Beach Shacks and Restaurants at the Bay

Palolem is mainly a collection of beach shacks and restaurants chained along the coastline and offering an ocean view. Wide parts of the beach are largely not built-up. You only find some boats here. Right after the beach line, right under palm trees, the line of shacks and restaurants starts. Even here, you are still walking on fine, white sand.

The first row of hats has an open sea view. Even the second and maybe the third row still offer a veritable view. Some of these wooden shacks have one floor, others even two.
The beach shacks are constructed for one season and get entirely removed during monsoon season. Considering this, their standard is very high. Most importantly, they have water closets and running water. They walls are only thin wooden panels, though. These beach shacks cannot be compared to hotels, they are rather simple hats.

Prices are reasonable even though they tend to vary strongly. For 20 Euro, you definitely find something here, much less in off-season.

A Maze of Hotels Further Inland

A few meters off the coastline you find the first real hotels that means solid buildings with walls and quite often an AC. Most of them are smaller, quite often only 3 – 6 rooms. Some of these hotels are 50 meters from the beach, others a bit farther. You can get good prices here too, 30 to 40 Euros per night.

Palolem has a kind of center and main access to the beach. This is usually where the cabs take you. You have to look for your hotel or shack yourself. That is why you see guests walking along the beach with their luggage all the time. The paths between these hotels are narrow; you can easily walk or use a scooter but not a car. In the beginning, this maze is a bit confusing.

In the center, there are some stores with all necessities but nothing more. Of course, they also sell all kinds of tourist stuff (silver jewelry, scarves, spices, T-shirts, clothes, bags). The quality in the stores is a bit higher than anything the beach hawkers offer.

Restaurants at the Coast

All the beach restaurants can in fact be recommended. All of them offer ocean view; you can sit in the shade and face the water. Quite often, they also have sun beds at the beach and also serve food there.

They offer a vast variety of food you can basically get anything here. There are no big, all-inclusive hotels. That is why all the guests go to these restaurants even for breakfast. You can go to a different place every day, the quality is good everywhere. Sometimes it’s even difficult to remember where you were the day before, these restaurants are all very much alike.

For Indian standard, these restaurants are not cheap but compared to German restaurants, prices are still reasonable.

In addition, there are several restaurants off the beach with all kinds of stuff. You can eat for less money here.

Boat Tours

In Palolem, boat tours are popular. There are small wooden boats at the beach with which you can take a trip on the ocean. These tours take place usually mostly for sunrise and sunset but any other time is possible. The sellers find you at the beach, offer their boat tour and how much you pay is part of a bargaining process. The boat takes you off the coast to the ocean. You see the coast from the water probably a dolphin and maybe they take you to a little island in front of Palolem (Canacona). Some more routes go to the river channel close by or a field trip to the “Butterfly Beach”, a beach almost inaccessible from the main land. All of these tours are nice little trips, don’t expect anything spectacular but rather enjoy the view and relax.

Fun Fact: The boats are pulled in and out of the water with pure manpower, there are no machines anywhere. Male beach visitors are often asked to help get the boat in or out.

Alternatives

If, in high season you feel Palolem is a bit too busy for you, you can go to the neighbor beach Patnem. Patnem also is a very beautiful beach with a similar crescent shape, similar restaurants and beach shacks but less busy and quieter. Further south of Patnem, there is a 5-star hotel resort for guests with high demands.

Der Beitrag Palolem Beach – Goa’s Popular “Insiders Tip“ erschien zuerst auf travelspotting.

Kanchenjunga in the Himalayans

Kanchenjunga has 8586 meters and is located partly in Nepal and India. The little state of Sikkim is far in India’s north right between Nepal and Bhutan at the Eastern Himalayans. Sikkim is one of the smallest and most-unknown states of India and was, for many years, and independent kingdom.

The Himalayan Mountains stretch far from the West in Pakistan to northwest India (Kashmere, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh) to a piece of land between Nepal and Bhutan which is Sikkim. Sikkim’s Kanchenjunga is the third-highest mountain in the world, only Mount Everest and K2 are higher.

When you want to see an eight-thousender but have no real experience in mountaineering, this is the right place for you.

View from Pelling in Sikkim

The view from Pelling is great: in the mornings, the sun slowly rises and the mountain appears in many different red colors. You definitely should not miss this spectacular nature phenomenon.

Sikkim is now more than a secret for mountaineers. Sikkim has many ways to see and experience the Kanchenjunga. When you enjoy hiking, you can go to Gangtok. Here, you find many tour companies for hiking and mountaineering. Gangtok is the state’s capital. You need to plan enough time for the region: all the paved roads end in Yuksom. If you want to do some hiking from Gangtok or Pelling, you should plan several weeks for that. We could not simply do some hiking in the heights, I think you should always consider the altitude and be careful.

The see the mountain anyways, you can travel to Pelling. Traveling there is a bit exhausting, but Pelling itself has many hotels and a tourist infrastructure. After all, Pelling is basically a long road full of hotels. Choose a hotel with a good view (in fact, all of them have a great view) and you can see the sunrise in the morning from the rooftop terrace. In the end a very comfortable and easy way to see the sunrise at an eight thousander.

Traveling to Pelling: Crossing an Inner-Indian Border

Pelling is a bit difficult to reach. The best thing is to combine it with Darjeeling, in the more southern state Bengal. From Darjeeling it’s 90 km to Pelling but you need at least 4 hours for that.

In Bengal, the streets are still reasonably good but as soon as you cross the Sikkim border, the streets get much worse. For Sikkim, foreigners need an extra permit, the standard India visa is not enough. The borderline appears to be the one of a new country: policemen are everywhere with loaded machine guns, they check your passport and you need to fill out some forms. It helps to have a copy (Xerox) of your passport. The lady at the border was friendly and helpful, the paper work went quite smooth but it’s anyways something that has to be done. When leaving Sikkim, you need to go back to the counter return some of the forms and get a stamp in your passport.

This extra permit is enough to travel to all the developed areas, most importantly the towns of Pelling and Gangtok. All areas further north, most of them nature conserve areas, are restricted and require another extra permit. You can ask the tour companies to do the paper work for you.

