Tulum in 4 days

A fortified Postclassic Maya port, occupied from the 13th to the 16th century on a cliff above the Caribbean, trading jade, obsidian, salt and cotton.

A white coral-sand beach with leaning palms a kilometre from the ruins, one of the few stretches of this coast still freely open.

A round sinkhole whose three openings form a skull seen from above; climb down the wooden ladder or jump four metres into the dark pool.

An open cenote 4 km from town on the Cobá road, with two pools joined by a walkway and clear water showing stalactites and roots.

Two circular sinkholes linked by a flooded passage north of Tulum, opening onto Sac Actun, with over 380 km of mapped underwater caves.

A shallow turquoise lagoon edged with mangrove south of town, with a cenote over 80 metres deep at its centre, roped off from swimmers.

Mangrove, lagoons, low forest and reef over 5,280 km², a World Heritage Site since 1987, whose Maya name roughly means where the sky is born.

A Maya city in the forest 45 km north-west, perhaps home to 50,000 people, linked by raised white causeways, one running 100 km to Yaxuná.