A Fiesta of Fun and History. - From the get-go, the Xichén tour by Xcaret was a seamless adventure. The bus, our trusty chariot, arrived on the dot at our Playa del Carmen pick-up point, setting the tone for a day of punctual perfection. Kudos to Ramon, our driver, for keeping us on schedule and hydrated! First stop, the majestic Chichén Itzá. Our group was divided into English and Spanish-speaking tours. We hit the jackpot with Mariel, our guide. Bursting with energy, humor, and encyclopedic knowledge, she transformed what could have been a mere history lesson into a vibrant storybook of ancient wonders. Her jokes? Pure gold. We had an hour-long guided tour followed by an hour of free time to explore. A quick note for future adventurers: Chichén Itzá was hotter than a jalapeño in July. Remember to pack a hat and sunglasses. Thankfully, they provided umbrellas, making us feel like stylish explorers of yore. After melting under the Yucatán sun, we were welcomed back to the bus with ice-cold drinks courtesy of Ramon. Sipping on sodas and beers, we headed to our next destination: a stunning cenote. Just remember to shower before diving in and reapply that SPF because the fun wasn’t over yet. Our final stop was Valladolid, where we were treated to a lunch buffet that dreams are made of. With a hundred different dishes, each one calling your name, it was impossible not to sample everything. The result? A glorious food coma. Post-feast, we had a bit of free time to explore this charming city. Despite the sweltering 43°C (109°F) heat, the colorful houses and vibrant atmosphere made it worth every sweaty second. During the whole journey, we were entertained by Sylvester, another guide with a razor-sharp wit and a treasure trove of fascinating facts about Mayan culture and the region's history. In summary, the Xichén tour by Xcaret was an absolute blast! From the organized transport and delightful guides to the breathtaking sites and delicious food, every detail was spot on. Highly recommend this tour for anyone looking to mix history, culture, and a hearty dose of humor into their vacation.

A Must Do in Cancun - This tour was first rate, from the immaculately clean bus, competent friendly driver, friendly knowledgeable guide to the sites and adventures. Chichen Itza is a not to be missed place, full of history, culture, and beliefs. The cenote was a welcome, beautiful cooling, spectacular place. Lunch/dinner was delicious, plentiful with time to enjoy the city square. Finally, our guide was sensitive to the group, giving us lots of info but time to rest, too. Carlos/Charlie was terrific. This is the way to enjoy a full day in Cancun.r

Mayan experience of a lifetime - The guide had vast knowledge of the Mayan culture. Bus driver Alex and tour guides Gabriel & Isanesia (totally wrong name, our apologies) were wonderful. Totally enjoyable experience by all.

Chiché itzá tour - The tour, the crew and food were great. Dally, Carlos and Rigo were very informative and cordial to us. The cold drinks given in the bus totally hit the spot.

Incredible day - once in a lifetime experience - Be prepared for a long day, but it is worth it. Very comfortable ride on air conditioned buses. They let us ride in peace to catch up on some sleep. Our tour guide, Sayuri, provided some history of the Mayan culture. Her pride in her culture was evident. We learned some Mayan words too! They gave us a blah sandwich, my only complaint about the tour - for breakfast, a dry, turkey/ham sandwich isn't great. They had water, sodas, and beers throughout the day. We supplemented with some light lunch at Chichen Itza while we were waiting for our "turn" with the tour guide. At Chichen Itza, she split us into Spanish & English groups. We had 45 mins to wander around on our own. There are a LOT of vendors, slightly pushy. Try to stay in the shade and drink water. It was a fascinating tour, very informative. The swim in the cenote Tzukan was much needed for the refreshing dip. It is SO beautiful! I've never experienced anything like it. Be very careful on the slippery steps. Lunch in Valladolid is a buffet - try a bit of everything, it was yummy. A little misleading on the part of our concierge as it took 40 minutes to get to the transit center. So, it was really more like 3.5 hrs each way in the bus. The bus is very comfortable though, so try to get some sleep.

Chichen Itza deluxe experience - A full on but excellent day out. We booked through Amstar at our hotel. We were picked up exactly on time. The transition at the expedition centre was easy, well explained and meant another chance to use the facilities before the long drive. The bus was spacious, clean and air conditioned and the tour guide Kevin explained everything well. It is a long drive (over two hours so be considerate of that when you book if you don’t want to be in a bus all day). We had two hours at Chichen itza - it was a little rushed as getting in took a while so we really only got 40 minutes of free time - but that was enough cos it was HOT. Way hotter than Cancun. We bought gifts from the vendors away from the main entrance which was a little less aggressive I sales pitch. The site is self is big, wear good shoes, carry water, have a hat. The tour company also offered umbrellas. Campos did the English speaking tour, there were speakers, and a radio was provided. It was easy to follow and understand and the guide kept us in the shade wherever possible. There were people on the trip with small kids - I would not recommend this. It is such a long trip and so hot, most of the very young children we saw looked red faced and bothered, teenagers should be fine. The cenote which we went to after Chichen Itza was a personal highlight of the trip. It was cool and refreshing which was much needed - but amazing and you could get right up close to the stalagtights and see the stalagmites under the water. Following this we travelled some of the way back and stopped for a lovely meal. The restaurant staff were helpful and friendly and there was some time to explore the town if you wanted but we opted for a beer in the shade We were dropped back at the hotel about 7.30 pm. It was a great and well organised trip and I would not hesitate to recommend.