All of these regulations are subject to change. Ask Sikkim Tourism for updated information:

http://www.sikkimtourism.gov.in

Driving from Melli to Jorethang and Pelling

We did cross the Sikkim border at the Melli border control. After Melli, you drive along a valley for some time right next to the Rangeet River which also marks the border between Sikkim and Bengal. This part of the trip is still nice and relaxing even though the street is rather narrow. The next thing you reach is Jorethang, a very nice little town that makes a nice stop.

After Jorethang, the exhausting part of the trip starts: from now on the road constantly climbs up the mountain. For the last 60 km, you need three hours. There are no bridges or tunnel you just drive on a mountain street, sometimes on serpentines. We had a driver, driving ourselves would have been totally impossible, it was already exhausting the way it was. A big adventure! I have never driven that close to an abyss. The valley and mountain area are very beautiful: only a few streets and apart from that largely undeveloped area.

In Pelling: Khecheopalri Monastery and Kanchenjunga Water Falls

The following day, we went to see a Buddhist Monastery and a waterfall. The Khecheopalri Monastery and the waterfalls are close to Yuksom. Yuksom is, in East Sikkim, the last village that can be reached on roads. You can only do hiking to move further north.

Further information on the Monastery can be found in this article.

There are also the Rabdentse Ruins, leftsovers from the fallen Sikkim Kingdom and right next to it, the Pemayangtse Monastery. For Pelling, I would recommend to stay an entire day. Because reaching there is rather exhausting, you need an entire day for sightseeing in two nights in Pelling.

Hotels in Pelling

It’s not difficult to find a hotel in Pelling. Second only to Gangtok, Pelling has the most tourist infrastructure in Sikkim. There are also more fancy hotels. We did stay in the Seven Summit. Many of the other hotels were fully booked, the Five-Star-Hotel was all that was left for us. The rooms were clean, the hotel was really good. But even this place did not have a heating system. We had a heating pillow, a heating element for the mattress and warm water in the shower. But the rooms were still cold, really cold and the only warm place was under the blanket. Definitely consider that and bring warm winter clothes.

How To Reach Pelling

Sikkim currently does not have an airport, the closest airport in Bagdhora in Bengal. That is why most tourists travel from Darjeeling to Sikkim. There are busses from Darjeeling but also Shared Jeeps (Jeeps that come to meeting points and transport everybody who wants to). There are also train connections from Bengal. In the end all the standard ways to travel in India are available.

I would anyways recommend only two of them: per plane to Bagdhora and a driver from there. It takes a while to travel, distances are not long but slow. Driving yourself in the mountains is impossible; a driver is the easiest and least-stressful way to travel. We would not have made it without a driver.

Sikkim – A Big Adventure

Sikkim was a big adventure for us, an outstanding trip to more undeveloped areas at the outskirts of an Eightthousender. At the beginning I was not sure if all of that is worth it: all the time it takes, the border formalities and that exhausting drive. But I would not want to miss any of it. Sikkim is absolutely beautiful, great valleys and mountains, nature, plants and Buddhist monasteries and shine in sparkling beauty. We have by far not seen everything, but I would always comeback. It was a unique experience!

Der Beitrag Kanchenjunga: the Third-Highest Peak of the World in the Himalayans (8586 m) erschien zuerst auf travelspotting.

Darjeeling – A Village of World Reputation

Darjeeling – a word that sounds strangely familiar. Everyone has already heard the name. Darjeeling is very well-known ever since the English have started making tea here that gets exported it into the world. But: most people don’t neither know where locate it on the map or nor anything else about Darjeeling.

Here is some basic information about the little town:
Darjeeling has about 130,000 residents, In Europe that would count as a town, in India that is only a village. Darjeeling is on an elevation of 2000 meters in the state of Bengal (sometimes referred to as West-Bengal) at the foot of the Himalayans and usually serves as the gateway to the mountain area. Darjeeling is never really warm but mostly rainy. Its seasons are similar to the ones in Europe, June to August are the warmest time of the year, but temperature reach only 20 degrees on average. Winters are mild, temperatures don’t go below freezing point. The only real difference is the monsoon that makes summers usually wet.

Darjeeling – Home of the Famous Tea

Of course, first thing that comes to mind about Darjeeling is the famous black tea. Tea plantations are everywhere in and around Darjeeling. There are 150 tea plantations in Darjeeling, not all of them are open to public. You can do a tour on some or even book an overnight stay on others. We visited Happy Valley Tea Plantation. Happy Valley is right in Darjeeling, easy to reach and the best thing to do for a short tour. Full travel packages from the German travel agencies often include a visit to Glenburn Tea Estate. But there are many more tea estates to visit.

You can find a list here:
https://www.darjeeling-tourism.com/darj_00008b.htm

Anyways, some of the plantations on the list are rather far from Darjeeling.
We did not do much planning in advance, we just asked the driver and that worked quite well.

At the market place (end of Mall Road, easy to find) there is a “Tea Tasting”: a tea shop with a café where you can try several kinds of tea. The shop owner is Golden Tips, you find all kinds of tea here (black, green, white tea) to buy but also to try.

Toy Train: Small Railway in the Mountains

The English have built are narrow-gauge railway in Darjeeling. This was a way to manage the areas ascends: the train moves in circles up the hill. This means no bridges and tunnel are necessary. Today, this narrow-gauge train is still a tourist attraction, a classic steam train that drives from Ghoom to Darjeeling.

We did not take the train but saw it in Ghoom and Batasia Loop. Batasia Loop is a viewpoint from which you can see quite nicely how the train moves up the mountain in a circle. The train makes quite some noise and leaves a huge steam cloud behind. I would definitely recommend visiting Batasia Loop but I think you don’t really need a ride on the train.

Tiger Hill Viewpoint

Another very famous spot is the Tiger Hill Viewpoint. You can already see the Kanchenjunga from here. Tiger Hill is 11 km from Darjeeling but you still need 30 minutes to reach. Sunrise is at 5 am, you need to leave at 4.30 am. We were unlucky: it was rainy and cloudy, no view to the mountains at all. The following day was better; we could see the mountains but have missed the sunrise. We saw that later in Pelling.

