Day trip to Tulum. Originally known as Zama (city of dawn), the beautiful archaeological site of Tulum (Yucatec Mayan word for fence, wall, or trench) with its surrounding walls may have been built to defend against both invasion and to separate classes. One of the third most visited archaeological sites in Mexico, just after Teotihuacan (40 kilometers north of Mexico City) and Chichen Itza, it is located 80 miles (129 kilometers) south of Cancun at the end of the Riviera Maya, about a two-hour drive.