Many hours for little action and some embarrassment - We paid for the deluxe tour for 4 people, which is not cheap, as it included picking us up at the hotel and included breakfast, among other amenities. At 6:50 am the bus passed by the hotel, picking up passengers at several other hotels. Twenty minutes after collecting the last guests, the bus arrived at a logistics center where passengers were redistributed to the various destinations - Chichen-Itzá, Xcaret, etc. More time between waiting for buses to fill, giving instructions, etc. After finally getting on the road, on the almost three-hour journey to Chichen-Itzá, they served a plastic container with a cold mini sandwich, a small muffin and a box of orange juice. It would have been better to have breakfast at the hotel. During the trip, the guide told several stories about the Mayans and then tried to sell Mayan certificates (with his name in Mayan, etc.) and silver pendants with Mayan symbols, appearing upset with the passengers' refusal to buy them. Arriving in Chichen-Itzá, more time to organize everyone, divide into groups and start the tour. The guides indicated that we would have two hours, one guided and the other free. We only stayed in the first area, where the guide spoke for an hour and a half. We didn't go to other areas. I wanted to go to the observatory I visited years ago, the guide said it was a 15 minute walk there and there wouldn't be any more time. Back to the bus, another 20 minutes and we arrive at a "cenote", a cave with water where they stop for an hour to swim. Within that one hour you spend 15 minutes getting in line to change clothes, get a life jacket and go down more than 100 steps, and another 20 minutes going the other way. Inside the cave, dozens of people jostling in the water. The place is beautiful, but it doesn't justify all the hassle of spending less than half an hour in the water. Furthermore, half of the passengers - elderly or people who were not prepared - end up staying on the bus, waiting. Once all passengers have returned to the bus, it's another hour and twenty to Valladolid, which sells itself as a very pretty colonial town, but doesn't have much besides vendors. The bus stops at the central square and you walk three blocks under the scorching sun to the restaurant where they serve lunch, included in the package. The restaurant is large, the food is served as a buffet, it is varied and not bad, but nothing that would justify passing through this city. Again, after waiting for all passengers to return, more than two and a half hours until they returned to Cancun, leaving passengers from hotel to hotel until it was their turn. Both the driver and the guides were very friendly throughout the trip. Arriving back in Cancún, a regrettable scene. The guide asked, and insisted, that we all tip for the service provided, after all they were with us for almost 12 hours, and in some countries people are offended by receiving tips, but they don't... In every hotel we go to We stopped and the two guides got out and stood at the bus door waiting for the passengers - and the tips, and those who didn't tip returned to the bus thinking it was bad and commenting among themselves. Really very annoying and unpleasant. So, in short, a trip in which the highlight would be visiting Chichen-Itzá lasted twelve hours so we spent less than two hours there, apart from the embarrassment on the way back. If I went again, I would perhaps look for a smaller tour that would only take me to Chichen-Itzá and stay there for at least four hours, returning directly to Cancún.

Go, but not with Xichen by Xcaret - The places are great, don’t get me wrong. But the tour operator is too expensive for what they offer. We booked through Amstar at your hotel. We spent around an hour, 1.5 hours in Chichén Itzá, which is amazing. Then our guide took us to his souvenir guy. Be careful there, they are fraudsters around there. They tell you a souvenir costs a few dollars, but actually charge your card 10 times the price. We didn’t have WiFi so couldn’t see the charge immediately. Then we only visited Cenotes for 30-40 minutes total, in this time you need to change, shower, walk around 120 steps there and back. The guide, Eduardo, was constantly telling us he will leave us behind, if we are late, and we will need to find a taxi back. I got stressed I won’t make it back in time, due to the steps and didn’t go down. I asked other couples, they were stressed too, trying to meet the 30 minutes deadline. Then we went to the restaurant one hour away and it was ok. During the tour they provided us with tap water in big reusable plastic bottles. It tasted horrible, I don’t understand why bottled water wasn’t included in this deluxe experience, but sugary and alcoholic drinks were. On the way back our guide started asking for tips in the bus, telling us how in other countries 10-20% is expected for the service and it’s a cultural thing here. For the deluxe price we paid, I expect gratitudes to be included or tour guides to be paid well enough not to hustle. Given that they also receive commission from the restaurant and from souvenir fraudsters. These guys only care about emptying your pockets, not about providing you with the experience, so definitely go, but not with them

Not worth the bus time. - The places we went were great to see, and the tour guides were lovely. But was a 14 hour day. 4 hours doing the excursions, 10 hours of it was stuck on the bus. Plus we only one real meal all day, the breakfast wasn't edible. You're better off going on your own to all of these places.