The view from Tiger Hill is very good and very nice. If you are in Darjeeling, definitely try to find and see Kanchenjunga. If you travel further to Sikkim, you will have another change. But in the mountains, always use any opportunity the weather permits.

Tibetian Refugee Center and Japanese Peace Pagoda

Two more interesting spots are the Tibetian Refugee Center and the Japanese Peace Pagoda. Driving to the Tibetian Refugee Center (from 1959) is a steady climb on a hill. This center has several exhibits about the history of Tibet, its art and craft. There is some wooden and woolen work available, as well as carpets and leather. You can buy all these products in a store which is much cheaper than anything you find in town. The Refugee Center is definitely worth a visit.

Japanese Peace Pagoda (also called Japanese Temple and Peace Pagoda) is a spiritual place on Jalapar Hill. The Buddhist monastery was built as a sign of peace for people all over the world, no matter which race, religion or color. It wants to remind of peace and friendship, there are several peace pagoda worldwide. Darjeeling’s Peace Pagoda has a very good view.

Darjeeling Ropeway and Mall Road (Chowrasta)

There is a ropeway from Darjeeling to the valley. The rope did not work for us, because it was cloudy with no view at all. I’m sure the view to the valley is great on a good day. You can go down to a lower stop and visit a tea plantation.

Mall Road is Darjeeling’s center. Here, you find stores and restaurants the area is mostly blocked for cars and only open to walking traffic. There is a CCD (if you don’t know, that stands for Café Coffee Day, the Indian equivalent to Starbucks) with a very good valley view. A few steps further, you find the Golden Tipps tea store I mentioned above.

Traffic in Darjeeling

If you have ever been to India, you know the big mess traffic is there. Take all this mess, put it into a little mountain village with narrow streets and you have Darjeeling. Plus, there is a lot of walking traffic. Residents from Darjeeling quite often simply walk, and there are many kids in school uniforms walking around. Everything else, “typically Indian” is also there: rikschas, shared jeeps, busses, cars and scooters. Darjeeling has become a popular holiday destination for Indians that means many tourist cars (usually Toyota Innova) are everywhere. The toy train also drives every now. Parts of its tracks are on the street that means everyone needs to share the road with the train as well. As soon as the toy train comes, the entire traffic stops and collapses. But even without the toy train, traffic is very slow and you get stuck in traffic a lot, and only move very, very slowly.

How To Reach Darjeeling

Darjeeling does not have an airport. The closest airport is Bagdhora. You can reach Bagdhora easily with all Indian carriers. In Bagdhora, you should take a driver. There are no busses to Darjeeling and everything else is too exhausting and takes too long. There is a tourist counter at Darjeeling airport that was very helpful in organizing a driver and a tour. The drivers already wait at the airport. That is what we did, everything worked quite well.

It’s only 70 km from Bagdhora to Darjeeling but it takes 2 ½ hours. Driving along the mountains makes a nice road tour. You should stop every now and then to enjoy the view.
If you feel uncomfortable like this, you can book a driver in advance through your travel agency. You will not have a different driver, but maybe you have more security or feel you have more.

If you dare and have the nerves to do so, book when you are there. It’s not a problem at all, that is how things are done in India and you can trust it. It’s definitely much cheaper than anything you get from your travel agency.

Sightseeing in Darjeeling

The driver took us around and showed us everything that is important in Darjeeling. That was the right thing to do, without him we would not have seen that much. There is basically no parking anywhere. The drivers stop at the roadside, somehow turn around (I don’t know how they do it in these narrow streets.) and wait at the car. Things are such a mess; you need to leave these kind of things up to locals.

How to Combine Things:

You can go to Ghoom, on the way you pass Batasia Loop. The Samten Choling Monastery is right next to it. Tiger Hill Viewpoint is a bit further, also reachable via Ghoom.
At the other end of Darjeeling, there are Happy Valley Tea Estate, the Zoo and the Mountaineering Institute.

Resume Darjeeling

If you only know India’s large cities, you will see an entirely new and different India here. It’s colder, you are at the Himalaya outskirts and things are somehow, much more relaxed. People are very friendly, a bit of a chaos is there, but the mood is good and friendly. Even the street dogs look healthier and fitter. I have never seen any landscape that can be compared to Darjeeling. Tea Plantations are everywhere on steady mountains. There are thousands of visible power lines, but no bridges or tunnel. Definitely an extraordinary place and a good starting point for tours to the Himalaya Mountains.

Der Beitrag Darjeeling: a Popular Home of Tea at the Foot of the Himalaya Mountains erschien zuerst auf travelspotting.

Animal Conversation Projects and Diversity of Species in Kaziranga

Kaziranga Nationalpark has had some great success in the last years and decades in terms of protecting the one-horned rhino. About two thirds of its worldwide population can be found here. After being threatened by extinction for years, its population has now recovered.

Apart from the rhino, the park also has wild Asian elephants and wild water buffaloes. There are also several deer species and three spectacular wildcats in the park: the Bengal tiger, the Indian leopard and the clouded leopard. Last but not least several smaller species of monkeys. This list is incomplete, the park has many more mammals and reptiles.

The park is also known for its vast number of bird species: water birds, swamp birds, birds of prey and many more. Even India’s national animal, the kingfisher lives here.

More information about Kaziranga’s animals can be found here:

http://www.kaziranga.co.in/mammals.php (list of mammals)
http://www.kaziranga.co.in/reptiles.php (list of reptiles)
http://www.kaziranga.co.in/birds.php (list of birds)
http://www.kaziranga-national-park.com/wildlife-in-kaziranga-national-park.shtml

Which of These Animals Will I Really See?

During our safaris, we saw many wild elephants. The rhino was everywhere and we could see the water buffalo on several occasions and spots.

The safari takes place on a private jeep. You drive on an unpaved road and can see several animals simply by looking look left and right. Several jeeps take a tour, everyone on a slightly different route; you don’t meet the other jeeps a lot. But the tours are fixed the jeeps take a pre-determined tour. All the animals know the vehicles and do not feel disturbed. For example a rhino was sleeping right next t o the street. A group of elephants was walking with all their baby elephants close to the road. The jeeps stop as soon as there is something to see and wait.

