Valladolid, Mexico

Valladolid is inland, and the nearest real sea beaches are on the quiet Gulf coast at El Cuyo or on the Caribbean coast, both about two hours away. Neither works as an easy beach afternoon from town.

What it has instead is cenote swimming. Cenote Zací sits inside the town, and X'keken, Samulá, Suytun and Oxman are a short drive or bike ride out. Their fresh water stays cool and very clear all year, and some lie under cave ceilings with roots hanging down. It is memorable swimming, but it is a dip between sights, not days on the sand.

The town eats Yucatecan food, and it has dishes of its own. Longaniza de Valladolid is a smoked sausage, and lomitos de Valladolid is pork stewed in tomato. Cochinita pibil, panuchos, salbutes and sopa de lima are everywhere. Mornings are best at the municipal market and at the stalls around the main square, where tacos and tortas sell out early. In the evenings, marquesitas, a crisp rolled crêpe usually filled with cheese, are made in front of the cathedral.

In the restaurants around the plaza and along the Calzada de los Frailes, the cooking is good regional food in colonial courtyards. There is little range beyond it: few cuisines from elsewhere and no fine-dining tier to speak of.

Valladolid's appeal is its colonial streets. Low houses in ochre, pink and blue face a shady main square, overlooked by the twin-towered church of San Servacio. The Calzada de los Frailes leads to the sixteenth-century Franciscan convent of San Bernardino de Siena, the town's most important building. On the way it passes some of the best-kept streets in the Yucatán.

The Casa de los Venados, a private house full of Mexican folk art, and the small San Roque museum fill a morning. The Zací cenote in the middle of town adds some interest. Two days covers the town easily. The great Maya sites are outside it, and they are why most visitors stay here.

Evenings centre on the main square, where families stroll, the marquesita carts open and the church is lit up. There are a few small mezcal and craft-beer bars around the plaza and along the Calzada de los Frailes, and some restaurant bars in courtyards. By late evening the town has mostly gone quiet, and there is no club scene. Early starts for Chichén Itzá tend to decide the night anyway.

The land around Valladolid is flat, low limestone forest, and the heat is close for much of the year. Its natural wonders are underground. Cenotes and caves are scattered through the scrub, many of them reached by easy, flat bike paths. Cycling out to them early in the morning is one of the pleasures of a stay.

About an hour and a quarter north, the Ría Lagartos biosphere reserve has mangrove channels, pink salt flats and large flocks of flamingos, seen by boat with local fishermen. Birdwatchers will also find a lot in the forest. There are no hills, no hiking of any real length, and summer midday is too hot for much outdoors.

This is the reason most people base themselves in Valladolid. Chichén Itzá is about 45 minutes west, close enough to reach the gates at opening, before the tour buses from the coast arrive. Ek Balam is about half an hour north. It is a smaller Maya city where the great Acropolis has remarkable stucco carvings. Cobá, with its forest paths and tall pyramid, is about an hour southeast.

Izamal is about an hour and a half away. It is a town painted almost entirely yellow, around a vast Franciscan convent built on a Maya platform. The fishing village of Río Lagartos makes a good half day. Mérida and the Caribbean towns of Tulum and Playa del Carmen are at the far edge of a day out, at around two hours.

Valladolid is calm and manageable with children. The centre is small and the main square has space to run about in the evening. Mexican culture also makes children welcome everywhere. Older children usually love the cenotes, with their rope swings, ladders and clear water, and climbing around the Maya ruins.

There is nothing built for children, though. There are no zoos, aquariums or play attractions, and pavements are narrow and uneven. Heat and humidity make middays hard for small children, and the ruins mean long walks in full sun. Families do best with a pool hotel and a slow schedule.

Within town, getting around is easy. The historic centre is small and flat, and everything from the main square along the Calzada de los Frailes to the San Bernardino convent is a short walk. Pavements are narrow and uneven, and the midday heat slows you down. There is no local transport to speak of and little need for it. Bicycles are easy to rent, and a cycle path runs out of town to the nearer cenotes.

The sights that bring people here are a different matter. Long-distance buses run to Chichén Itzá and the bigger towns, and shared colectivos cover a few nearby routes. Ek Balam, Cobá, Río Lagartos and the cenotes further out are hard to combine without a hire car, a taxi or a tour. The roads are quiet and straight, so many visitors simply drive. Without a car, expect to plan each outing around a bus or a driver.

Shopping here means Yucatecan crafts. The craft market beside the Zací cenote and the shops along the Calzada de los Frailes sell embroidered huipiles and blouses, hammocks, leather sandals made in town, local honey and the Xtabentún liqueur. The municipal market is a working market, which is good for looking around and for buying spices. There is no fashion, no department store and little for a dedicated shopper beyond crafts.

Valladolid is an inexpensive place to stay. Market meals, street snacks, colectivos and bike hire cost little. Guesthouses and courtyard hotels in the centre are far cheaper than equivalent rooms on the Caribbean coast two hours away. The bigger costs are the boutique hotels in restored colonial houses and the entrance fees at the major archaeological sites. Chichén Itzá is the costliest of those, and the cenotes each charge their own entry.

Performance here is mostly traditional. On some evenings, jarana dancers in white embroidered dress perform the vaquería on the main square, balancing trays on their heads, often with a small brass band. The facade of the San Bernardino convent is used for evening light projections about the town's history. Beyond these and some live trova in restaurants, there is no theatre, concert hall or regular live-music venue.

Valladolid's main restorative quality is its pace. Afternoons are slow and shuttered, the evenings on the square are cool, and many of the courtyard hotels have hammocks and small pools under the trees. Some hotels offer massage, and temazcal sweat-lodge ceremonies, a tradition with pre-Hispanic roots, can be arranged nearby. There is no bathing culture or larger spa to build a stay around, so this is a calm base rather than a wellness destination.