Find a different tour company - I know that I am obligated to voice my amazement of CHICHEN ITZA as it is one of the wonders of the world.... however... it is unfortunate that this outfit has the responsibility of presenting it to visitors coming from all over. For example, XCARET, the tour company, via their telephone sales representatives will literally say ANYTHING to sell you a tour. For example, I dealing with the tail-end of a bladder infection shortly before my trip to Mexico and so I thought it prudent to book a tour where the traveling took place in an air-conditioned bus with a washroom on board. I found one--- XCARET! On the phone, the rep assured me that I would be picked up at my hotel and driven THERE AND BACK in their luxurious buses as the trip from Playa del Carmen to this historic site is 3-hours longs. It felt more like 5 hours, but hey, I am currently back in Canada and happy. What was not disclosed to me was that the bus that eventually arrived to pick me and others up at my hotel/resort (Ocean Riviera Paradise) definitely had a bathroom on board but that it was LOCKED!!!! When I questioned Ricardo about this, he said, "Lady, too many accidents can happen, lady". When I expressed concern that I had paid their exorbitant price ---when compared to other tour companies going there---because of the presence of a washroom on the bus, he finally agreed to unlock it for me. I quickly found out, though, that this did not matter, since we were all forced to get off the bus at a certain location in order to get onto a different bus that was actually going all the way to our target destination. Did the rep on the phone tell me that there was going to be a transfer after approx 1 hour into the tour? No, she did not. Would that have made a difference? Yes, I would think so because the wait at the bus loop lasted at least 35 minutes. Let me just say this---- Ricardo, the first 'guide' on the bus only spoke Spanish to the people present because us English speaking people were going to hear "the whole thing on the next bus and it will be boring to you to hear it 2x". At this point I felt like my intelligence was insulted. I sat there mortified. All I could do was put my headset on in an attempt to drown out Ricardo's very loud and boisterous communication with the Spanish-speaking customers. Once on the second bus, Eduardo would speak 'some' English to the 4 English-speaking patrons on the bus headed to Chichen Itza; however, after awhile listening to him going back and forth gave me a headache and so, once again, I put my headset on. One of the most disgusting things about this tour was the food. After spending time at CHICHEN ITZA (which I will let you experience on your own), we drove to Cenotes. There, we were told that we had 45 minutes to eat and 45 minutes to swim. A very unappealing proposition. I truly cannot believe that anyone was willing to walk down all those stairs, diving into the old burial site, and then walk back up in that 44C heat. I opted to just eat. By this time, it was already 2pm. The tour had begun at 0700 hrs. So, needless to say, I was famished as were the 3 other English speaking individuals with me. Unfortunately, though, the food at this restaurant looked better than it tasted; it was truly the worst food I have ever had the displeasure of placing on my tongue. I guess salt and seasoning is not important when serving food to visitors? Here is where the tour felt more like a sudden kick in the stomach: the 4 of us got up to leave; however, the concierge (of sorts) or security-- who knows what he was-- stopped us and said that "You need to tip". This guy was serious. We all moved back to our seat and pulled out whatever we had in our pockets and placed it visibly on the table. I then walked directly back to the parking lot to wait for the rest of the people as I was no longer feeling comfortable. Like someone else had mentioned, this tour provide us with reusable water bottles filled with "filtered water" according to the guides who proudly announced, "It is our gift to you!" To which I stated--- more than once---- "Excuse me but we paid for the water---these tour tickets were not cheap". I was surprised that the guide looked surprised when I reminded him that in fact nothing on the tour was a gift except for the tips provided by the people who had paid through their noses to see CHICHEN ITZA. The last straw was when, after what seemed like 5 days of being on that show Survivor, we arrived back at the bus loop, I found out that I would be riding back to the Ocean Riviera Paradise in a small mini-van!!! Remember, I had paid the high price for the tour BECAUSE of the washroom on the big luxurious air-conditioned tour bus....??? Eduardo thought this was funny and said, "Lady, I don't know why they didn't tell you". If you can find ANY OTHER tour company to see the Mayan ruins, do so, because this tour company will leave you with a terrible taste in your mouth.