I would not expect to see a tiger. Tigers a shy and prefer to be alone. They don’t live in herds. Tigers usually walk away as soon as humans appear. At one of these tours, all the jeeps stopped because allegedly there was a tiger somewhere. But that either was not the case of the tiger long gone. You need to be very lucky to see a tiger.

Entrances to Kaziranga Nationalpark

There are three entrances to the national park:

• the main entrance in Mihimukh, Kohora
• at the West in Baori
• at the East in Agartoli

Kohora is the touristic center of the national park. Here, you find some hotels, shops and souvenir stores. It’s the park’s main entrance.

There is a second, smaller entrance in Agartoli. This is where we had our first safari because our hotel was only 5 minutes from the gate. This area is not busy at all; we had our best safari here.

Agartoli in the east is particularly important to see many species of birds. For everything else, you can also take one of the other two gates.

We decided to do the west and main gate. Agartoli was too far from the hotel. You can reach all the gates on road 715 at the same time southern boundary of the park.

Taking a Safari Tour

There are many full packages available online. I think you don’t really need it. A hotel is enough; you can book a safari here. That is how we did it and it worked quite well.
In India, a car usually has a driver and an owner. Drivers a usually not well-off, rather poor, making little money and do not speak English (or very, very little). The safaris were not sold out at all. We had a jeep for 6 with only the two of us. Accordingly, the tour was a bit expensive, because we had to pay for the entire jeep. But it was a good thing to be alone on the jeep, not get disturbed and we could see very well in all directions, no one blocking our view.

The driver picked us up at the hotel, was in time and took us to the western entrance. One of us had to go to the park administration there we had to pay a second time and a ranger got in the car. A very unusual thing, from a German point of view was the fact that he was carrying a loaded rifle. In India, this kind of means we take care of our guests’ safety. From my point of view, there animals were not dangerous at all. The ranger tells the driver which road to take and they stop on several occasions.

At the end of the tour, the ranger left at the national park gate and the driver took us back to the hotel. There were demanding tip, demanding is too weak. They insisted on getting tip! As far as I know, India is not a “tip-country” (like e.g. the US). Claiming tip that strongly is unusual.

How To Reach Kaziranga

Kaziranga is a bit difficult to reach. You can go by plane to Guwahati, Assam’s capital. From here, it is another 4-hour-drive to Kaziranga, even though it’s only 200 km. Shortly after Guwahati, you need to drive up a mountain; these things are always rather slow in India. You need to plan an entire day to reach.

How Much Should I Book in Advance?

A basic rule is: you can do many things spontaneously and short-term in India. If it makes you feel better, book a hotel. But even that is not really necessary. You can easily organize the safaris when you are there. That’s what I would do. Traffic in India is unpredictable; you never know when exactly you reach.

Kaziranga – India’s Most Beautiful Nationalpark

Kaziranga was, to me, the most beautiful national I have seen in India. It was rather quiet, not too crowded and most importantly, we did indeed see animals. I never really expected to see a tiger. Our hotel room neighbors saw one, but that one was very far away and only became visible on the photo because of the big camera lens. For that, they were on the road for 12 hours straight with nothing but a short lunch break. I would not have made it twelve hours on that bumpy road and jeep.

One thing is very obvious: you are off the main routes, an area that is of no interest for all the big travel agencies. There were no travel groups from Europe of the US, there were rarely any other white people, but many well-off Indians on a holiday trip in their own country. This made everything more relaxed, friendlier, everyone was nice and open to foreigners.

Der Beitrag The Kaziranga Nationalpark in Assam: a Park at the Brahmaputra River in India’s Northeastern State erschien zuerst auf travelspotting.

Snorkeling – Loading the Boat

The Cozumels Reefs are world famous, a paradise for snorkeling and diving. There are several tour option some of them longer, other shorter.

We stayed on the island and could book for the following day. There are shorter tours, mostly for cruise guests with less time and longer tours to the world famous coral reefs in front of Cozumel. These reefs also attract many divers. We did one of the longer tours and could see the Palancar Reef. Some more examples of Cozumel Reefs are Columbia and Cielo Reef.

We did stay relatively far north, the boat stops at a small hotel where the tour agent took us. Several more people got in the boat. The boat goes along the island and picks up more guests until it’s really full.

Bags and bagpacks go in a net on the roof. There is no space on the floor because all the seats are taken. This is how you go to the reef. Snorkel, goggles and fins are provided, a life-vest is compulsory. As soon as everyone has all the equipment, people jump into the water one after another. The boss asked if someone is a first-time-snorkeler and if there is anyone who feels insecure. He did take special care of these people.

Palancar Reef in Cozumel

The tour guides are also in the water. The make sure that the group stays close and together. This is of particularly important. Everyone snorkels along the water; some hold their breath and dive a bit. One of the tour guides did dive a bit deeper but also without help only by holding his breath.

What you get to see is breathtaking: a reef of never ending colorful fish, much life, general bustle and everything absolutely stunning! We could see a stingray somewhere down. I have never seen anything like this, absolutely beautiful and fascinating!

Of course the reefs are busy: we did not see another snorkeling group. But a diving group was around, of course much deeper down.

As a snorkeler, you basically are stuck at surface of this little world. Yet, the view was great, the water crystal-clear and we could see everything. It’s difficult to say how far from the reef we really were.

The currents are there and make everyone move. Because everyone is looking down in the water, you sometimes crash into someone or someone crashes into you. After a while, I was really exhausted, really very exhausted and then the tour was over soon. Everyone goes back to the boat, the tour guides swims and dives close to the boat’s ladder and takes everyone’s fins off. After this, the tour is over. There is a small restroom on boat. At first I though that is a bit unnecessary, but you really need it on the way back.

Going Back

On the way back they serve cold drinks (Mexican beer and Coke). The tour guides did not have any they had another tour in the afternoon. Things are a bit Americanized: during the entire boat ride, they play music. This seems to be adjusted to American preferences. They take you back to the coast and we get off in opposite order.

