Muyil — sometimes called Chunyaxché — sits at the northern edge of the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve, twenty-five kilometres south of Tulum on Highway 307. The Maya site is modest in scale but atmospheric: the tallest temple, El Castillo, rises seventeen metres above the jungle canopy. A wooden walkway leads through the rainforest to a viewing tower and then down to the Muyil lagoon.
The reason most visitors come is the boat ride: a short trip across the lagoon ends at a Maya-dug canal, where you put on a life jacket and float gently along the current through the mangroves to a second lagoon. The whole experience — ruins, jungle walkway, boat float — takes about three hours and is a quieter alternative to the standard Sian Ka'an tour from the beach road.