Day Trip to Chichen Itza and Valladolid from Cancun with Cenote Swim and Lunch

I had an amazing experience traveling to Chichen Itza, it was a long tour but it was great. The tour guide Ricardo was excellent.

The Good: Jesus was our tour guide at the Chichen itza site and he was great. He was extremely informative and authentic and I walked away with a world of knowledge about the culture and history. The bus was comfortable, air conditioned and well maintained. Ik kill was beautiful, lots of people but it was just enough time to have a dip and cool off. The bad: Too much effort was spent discrediting the vendors at chichen itza with the aim of selling you stuff from Kaua. The items were almost exactly the same but the guides made a number of efforts to sell you items from Kaua, it left a real sour taste in my mouth and felt like tourists were really being taken advantage of - it felt sly and manipulative which I've never experienced on a tour before. The tour is way too long. Prepare for a very long and exhausting day! I think a few things need to be cut out in order for the tour to be satisfying. 12 hours is much too much.

It was a very informative day. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable about the history and was able to answer all our questions and concerns. The ride was long but it was comfortable. However, they didnt tell us about extra $25 charge until we confirmed our ticket the day before. Remember to bring snacks because it is a long day and we dont eat lunch until much later.

Great informative tour! It was nice to go and eat at an authentic Mayan restaurant and bring money for souvenirs made by the Mayan people. But be aware it is a very long day!

The Chichen Itza trip was long but fantastic. We were picked up from our hotel right on time, and from that moment on our guide, Carlos, made the day fun, informative and easy. Since our group was multilingual, he easily switched back and forth between English and Spanish, teaching us about Mayan culture and history. Diving and swimming in the cenotes was refreshing after walking through the ruins, and grabbing some photos and a quick dessert in Valladolid was a great way to end the day. The only thing I didn't love was the cooking demonstration and mini tour of the small town before lunch. By that point, we were pretty hot and hungry, and just getting inside for A/C and lunch would have been preferable. Overall, though, this was a great trip and well worth it.

First of all, we loved our guide, Jorge. He made the entire trip really fun. The way there, we learned a lot about Mayan culture and the temple and sites we were going to visit. I will say, though, the Mayan village we stopped at felt a little harassing, because they really really want you to buy stuff. But overall, it was pleasant. We also had an English guide for Chichen Itza itself that was nice.

Chichen Itza was amazing! I learned so much from our tour guide on the bus from Cancun to the site. The guide at the location was also knowledgeable, but we had more time with the guide who was on the bus who shared a wealth of information. She was delightful and fully bilingual in English and Spanish, which I have a lot of admiration for. Her love of Mayan culture and people clearly came through. All of the people we met were informative, patient, and kind. That said, the administration of this trip was awful. The company's correspondence asked that I call before to confirm the date and pick up location, which I did. I asked every tour bus that stopped at our hotel if we were on their list; we weren't. After waiting 15 minutes to be picked up, I called. I was on hold for another 15 minutes, only to be told there was a mixup with our pick up time. We waited 45 minutes in total to be picked up. Communication about what the tour included wasn't clear. We visited 4 places (a Mayan village, Chichen Itza, a cenote, and a colonial city), which was okay but it was a longer day than I had prepared my two young children for. I was also told I had to pay in cash a $13 per person transportation fee the day of, and no one knew anything about that.

Tour provided by local company Bakutun was excellent, especially Jorge who was so engaging! Recommend

This was a great experience! The guides were incredible and very passionate about their culture/teaching others about what it has been like for the local Mayan tribes. Plan for an all day trip! This tour went from 7 am - 9 pm. It’s worth it and the time goes by fast!!

It was a fairly long trip and our guide has explained things very well along the way. He has extensive knowledge of Mayan culture and history. The weather was great, it was a bit cloudy and not very hot. We enjoyed our trip for sure.