Coloured houses
Colonial style.
Adam Jones — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Ryan — CC BY 2.0 · Adam Baker — CC BY 2.0 · Adam Jones — CC BY-SA 2.0
Valladolid is a city in the east of Mexico's Yucatán state, about 170 km east of the state capital Mérida, 40 km east of Chichén Itzá and 150 km west of Cancún, and it is one of the federal tourism programme's «Magical Towns». It was founded in 1543 and named after Valladolid, then the capital of Spain, and in 1545 it was moved to its present site on top of a Maya town called Zací, whose stones were reused to build the colonial town. Its Maya name is still Saki'. The cobbled streets of the centre are lined with single-storey colonial houses painted in bright yellow, red, blue and green, with tall iron-barred windows and wooden doors, meeting around a shady main square overlooked by the church of San Gervasio. The city is an easy base for Chichén Itzá, Ek Balam and nearby cenotes, and its compact centre is best explored on foot or by bicycle. Midday is very hot, so mornings and evenings are better for wandering.
Colonial style.
San Gervasio church.
An easy way around.
Valladolid, Yucatán, Mexico
Yes.
Chichén Itzá and cenotes.