Azul in the jungle vegetation (almost
7 km length).
After lunch at Agua Azul (not included), it goes to Mishol-Ha, a majestic waterfall,
located about 30 minutes before Palenque. You move into your hotel near the
excavations at the early evening and have the opportunity to refresh at the pool.

Day 10 - Palenque - Campeche

In the morning (because then there are not many tourists) a highlight of your trip is
on the program. The Mayan site of Palenque is one of the most beautiful and
restored of the country. Particularly impressive are the temple of the inscriptions and
the palace complex. After the 3-4 hours visit it goes in the minibus to the Gulf Coast.
After about 4 hours drive you arrive at a restaurant right on the beach where you can
enjoy fresh seafood. Through Champoton it goes on to Campeche (about one hour).
In the charming colonial city you move into a beautiful hotel right in the historical
center.

Day 11 - Campeche - Uxmal - Merida

After a walk around the city in Campeche you drive along the so called Puuc route,
which you reach in about 1,5 hour. On the way you have the possibility to stop at a
Mayan village and to visit the simple houses of the locals.
Uxmal is the most important archaeological site in the Puuc region and is dominated
by the pyramide of the seer and the monk quadrant. After the visit you stop on the way
to Merida for lunch (not included). In Merida expects you Caribbean flair. Enjoy a
cocktail at a restaurant in the Santa Lucia Park.

Day 12 - Celestun National Park

About two hours towards west from Merida is the Celestun National Park, a paradise
for flamingos and pelicans, which you can watch in their natural habitat on a 2.5
hours boat ride.

Then you have the opportunity to enjoy fish and seafood at the beach (meal not
included). In the evening you will return to Merida, where you will be invited by your
guide to a cocktail (included in price).

All participants of the journey will be brought to their individual
hotels. The transfer from the beach hotel to the airport will be
organized by us, too.

This applies to hotels between Cancun and Tulum (Riviera Maya). If your beach
holiday is in Holbox, which is located out of the rout, extra transport costs will be
charged.

Day 13 - Chichen Itza - Tulum - beach hotel

At the last day of your round trip you have to get up early to be in Chichen Itza before
all the other tourists are there. This Maya city is dominated by the temple of the
Kukulkan, a huge pyramide which architecture is influenced by astronomical and
astrological imaginations.
You have lunch in the near of the archaeological site (not included) and then you
drive in approx 1 hour to the Caribbean coast, where you stop in Tulum to take some
pictures.