Some Advice on How to Organise Yourself

You sit in the boat for a while, go snorkeling and go back to the boat wet. If you don’t feel like sitting in a bikini or swim trunks, you can take a beach cloth with you. Men can simply put a t-shirt on. Because of the strong sun, you should take some clothes with you. Also, addressed to mostly women, it feels better to sit in the boat with more than just a bikini.
Booking these tours is very simple: agencies are everywhere in Cozumel, all of them sell snorkeling tours. All you need to know is how much time you have, if you want to see a particular reef and how much money you are willing to spend. You book the tour and they tell you everything else (like when and where to leave). English is fine, they all know enough English. You can often book for the same day. Booking for the following day is definitely not a problem.

The tour was not cheap. I forgot the price. But we hesitated because of it. Anyways, I definitely recommend these tours. It was a totally unique experience!

Der Beitrag A Snorkeling Trip in Cozumel: Colourful Underwater Worlds at the Palancar Reef erschien zuerst auf travelspotting.

What is Sian Ka’an?

Sian Ka’an is a vast protected area, a UNESCO World Nature Heritage that stretches along a huge area of 5200 sqm. The area is on the eastern coast of Yucatan, south of the main tourist areas in Playa del Carmen. The Sian Ka’an coastline is almost non-settled and is thereby stands in contrast to the entire Yucatan Peninsula and its famous city of Cancun in the north or the Playa del Carmen holiday area further south. Also, there is very little infrastructure. The only “town” is Punta Allen can only be reached on am offroad path, there are no solid streets. On the way to Punta Allen, you can see a few smaller places to spend the night. But there aren’t many of them.

Yucatan’s east coast is rather tightly populated and has almost no empty space at all. Sian Ka’an makes the only exception: a huge piece of land with no buildings, streets or people, a highly complex system of water streets and mangroves in a swamp. It offers shelter for many species, animals and birds.

Doing a Tour to Sian Ka’an

For 100 dollars (or more) you can book a tour in a minibus to Sian Ka’an. It takes two hours (130 km) from Playa del Carmen to reach.

Sian Ka’an is huge and two routes are possible: driving along the coastline to Punta Allen or off the coastline in the swamp to Muyil. When we booked the tour, only one option was offered: driving along the coastline. The latter was never even mentioned. We could choose between two others options: a 10-person-minibus with a driver or driving in a Jeep ourselves.

According to our travel agency, the tour does not take place every day. We could only choose between Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. They said, jeep tours were not available for the day we picked. More about that follows later. It was ok for us; we wanted to go by minibus anyways. The tour started very early, we left at 5 am. The bus makes its tour, collects several people on the way and things are rather easygoing for the first two hours. The bus drives to Tulum where we meet all the other busses all vehicles continue the route together, heading to the park.

Several Hours of Offroad driving: Tour to Punta Allen

At this point, the tour gets interesting. The bus drives very slowly on a totally uneven, bumpy “road”. Calling it a road is already too much. There are huge bumps, the street is an uneven, unpaved mess and big trees and branches are everywhere. The ride itself is very, very bumpy. Thick branches get very close to the windows and things are getting exhausting. All the vehicles can only go very slowly. After 30 minutes, there is a stop at a viewpoint. After that the adventurous ride continued for another 3 hours. Nobody felt really good in the bus, everyone was eagerly waiting for the ride to end. If you have problems with this, make sure to sit in the first row on one of the passenger seats. We only had a Spanish speaking driver, the tour guide was somewhere else and the two front row seats were empty.

In Punta Allen, everyone was just exhausted and tired. I have to admit, I did not see a lot during the ride.

In Punta Allen, they have a short break for everyone and a smaller snack is served. If you fancy crab in the evening, you can order now. The restaurant itself is very nice, a rustic wooden construction with only a roof to offer shade, not even a solid building.

Boat Tour to A Coral Reef and Bird Island

The entire group (about 40 to 50 people) is not split into a Spanish speaking group and an English speaking group. We are to sit in little motorboats in groups of six. All the boats are leaving, not all together but in blocks. We saw dolphins (not so much of a surprise). The salespepople told us we would see sea turtle, that’s their way to promote the tour. But these sea turtles are very shy, you have to be very lucky to see them. One came up very shortly, saw all the boats and disappeared into the depth within seconds.

The boat ride on the ocean is anyways really nice. The sea shines in many different colors of blue and green, the coastline is very pretty. After a while, we reach a riff. Now it’s time to snorkel. Our little boat had one guide who also did the snorkeling tour. He really did jump into the water with all his clothes on (long pants, long shirt) and that is how he swam. After a few minutes, the snorkeling is over and you get back on the boat.

The second boat stop is “Bird Island”: two mangrove islands full of birds. You can see many different species here; Sian Ka’an has 379 different bird species. All the boats circle the small islands slowly, the birds don’t care about the boats and you have time to take some pics.

After that the boats stop in a lagoon, you are still deep in the ocean but the water is flat (only about 1.5 meters) and you can walk to the beach. After a short time to swim, the boats go back to Punta Allen.

Back in Punta Allen: Dinner and Driving Back

In Punta Allen, things get a little messy because everyone takes off their swimming clothes and changes. A dinner buffet is served and after that the bumpy drive back starts.
This trip is much worse than the first because now you know what’s waiting for you. After a long, bumpy ride you reach road 307 and Tulum. While we were driving back, we met the Mexican Army, on the same bumpy road, driving equally slow. But several soldier with machine guns were standing on the pick-up.

More Tour Varities: Self-Drive Offroad Tours

As mentioned above, they told us Jeep tours are not available for that day. But: several jeeps were driving with us. I seriously doubt that this makes a cool trip. Every jeeps has four passengers, if there is only two of you, you need to share the car and the driving experience with strangers. The jeeps tour was even more expensive than the bus tour. Before you book a jeep tour, you should definitely be aware of the fact that the jeep is not just for you but needs to be shared.

On the way to Punta Allen, at the viewpoint, some tourists did not get back to the bus but in several boats and reached Punta Allen by boat. Why nobody ever offered us this option, I really don’t know. It would have been great to spend less time in the bus on that shitty street.

Muyil Entrance

Muyil is another entrance further south. Here, you can find more Maya ruins and more countryside: fresh water, mangroves, manatees, the jungle, swamps and many animals. We did not do this tour but I would like to do it someday.

Nature Protection and Animal Preserve Area

It becomes very obvious that this is a protected area: swimming with sea turtles is not possible (very good) also dolphins are never chased or surrounded. All boat drivers did that very well. Also, there are very few buildings anywhere, for most parts it’s simply pristine nature.

