La Tortuga Hotel and Spa

Location: 35 miles south of Playa del Carmen to Tulum, and then 26 miles west on the road to Valladolid.

open daily from 8 to 5

Facilities: None, bring everything you may need; you can go back to Tulum for lunch or dinner.

Recently discovered Cobá ("waters stirred by the wind"), built between two lakes, is one of the most important archaeological sites in the area. It flourished between the years 300 and 900 A.D. and was once a very large city, with nearly 50,000 inhabitants scattered over 50 square miles.

Coba's importance in its time is linked to the great cities of Tikal and Copan.

It may have been a center of crop production and trade connecting the coast and the interior of the Yucatan Peninsula.
The main pyramid, Nohuch Mul, "large hill", is 42 meters high (138 feet) and is the highest in the Yucatan Peninsula.

The pyramid known as La Iglesia, (The Church), is second in height and from its summit visitors have a spectacular view of lake Macanxoc.

Further north is Punta Laguna, a large lake famous for the abundance of howler and spider monkeys that inhabit its shores.