The most architecturally intriguing and majestic Maya site on the Yucatan Peninsula is Chichen Itza. Its earliest structures, including an ornate circular observatory, date to the Classic era and echo the native Maya architectural details of the Puuc region south of Merida.

Scholars once thought of a Toltec invasion, but most now agree that the worldly Itza in fact influenced the Toltecs at Tula as they traded with far-flung empires.

Chichen’s oldest structures are located in the southern part of the site, an area first settled by the Maya around AD 400. It was already deserted when the Itza peoples form the south arrived in the eighth century and began contraction a major city. Also known as the Chontal Maya or Putun, the Itza were a seafaring people form what is now Tabasco State.

Anyone even remotely fascinated by the Maya should spend at least one night by the ruins. There are several moderately priced hotels and restaurants in the nearby town of Piste, but it is worth the splurge to stay closer to the site.