Tulum, Q.R. — The National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) reports the opening of the Xel Há Archaeological Zone. The tourist site is located in the municipality of Tulum and was reopened to the public July 6, 2026.
The director of the INAH Quintana Roo Centre, Margarito Molina Rendón, highlighted that “Xel-Há is the last archaeological site in Quintana Roo to reopen to the public out of the 11 that benefited from the Archaeological Zone Improvement Program (Promeza).
“Now, visitors will have a better experience on their tours,” she said.
“In addition, they can now visit two new museums created as part of the Maya Train project: the Regional Museum of the Eastern Coast of Tulum and the Historical Museum of the City of Felipe Carrillo Puerto,” he noted.
The heritage site can be visited again after the completion of various improvement works on visitor service infrastructure, conservation of archaeological monuments and optimization of trails and signage.
Xel Há, whose name comes from the Mayan words xel, piece or entrance, and há, water (entrance of water), had two main occupations in pre-Hispanic times.
The first, in the Early Classic period (250-600 AD); and the second, in the Late Postclassic (1200-1550 AD).
Upon the arrival of the Spanish, the Mayan city was abandoned. Many of its inhabitants died from the new diseases brought by the Europeans (smallpox, yellow fever, diphtheria, etc.), and others fled inland.