About the Tour: Information and Some Advice

Our tour guide shortly introduced himself in Tulum and was not seen again till Punta Allen. He was the only English speaking tour guide for the whole group. In Punta Allen, he talked to us again, and apologized that he cannot be in all the busses at the same time. Our bus driver was very nice but knew close to no English whereas we know only very little Spanish. Communication in the bus was only possible because two guests from Spain who knew English very well, were translating for all the other 5 English-speakers. They could translate some stories and anecdotes which was actually great.

When it comes to these organized tours you never need to worry about food. Dinner and lunch is not a five star meal but it’s ok.

Driving took a long time, we did a day trip from Playa del Carmen. I would not do it again, I would rather stay in Tulum and go from there. Maybe even two or three nights in Tulum, for tow day trips one to Muyil and one to Punta Allen.

A second way to do it is to sleep in Punta Allen or somewhere else in Sian Ka’an. I find some offers online, for example sleeping in a tent on the beach. I’m sure that is a great thing to do: being here in the mornings and evenings with only a few people, before all the day trippers arrive. I’m not sure a how you can reach by yourself: my first guess is a rental jeep supposedly, there is also a collective.

I would not book the off-road jeep tour for four; I find it too expensive for too little. I would ask if I can reach Punta Allen partly or entirely per boat and try to avoid the long, exhausting ride.

In conclusion, I really want to recommend Sian Ka’an to everyone. It is so beautiful, considering some of the organizational remark I have made, and you will definitely be able to enjoy a trip here. I would come back any time!

Der Beitrag Sian Ka’an: an ecological biosphere and UNESCO World Nature Heritage South of Tulum erschien zuerst auf travelspotting.

Tulum: South of Playa Del Carmen

Tulum is, as well as Chichen Izta (see article on Chichzen Itza here) one of the most frequently visited Maya ruins. The former Maya port is located on a rock about 12 meters above sea level. Tulum can be reached easily from all the hot spots around: it’s only 60 km from Playa del Carmen (45 km), twice as much from Cancun (120 km, 1 h 45 min). Because of this, a high number of visitors are coming every day. For us, it was a bit unfortunate to go there in the Christmas Week, it was extremely crowded. Lawns and ruins are blocked; crowds need to walk on the walking paths in front of the buildings and lawns. At times, these ways were so crowded there was not even enough space to walk anywhere.

Three Areas: Hotel Zone, Village and the Maya Ruins

You reach the ruins by walking from the parking area to a little village. In the end, the village is nothing more but a chain of tourist shops selling all kinds of necessary and unnecessary stuff. From there, it’s a 10-Minute-walk to the ruins. Another area in Tulum is the hotel zone.

We did take the Collectivo from Playa del Carmen. Even though, we left really early in the morning, we still did not manage to reach before the crowds were there. It was hot and overcrowded. Chichzen Itza was also crowded but things were smoother here, we had enough space to circle the pyramid and walk around. In Tulum, things were more difficult. The Maya Ruins consist of many smaller and bigger ruins, in order to see all of them you need to take a walking tour.

I understand that these ruins need to be protected. The area is very busy, many visitors and it makes sense to have everyone just walk in front of the ruins on the trail. But, every now and then we could not even stop on the way without blocking another 20 people. The buildings are really beautiful, I wanted to have more time to see them. What we had was basically a run along the ruins.

Eye catcher of the area is definitely the “Castillo”, a temple in the center and biggest building of Tulum.

All in all: it was too crowded. The walking paths in Tulum are too narrow for all the visitors. Next time, I would book a hotel in Tulum and come very early in the morning (or maybe late in the evening) before the tour busses arrive.

One of Tulums’ two beaches is open, you can swim here. If you are interested in that, bring some swimming clothes with you. With all the heat and all the walking, this is a nice way to cool down. The beach, right in front of these ancient ruins is beyond compare, even though (as already mentioned) a bit crowded.

How To Combine A Trip to Tulum: Sian Ka’an, Coba and Several Cenotes

A forth zone in Tulum is Sian Ka’an: a big nature-protected area south of Tulum. Tulum is worth staying several nights: one day Tulum Ruins, at least one more for Sian Ka’an and also the Coba ruins (about 50 km from Tulum) can be reached easily.

Moreover there are several cenotes around Tulum (Maya Blue, Temple of Doom, Tortuga, Vacaha, Grand Cenote, Abejas, Nohoch Kiin, etc.).

I could easily spend several days here. It’s a nice are with many attractions and lots of things to do.

Der Beitrag Tulum – Pittoresque Mayaruins at the Caribbean Sea erschien zuerst auf travelspotting.

Punta Sur: How to Reach

Punta Sur is south of the ferry and the cruise port in Cozumel. From the ferry port in San Miguel de Cozumel it is 35 km and 45 minutes (from the cruise port further south the ride is 10 minutes less).

You can either take a cab, rent a car or a scooter. A scooter is sufficient to get there. Until the cruise port, you share the road with the rest of the traffic, in particular with the locals. But they definitely are considerate and take care of tourists on scooters. A little south of the cruise port, the street splits into two: there is a regular (“big”) road and on the right a smaller version of it. On a scooter, the smaller road is the best place for you. This small street ends shortly before Punta Sur.

The Punta Sur entrance is on the west, the nature-protected area is at the eastern side (ocean) of the island. They charge 14 dollars and after that you can drive along a sandy coast-road. We could easily do this on a bike; the street was unpaved but good. I think you don’t necessarily need a car. See also here – an artcile on renting a scooter on Cozumel.

The Coastal Road in Punta Sur: Coast, Mangroves, Lagoons and Beaches

Some advice to find your way: there is a reggae bar right at the entrance where they sell all kinds of cheesy tourist items. From here, a 4-km-road leads to the lighthouse the island’s southern peak. On this way, you have already overshot a little lagoon that you will further circle on the way to the beaches.

After another 4 km along the coastline, you reach the final destination of the park: Punta Sur Beach. The beach has a restaurant, sun beds, umbrellas and several snorkeling and diving options. The sun beds are for free (basically included in the 14 dollar entrance fee you had to pay).

