Hacienda Chichen

This place is almost everything your best thoughts about it reading these reviews might suggest. I would have to nitpick to find any fault during our 3.5 day stay. The bad reviews you read and I have read were just not my experience at all. Beautiful, tranquil pool area in the middle of an opening in the palm forest. Brand new pool of top quality. Paths leading from all haciendas to the main house, small shop and main house where people check in and out and eat. The restaurant is beautiful and open air about 8 feet up from the floor of the forested area. Like an old plantation-stately and sedate. For a Tolkien fan-Rivendell would be the best comparison. The food is tasty and well made. The menu a bit limited if I wanted to pick at it-it had no specials. But the low volume they serve would not warrant that level. White tablecloth and candle service with staff of the Hacienda playing music table side (the only guess is when and how much to tip). This is an eco-friendly place run by the local Mayan citizens--who have much pride in it and in trying to do the best job possible. As a tour guide for the Chichen Itza site (*****and a person to ask for a ride from the airport and back*****) is Jaime Maruffo. 52 1 (998) 223 1685. Highly recommend him to get in from the Cancun airport (2.5 hours of toll roads, dually-named streets (two highway 180s), police check points every ten miles, bikes and mopeds blocking the toll roads). Jaime gave us the royal treatment for 3 days with an amazing array of sidetrips to Rio Lagartos (boat and flamingos), Yaxunah excavation site, cenote swimming and Ek Balom--all VERY highly recommended for a stellar, varied, interactive experience. Jaime has good English and is a fine, kind, honest hardworking person with a spirit of joy and fun. This is a place to lay down your pretenses and enjoy connecting to people, to history and to nature. This is NOT a corporate experience and is a needle in the haystack. Throwback to a bygone age of beauty, quality and simplicity.