Day Trip To Tulum Mayan Ruins And Visit Cenote Nohoch With Lunch

Great tour, it was very informative and interesting. The guide let us go at our own pace most of the time.

Sandro the tour guide was outstanding and knowledgeable. He helped a lady that felt ill and a child that was very scared to participate in the cenote activity. He modified the trip for the abilities of each person. Great experience and he’s very knowledgeable.

Good tour for Spanish speakers (I am not, so I felt like burden at times). I didn’t see anything about the following so I will address them here: Things to bring/not bring, Hotel Pickup/Dropoff, Additional Fees, Check-in, and lunch timing. I want to emphasize that it was worth the day to take this excursion and was cared for by main driver (Hugo) and tour guide (Sandro). Pickup Time: Chatting with the girls from Canada they shared that they had to be ready for pickup at 6am as their hotel was at the Northern area of Cancun. At the Westin (South) our pickup time was at 6:30am and came at an extra fee so keep that in mind. They gave a “closest” free pickup spot that I would’ve had to get to on my own, but as solo traveler it felt safer to be picked up outside of the hotel lobby. As this is an early timeframe I recommend that you have something for breakfast in your room as the restaurants don’t open that early. Thankfully I bring packets of oatmeal for occasions such as these. At least pickup some fruit the night before. Things to bring: I wanted to kiss my Yeti thermos that had my ice water that I made time to pack for the day! My battery powered fan is worth its weight in gold, and my umbrella was worth the extra weight it added to my luggage. I would classify all these items as required if you live in “colder” climates and are visiting the region in late spring (Mid May). The only downside of this day was that the pickup driver almost had a disdain for speaking English. He was able to confirm I was to be picked up and my name, but outside of that he essentially ignored me until we met up with our tour bus (we then checked in with a large bus and met our tour guide). To make checking in easier I would recommend that you print out your voucher rather than having it on your phone as checking in one the main bus would’ve gone faster. Water: In fact, you cannot bring plastic water bottles into the Park (Tulum itself), they only allow thermos’s like mine (guide held up my Yeti as an example). They take maintenance of this beautiful park very seriously and I can appreciate that! However, for those that had to leave their plastic water bottles on the bus…I was very concerned given the rising temperatures. There is canned water you can purchase from the library/gift shop so that is an option, however on a 90 degree day a sip of ice water from my thermos was like heaven and received some envious looks as I took a drink and the ice made itself known. People who vape (I’m not one, but there were some others): It will need to be left on the bus as it is prohibited in the park. In fact if you have a large backpack you will need to leave that behind as well. You will have to go through metal detectors/etc and they encourage bare essentials only. I ended up leaving my small dry bag on the bus and it was perfectly safe. I think Hugo stayed with it most of the time, or had it locked when he wasn’t. Snack: I highly recommend you bring a snack with you. If not, another option is to get a snack at the market in Tulum (after the tour - which would be around noon-1pm). There was a nice little restaurant where you could sit in the shade and have a light snack and cold drink. I know, this tour says lunch is included. And it is, but you will be driving to Cenote, swimming in Cenote, and then you will have lunch (approximately 2:30pm). So having a small apple or banana before you get off the bus in Tulum would’ve been great if I had only known lunch means “late” lunch. Tour: I love history and learning about cultures, especially ancient cultures. Sandro is a great teacher and it shows. He made time to talk through the significance of Tulum and what daily life would’ve been like…which I love to learn about. He made time for everyone (and then speak in English for the 5 of us who needed it) and was easy to ask follow up questions to…which I did. Bathrooms: All bathrooms in Tulum and Cenote were very clean and had attendants (definitely leave a tip as they were very gracious). So you can leave the TP at home (this is for the ladies of course). Cenote: What I love about Mexico is that it is so diverse when it comes to terrain/landscapes. You can visit one Cenote and it would be totally different than the next one. That’s what I liked about this tour as well. This specific Cenote apparently is favored by cave divers (as there is a special section just for them). You can swim into some caves that looked like fun, but I’m not a strong swimmer so I stayed behind and soaked me feet…where fish came to give my toes some light taps :) They also have hammocks if you’d rather rest. I did both and enjoyed my visit. I wish that I had known the Cenote was for strong swimmers only otherwise I wouldn’t have worn my swimsuit. So if you are not a strong swimmer leave the swimsuit at the hotel and just wear something light (it can be HOT) and comfortable. Lunch: Last (and it felt like a millennia) but not least the lunch was AMAZING! I think it was the combination of the local cuisine and being absolutely ravenous by lunch time, but was healthy and delicious. They even had salad and some vegetarian options (which I can’t speak to as I am not). The pork taco was my favorite! Drop off: This was seamless as we got to stay on the big bus to be dropped off at our hotel. Again, Hugo the driver did a great job getting us back to Cancun safely…and quickly :) I didn’t know a bus that size had that kind of handling power. I hope that this helps someone in reading this! I definitely recommend the tour, just a couple of things to be mindful of to make your visit that much more pleasant

