Hacienda Chichen is one of the oldest haciendas in the Yucatán, built in the 16th century partly from the stones of earlier Maya buildings. In 1894 the American consul Edward Thompson bought it and spent three decades excavating the ruins next door, and later the Carnegie Institution's archaeologists used it as their base. It became one of the Yucatán's first hacienda hotels, and its 28 rooms and suites, many in the cottages that housed the dig team, are each named for an archaeologist who stayed there.

The ruins are about 300 yards away, close enough to arrive before the day visitors. Chichen Itza's builders encoded the sun's yearly cycle across the city, from El Caracol, the round tower the Maya used to follow Venus and the seasons, to the Temple of Kukulkán, where a serpent of light and shadow descends the stairway at the equinoxes.

The hacienda runs as an eco-hotel across 300 acres of gardens and protected forest, with the Yaxkin Spa offering traditional Maya treatments and dinner served outdoors in the garden.

Worth knowing before booking: the town of Pisté and the site's evening light shows keep the sky from being truly dark. The reason to stay here is time at the ruins at the turn of the seasons, not deep-sky viewing.

STARGAZING AMENTIES: 300 yards from Chichen Itza for early access before day visitors, views toward the ruins, 300 acres of gardens and protected forest