The Punta-Sur-Coast road is about 8 km, you need approximately 20 minutes. It’s definitely worth to go slower and stroll around a bit. You can even stop, check the inland or enjoy the view. You see the ocean but also a lagoon with mangroves and fresh water where alligators live. If you are lucky enough you can see many rare birds. Several spots have wooden bridges and platform that offer a good view at the swamps and lagoons.

There is also a smaller riff, right in front of Punta Sur. The larger ones can only be reached by boat, though. You don’t need to come to Punta Sur for the riff, the boat leave even further north at the hotels.

There are some more offers we did not do: taking a boat tour in the lagoon, taking and offroad jeep tour.

I would definitely visit Punta Sur again, we liked it so much, we even came twice.

Der Beitrag Eco park Punta Sur in Cozumel: A beach area full of dunes, mangroves, forest and coral reefs erschien zuerst auf travelspotting.

How to Reach

Tours to Chichen Itza are sold everywhere in Cancun, Playa del Carmen and around. The most common tour is a little bus (9 – 12 people). The busses are usually full. There is an English-speaking tourist guide and a driver. The tour takes all day and there are several stops on the way to the pyramid. Booking a tour is very simple: the salespeople find you, usually already on the street, and you can easily book for the following day.

The busses go from one hotel to the next and collect all the guests. They take everyone back the same way. Of course, that takes a while and you need to be patient but it’s not a big thing.

Chichen Itza in right in the center of the Yucatan Peninsula and can be reached easily from Cancun (200 km) and from Playa del Carmen (180 km). We even went from Cozumel that was still possible.

As soon as you are in the bus, it’s no longer in your hands what is about to happen. The busses follow a standard procedure and stop several times.

What you Get To See: The Pyramid and More Maya Ruins

Most important stop is of course the Maya Ruin Chichen Itza. There are all the smaller tour busses but also larger ones with about 60 people and private vehicles. All in all a very busy place. The tour guide bought all the tickets, paid and leads us to the Pyramid and its surrounding buildings. All the information he gave us about the ruins, its past, its history and original purpose were vital. Without it I would not have been able to understand many things.

The area has some acoustic characteristics that only become clear when you clap and follow the echo. The whole area is very impressive and brings old Mayan history and settlement back to life. You see the leftover of an ancient high culture. I have never seen anything like that.

After the tour, you have some time to walk around and see the rest of the area. It has a large span: 16 square kilometers. The guided tour leads to the pyramid, several temples and a former playground. You don’t get to see everything farther away but can walk there yourself. There are also two cenotes (holy water holes) to where you can walk. But you don’t have much time after the guided tour, you need to hurry.

You cannot visit the inside of the buildings, including the pyramid. This was possible in the past but due to several accidents on pyramid’s stairs, they are no longer open to public.

Our tour guide gave us several warnings not to buy from the street sellers. He said all the wooden items will give you termites at home and everything else is of inferior quality and basically shit. In short: refrain from anything.

On tripadvisor, many people complain about street sellers and the things they sell. Yes, the salespeople are there and they mainly sell cheap, useless, cheesy stuff. They yell a bit and are a bit loud. But that’s it. I don’t find them that pushy and that annoying. Simple ignore them and you don’t have a problem.

More Stops on the Tour: Valladoid and a Cenote

The only bigger town on the tour is Valladoid. It was our final stop on the way back. Because we were running out of time, we only stopped in the city center for a very short period of time. All in all, not really worth mentioning!

There was a second stop on the tour that was quite nice: at a cenote (holy water hole). You can walk to the cenote, and go swimming if you want to. The area was well equipped: there was a dressing room to change your swimming clothes and a café.

More stops on the tour were a souvenir store with all kinds of stupid tourist items (the stop here was way too long for me), a lunch buffet (huge but also many busses that stop there) and a gas station. The lunch buffet (including a very cheesy dance performance) was ok; everything else is pointless and not necessary.

Bus Tours to Chichen Itza

Taking the bus is the standard way to do a tour here. That means: all the busses arrive at the same time in Chichen Itza. It was really very crowded. But it’s a vast area: you can still see the pyramid and circle it without a problem. All other buildings are far apart from each other, there is definitely enough space. In this case – and that is a rare exception – you can easily be in a crowd of people, still see everything and find enough space in general.

The entrance is a bit messy: all the tour busses look the same. At that point, you know why all the tourist guides wait at the entrance and collect their people. I really would not have found our bus.

All the stopping on the way and the lunch breaks makes the group arrive right in the mid-day heat. Definitely bring sunscreen and a hat, it’s warm and the sun is strong!

If you have your own car, come on the morning before the tour busses arrive.

Anyone visiting Cancun, Playa del Carmen or Yucatan should visit the pyramid. Even when it’s crowded, you should not miss this attraction!

Der Beitrag A Day Trip to Chichzen Itza – Most Popular Culture Program for Yucatan Tourists erschien zuerst auf travelspotting.

Monument Valley – Part of the Navajo Reservation in Utah and Arizona

The Monument Valley is a three-hour-drive from the Grand Canyon. It is located northeast, right at the Arizona state border in middle of the Navajo reservation. There is only one hotel in the valley: the View Hotel. Another option to spend the night is in Kajeta, a little village 20 minutes from Monument Valley. Kajenta does not offer much; it’s in the middle of nowhere. Don’t expect more than a place to stay for one night. Monument Valley can be combined with a ride to the Grand Canyon Nationalpark or the Arches Nationalpark in Utah. Both parks are about 3 hours from Monument Valley (Grand Canyon Southwest, Arches North).

We drove from Grand Canyon to Monument Valley after sunset when it was too dark to stay in Grand Canyon and reached Kayenta in the evening. He had a room in Kayenta for one night and went to Monument Valley the following morning to see the sunrise.