There was no microphone - hard to hear. Long wait at the shops before the tour, with constant sales pressure. (We had to wait there/no other choice). No water. Tour description didn’t mention need for reusable water bottle, and didn’t mention we needed to bring towels and insect repellant. Had to buy bug spray there and a refillable water bottle that was so cheaply made that it leaked everywhere. It would have been appropriate to let us know ahead of time. We felt like it was a sales tactic. Other than that we had a good time and the cenote was incredible.

The experience was really good Sandro was really attentive, great guide

Our excursion was great, English speaking tour guide to explain Telum.history, lots of time to look around the market and ruins. Cenote Nohoch was excellent and no the water isn't cold, the food was authentic Mexican and was delicious. I would recommend this.

My husband and I booked this tour along with our first Mexico experience and couldn't have asked for anything to be better! The tour bus conveniently picked us up near our hotel in Playa del Carmen and headed to Tulum to see the Ruins. Our tour guide was Angel, who so clearly described details of Mayan history that even this non-history buff loved every minute of it. He carefully answered questions asked by others in our small group (we had 11, which allowed for more conversation-like interactions and fun details that would not have been accommodated by a huge group!), adding more depth and flavor to the overall tour. Angel is knowledgeable and passionate about all of the topics related to these ruins, making him easy to listen to, and catch on to his love for his own history & heritage. Next we went to Cenote Nohoch, expertly transported by our driver Rudolfo. The roads are not the best, narrow & bumpy! We arrived safe & sound! Our personal items were secure on the bus; the crew at this Cenote equipped us with storage cubbies for our clothes, etc. while we were off swimming. The air & water were about the same temperature-- 78 degrees or so, very comfortable! Everyone wore life jackets (required-- plus no one was left out-- we even had a couple of non-swimmers in our group, who had a fabulous, very memorable time!) while we explored the caves lined with fabulous stalagtites & stalagmites--- amazing!!! A photographer came along, so no one had to worry about losing or drowning their phones/cameras. Angel continued to tell-all about the cenotes. Fascinating! Lastly we were treated to a late lunch, featuring buffet/picnic style Yucatan food. It was absolutely delicious, and welcome! If you get a chance to go on this excursion, GO! It is not to be missed, I guarantee you will not regret it! We could not stop talking about it.

Great time seeing the ruins, would've appreciated more time at the archeological site to see everything. Did not care for the shopping part. Cenotes were incredible.

Wonderful trip to the cenote with our driver help us navigate the place and Gregorio (the guide) was very cheerful and made us enjoy the day.

Absolutely terrible. Didn’t even get picked up? I spent so long planning this trip and they go to the wrong hotel. The communication was terrible, basicallly none at all. We had to test two platform agents and call the tour operator our selves to find the pick up time for us, which was sent on WhatsApp? But no one told us it’s on WhatsApp, and no where was it mentioned on the listing. That’s fine, we wait for the pick up at the pick up time at my hotel THAT THEY CONFIRMED, they go to the wrong hotel. I triple checked to see if I left the wrong address, but no. They went to the wrong hotel with a similar name… during the communications with the pick up person, I’m not sure if it because they don’t speak English? Left us on delivered for so long, answered with one video showing he’s in the wrong hotel lobby, and told us to come out immediately. Insane. Overall, terrible communication, feels like a whole job just to talk to them. Left my whole day now since they left without picking us up. Do not recommend at all.