Tulum

When on a Mexico vacation do visit Tulum, the site of a pre-Columbian Maya walled city which holds the honour of being the most picturesque archaeological site on the Riviera Maya in the Yucatan Peninsula and the only one to have been built overlooking the sea as it is located on a series of cliffs 12 metres/39 feet in height.  

It was an ancient Mayan fortress city that rose to power between the 13th and 15th Centuries and actually survived for a further 70 years after the initial Spanish occupation. It is one of the best-preserved archaeological sites in the country and the third most visited on a Mexico vacation package.  

A walkway extends out around the ruins and a staircase nearby leads down to the beach where you can swim and sunbathe. Tulum is one of the few archaeological sites in Mexico where it really does make sense to bring a swimsuit so the best way to experience Tulum is to combine a tour of the ruins with some beach time.

It appears to have been an important site for the worship of the Diving or Descending god and had an estimated population of 1,000 to 1,600 inhabitants.