Arrive early and you can spend the day exploring this beautiful city. You can fly into Cancun or Merida and then take the very comfortable 1st class bus to Valladolid - it's about a 2.5 hour trip. Valladolid is one of the Yucatan's largest and most pleasing colonial cities. The spectacular cenote Zací is a great place to take a dip and cool off. Valladolid's churches, parks, markets and the beautiful zocalo are all worth a visit.

Ek Balam means 'black jaguar' in Mayan. This site many well have achieved pivotal status in the public affairs of eastern Yucatan and judging from its monumental architecture it was quite probably an influential city. Much of the Yucatan's agriculture is centered around Tizimin, a pleasant town with some great Yucatecan restaurants.

We head north along more very quiet roads, this time along some fairly untouched thick tall forest, quite unusual in the Yucatan. Arriving in Chiquila, we'll await the next ferry for a short crossing over to Isla Holbox.

Enjoy a tranquil rest day on this scenic island. We'll also be seeing carnaval parades and other festivities.

This is our longest day of cycling, and there's plenty to enjoy along the way. Besides the quiet roads, very pleasant for cycling, we will visit Tres Reyes and Punta Laguna. In Tres Reyes we have the opportunity to visit some cenotes and do some rappelling. A little further down the road we will enter Punta Laguna eco-park where we can visit more cenotes, take a jungle trek where we'll see spider monkeys and can take a dip in a beautiful clear lagoon.

We'll get an early start on the Coba ruins and again beat the crowds. Coba boasts the Nohoch Mul, which at 42m high is the tallest Mayan structure in the Yucatan peninsula. There are also a series of 'Sacbe' which are elevated stone roads built by the Mayans. One of these, the longest, extends for 100km all the way to Yaxuna. Leaving Coba, we'll take the back road out, along a newly paved stretch taking us towards Tihosuco. Along the way we have the opportunity to visit several cenotes, and pass through some small Mayan towns and villages. In Tihosuco we will visit the Caste War museum and experience modern Mayan culture with a homestay.

The final stretch back to Valladolid is pretty much straight north. We'll ride along quiet forested roads through some towns and finally back to the colonial gem of Valladolid.

You can get on a bus back to Merida or to Cancun to catch your flight back home, or else stay a little longer and enjoy the colonial gem that is Valladolid. Visit its churches, parks, markets and beautiful zocalo, cool off in the cenotes and sample the Yucatan's delicious cuisine at one of Valladolid's many restaurants.