Bucket list experience:
Mayan Riviera, Mexico
The Yucatan Peninsula is like a giant pumice stone – riddled with tiny holes, many of which are filled with glassy clear subterranean rivers riddled with stalactite-filled caverns, which break the surface as sinkholes called cenotes. There are hundreds dotted over the peninsula – some lost in thick jungle, others surrounded by Mayan ruins. Some pour into clear-water lakes like Bacalar, or the open ocean.
Swimming in a cenote – tiny fish nibbling your feet, vines and strange rock formations all around you is wonderful. Diving is spectacular; especially for those daring enough to qualify as a cave diver and venture deep into the flooded caverns.
Want more recommendations in this destination?
Destination Guide >Tulum, Quintana Roo, Mexico
This large, lily-covered pool filled with wispy water weed, terrapins, fish, and the occasional small crocodile, has water as clear as air. It’s easy to visit from Tulum, yet it’s far less busy than nearby Gran Cenote.
Best for ages: 4+ | Free
Puerto Aventuras, Quintana Roo, Mexico
This big, open swimming hole – set in low jungle and filled with fish is safe enough for small kids, has changing rooms, life jackets and water-entry platforms. It’s easy to reach, sitting right off the main Cancún-Chetumal highway 15 minutes’ drive from Playa.
Best for ages: 4+ | Free
Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico
A family-friendly cenote adventure park – with cliff-jumps, rope-swings, jungle trails and onsite changing rooms and lockers. Cristalino sits right outside Playa del Carmen, making it easy to reach, and immensely popular.
Best for ages: 4+ | Free
Tulum, Quintana Roo, Mexico
A stunning cenote with spectacular cave formations and glassy water, passing through caverns encrusted with stalactites. Mind-bogglingly beautiful for both snorkellers and PADI divers.
Best for ages: 8+ | £12
To dive you’ll need to organise a tour. But if you only want to swim or snorkel, you can just turn up. Visiting under your own steam is a better option as you can beat the tourist crowds by arriving before 10am or after 3.30pm.
Most cenotes have designated opening hours, charge an entrance fee, and rent out lockers, snorkels and life jackets. Some have onsite changing rooms and snack bars. It’s worth buying your own mask and snorkel back home (in a shop, not online to ensure a good fit) to avoid renting well-used or ill-fitting gear, and to save cash.
Cenotes are good all year round and are generally open from around 8am until 5pm. Visit before 10am or after 3.30pm at the popular ones to avoid crowds.
The weather in the Mayan Riviera is generally good all year round, and the water is always warm enough for swimming. The rainy season from May through October sees the fewest visitors to Mayan Riviera. June through October is hurricane season. The dry season – November through April – gets busy everywhere. If you can, avoid peak season in December to January, when it gets oppressively crowded, especially around Christmas and New Year.
Our writer’s picks of the best places to stay near this experience, closest first
Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico[3.6 miles]
This intimate, couples-focused beach-and-jungle retreat mixes romantic Eden-like surrounds with sharp, modern design. Playa del Carmen is a short drive away.
Official star rating:
Tulum, Quintana Roo, Mexico[22.3 miles]
Luxurious couples-focused beach pavilions overlooking one of the Yucatan’s few bays, twenty-minutes north of Tulum
Official star rating:
Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico[27.2 miles]
Feeling very Miami, this upscale hotel is split between an urban singles hotel in downtown Playa and an intimate balcony-fronted, ocean-view annexe. Adults only.
Official star rating:
Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico[27.8 miles]
This big beachside resort in the heart of Playa del Carmen offers great value stays with a view and five-star amenities. Great for families, with good facilities for kids.
Official star rating:
Destination guides including or relevant to this experience
Mexico
Talc-white beaches, reefs teeming with life, ruined temples in misty rainforests – the Riviera Maya offers a family or romantic beach holiday with a dash of Indian Jones adventure.
Our writer’s recommendations of other bucket list experiences our writer says you must do in this destination, closest first
Mayan Riviera, Mexico[0 miles]
A unique destination for exceptional snorkelling experiences – underwater art galleries, lakes fringed with jungle, cenote sink holes in stalactite-encrusted caverns, plus crocs, manatees and whale sharks.
Best for ages: 6+ | Free | 1+ hours
Mayan Riviera, Mexico[0 miles]
Dive with whale sharks or crocodiles, drift over spectacular drop-offs or through stalactite-filled caves: the Mayan Riviera is a world-class scuba destination
Best for ages: 18+ | £100 | 2+ hours
Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico[28.5 miles]
An adrenaline-pumping close encounter with this top of the food chain predator, in glassy-clear water.
Best for ages: 16+ | £150 | 6-8 hours
Quintana Roo, Mexico[50.3 miles]
An authentic, atmospheric and less-visited Mayan site, set in lush, wildlife-rich forest. Climb to the summit of the 126ft-high Nohoc Mul pyramid – the tallest on the Mayan Riviera.
Best for ages: 13+ | £5
Other worthwhile experiences near this experience if you have time or interest..
Akumal, Quintana Roo, Mexico[13.7 miles]
A simple nature-based theme park with a safari-park zoo, a cenote for swimming, a spectacular cave and a rainforest canopy zip-line adventure.
Best for ages: 4+ | £30
Tulum, Quintana Roo, Mexico[18.3 miles]
A snorkellers’ theme park, comprising a series of broken, crystal-clear bays and glassy streams, teeming with brightly coloured marine life and fringed with low tropical forest. Safe, supervised snorkelling plus swimming with (captive) dolphins and manatees.
Best for ages: 4+ | £80
Playa del Carmen, Mexico[20 miles]
With glassy pools and shallow lagoons offering dolphin, nurse-shark and manatee swimming, tame jungles, and spectacular Mayan dance shows, this huge eco-theme park is a Maya World, and a snorkel-friendly Disneyland.
Best for ages: 4+ | £80
Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico[27 miles]
Small, touristy and mediocre aquatic theme park offering swims with dolphins, sea lions and manatees. Fun for kids.
Best for ages: 4+ | £21
![Cenote Dos Ojos [swimming, snorkelling & scuba diving]](https://familyhotelfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/Yucatan-Cancun-and-Tulum-Cenotes-Dos-Ojos3-SH.jpg)
