Chichen Itza in Mexico is a place that I have only ever seen on television but is a place that, as soon as I saw it, I thought I had to visit.

Visit Chichen Itza.

Chichen Itza was a large pre-Columbian city built by the Maya people. The archaeological site is located in Tinúm Municipality, Yucatán State, Mexico. The site exhibits many architectural styles reminiscent of central Mexico and the Puuc and Chenes styles of the Northern Maya lowlands. The presence of central Mexican styles was once thought to have been representative of direct migration or even conquest from central Mexico. Still, most contemporary interpretations view the presence of these non-Maya styles more as the result of cultural diffusion.

Chichen Itza was one of the largest Maya cities and likely to have been one of the mythical great cities, or Tollans, referred to in later Mesoamerican literature. The city may have had the most diverse population in the Maya world, which could have contributed to the variety of architectural styles at the site.

The ruins of Chichen Itza are federal property, and Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History maintains the site's stewardship. The land under the monuments had been privately owned until 29 March 2010, when Yucatán purchased it.

Chichen Itza is one of Mexico's most visited archaeological sites; an estimated 1.2 million tourists visit the ruins annually.