Sunrise at Monument Valley – Breakfast in The View Hotel

Early that day, we drove to Monument Valley on highway 163 to see the sunrise. Sunrise is a very special time in Monument Valley: the light emphasizes the red color of the rocks even more. It is a very good time to take beautiful pictures. A viewpoint for this is the place in front of the visitor center (you also find the View Hotel here). This spot offers an extraordinary view to the popular rock formations. The view you have here is the well-known perspective of the valley. Until here, it is easy to drive yourself. A proper, solid street leads to the visitor center. The hotel had a breakfast buffet. We were thinking it’s not worth asking, this place is super-exclusive and breakfast will cost more than 20 Dollars per person. But that was wrong, I’m glad we asked because the breakfast was only 10 Dollars. Having a breakfast here was the right thing to do: sitting at your table and enjoying the view was perfect after that sunrise. I would recommend doing that.

Monument Valley is located on a plateau, quite above sea level. That is why it can be cold in winter. On the pics you see in tiny bit of snow in the valley. Watching the sunrise was really cold, even though we had proper winter clothing. You will probably need a warm jacket here, unless you come in the summer months.

Driving on 27 km Unpaved Road – Monument Valley Road

The only way to continue your route and drive in the Valley is an unpaved road called Monument Valley Road that starts at the visitor center. Lonely Planet says this can be done in a standard passenger car. But I disagree, we tried it, it didn’t work. We did the first bend of the road, drove a bit further down a hill and a little further just straight. All in all, maybe 800 meters. This little part was enough for us to give up: the car bounces, we heard bumps and noises all the time, and potholes were everywhere. The ground was wet, muddy and plashy; you could only drive walking pace. We stopped because there was a huge puddle all the way across the road. We don’t know how much water it had but it definitely looked deep. We decided to not drive any further and not take any risk with our rental car. Maybe it would have been possible to drive cross that puddle, maybe we should have been driving faster while crossing those potholes. That’s difficult to say now. For us, it was too risky to damage our rental car.

The residents of the valley offer Jeep tours. There are different tour options available. All these jeeps drive faster and with much more routine and confidence through these potholes and all the mud. We could not have done it ourselves. Anyways, most likely they try to fill the jeep that means you will have to squeeze and share the car with other guests.

We were there in very low season (you can the snow on the pics). The valley had very few visitors. In and in front of the visitor center, there are many tour options and offers available. The shortest tour was offered for 80 bucks per person. None of us wanted to pay that much. We were a group of four: we would have to pay 80 dollar per person, not per jeep. After long and difficult negotiations, the price became much less. In the end, we paid 25 dollar per person. I doubt this would have worked the same way in the main season. When we were there, there were rarely any other tourists around. I think they decided to drive for little money instead of not driving at all.

Three Sisters, Totem Pole, the Thumb and John-Ford-Point

The tour itself was nice. It leads a bit further into the valley; you get to see many rock formations that are not visible from the hotel. I wasn’t sure if I’d be interested in the tour at all, in particular because I was supposed to pay 80 dollars. I have to say, it was worth doing the tour. You get to see the popular rock formations Three Sisters, Totem Pole, the Thumb and the John-Ford-Point. John-Ford-Point is a rock ledge that was used for many shots in John Ford’s movies but also Ford himself enjoyed standing there and watching larger scenes with many extras from there.

On the tour, several ladies sell jewellery, they say it’s authentic Indian jewellery. Necklaces and bracelets are pretty and not expensive (10 – 20 Dollar). You also get to see some Indian homes, even though these homes seem a bit artificial and made for tourists. In fact, all residents don’t live here but in different area that is not open to public.

At the John-Ford-Point you can take pictures with a rented horse at the rock ledge. I didn’t do that, that’s not my kind of thing. Horse lovers can also do an entire tour on a horse. I cannot say if that is good or not. I’m rather skeptical when it comes to using animals for touristic purposes.

When you do the longer guided tour, you see some places in the park that are only accessible with a tour guide. Because we had paid so little, of course they only did the short tour. To us, that was sufficient.

At the very end of that unpaved road, a little Opel Corsa came along. Somehow, these guys made it to the very end of that road. It don’t know how that was possible. The longer you drive along that road, the less standard cars you see. All the regular cars disappear one after another. At some point of the route, only Jeeps still drive along the road except that one Corsa.

Well-known because of it s many TV and film appearances

Monument Valley has appeared in many movies. The first movie the be shot there was Stagecoach with John Wayne, by John Ford. Ford made another nine movies in Monument Valley. Clint Eastwood’s The Eighter Section was also shot here, the Totem Pole appears prominently in this one.

Many famous scenes also play here: Forrest Gump ends his long run here, Tom Cruise climbs in the Mission Impossible II opening sequence, the Transformers Autobots reunite (Transformers: Age of Extinction). Many scenes with Jonny Depp in The Lone Ranger were filmed here. Just recently, HBO’s Westworld used Monument Valley as a filming location.
A very well-known campaign is the Marlboro campaign with the Marlboro cowboy. This was also made here. Many car ads are made here as well.

When you have visited Monument Valley, you recognize it in many films, ads and publications. Everyone has already seen Monument Valley somewhere. It’s the blueprint for all Wild West Impressions. It shows how we imagine the Wild West to be.

Suggestions and Ideas

Visiting the Monument Valley is highly recommendable. It’s the best place to take nice pics. I would not recommend doing a tour in a regular car. I think the road is simply too bad. A rental jeep would have worked. Or rental car (Dodge Grand Caravan) was not right. Maybe it’s possible to drive there yourself if you have offroad experience or are a very good driver. Anyways, we couldn’t.

The 80 Dollar-guided-tour is pricy, 80 would have been too much or us. I’m glad we bargained hard and got a better price, without the tour we would have missed a lot. Although the visitor center has a great view, it’s necessary to move further into the valley and see more rock formations.

The driver was a bit annoyed and not very motivated or friendly. Maybe that was because of the low price. The tour itself was ok, we saw all important rock formations and it took exactly as long as planned.

I would always do Monument Valley if I was in Grand Canyon. It requires an extra 2 days. Driving there, spending time there and continuing your route takes about 2 days (1 night). Half a day is enough for monument valley. If you are very enthusiastic about it, you can also camp there and hike.

Our next stop was Page in Arizona. This is where you find the Horseshoe Bend, Lake Powell and Antelope Canyon. Page is about 2 hours (200 km) from Monument Valley.

See also:

Article about the Horseshoe Bend

Der Beitrag Face of the Wild West: Monument Valley erschien zuerst auf travelspotting.