Playa del Carmen

Chichen Itza & Ekbalam Tour with Cenote From Playa del Carmen

Badge of ExcellencePlaya del Carmen, Mexico
Chichen EkBalam Tour

From USD 73.00

Select Date and Travellers

Free cancellation
Up to 24 hours in advance.
Playa del Carmen Tours
All Playa del Carmen Tours
Audio Guides
Kid-Friendly
Likely To Sell Out
  • 12 hours
  • Pickup offered
  • Mobile ticket
  • Offered in: English

Overview

Spend a day exploring ancient Maya cities and an underground pool on a full-day tour from Playa del Carmen to Chichen Itza, and Ek Balam. Visiting both Maya sites offers the chance to experience the most iconic ruins in the Yucatan, then tour a lesser-visited gem with vivid frescoes and a fascinating history. This tour includes pickup and drop-off in Playa del Carmen, entrance fees, breakfast and lunch, and it’s limited to 15 people for a personalized experience.
  • Full-day Maya city and cenote tour
  • Visit a UNESCO World Heritage Site
  • Learn about Maya history and culture
  • Swim in an underground pool
  • Breakfast and lunch included
  • All entrance fees included
  • Pickup and drop-off in Playa del Carmen

What's Included

  • Box Lunch with sandwhich, fruit, juice and sweet (Just with Plus option)
  • Lunch
  • Hotel pickup and drop-off
  • Bottled water
  • Chichen Itza, Ekbalam and Cenote Saamal Admission
  • Guide
  • Gratuities
  • Not included Yucatan State Tax Chichen and Ekbalam 48 USD per person. Must be paid at the check in
  • Life jacket rental it is mandatory for the swimming in the cenote. 3 USD per person in cash

Meeting And Pickup

You can head directly to the meeting point, or request pickup

Meeting point

  • La Bodeguita del Medio Playa del Carmen
    5ta Avenida Calle 34 Norte Esq, Gonzalo Guerrero, 77720 Playa del Carmen, Q.R., Mexico

    7:00 AM

Pickup points

Select a pickup point

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

Pickup details

We offer pick up service in most hotels. In the event that your hotel does not have a pick-up service, we will let you know the closest meeting point the afternoon before the tour by sending a message to your telephone or a notification to the email address indicated in your reservation.

What To Expect

Get an early start on the day with pickup at your hotel then enjoy a light breakfast during the 113-mile (182-km) trip to Chichen Itza, an ancient Maya city that’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Upon arrival at Chichen Itza, tour the sprawling complex with the guide, beginning with the Kukulkan Castle: also known as The Pyramid, this dramatic temple is aligned with the seasons, and a feathered serpent appears in shadow during the equinoxes. Continue to the ball court and the rest of the site, including the astronomical observatory, “The Church,” and more.

Following your time at Chichen Itza, travel to the Cenote Hubikku, an underground pool that’s perfect for a cooling swim. This is one of the many caverns that dot the Yucatan’s limestone plateau, and it’s often illuminated by a shaft of clear sunlight.

The final stop of the day is Ek Balam, where you can climb the acropolis to follow painted scenes from the Maya underworld, see the astronomers’ reflecting pools, and learn about the re-discovery of the site. Ek Balam is a less-visited site that’s still surrounded by thick jungle, and offers an explorer’s experience of Yucatan archeology. This tour concludes with return transfer to Playa del Carmen, and drop-off at your hotel.

Chichen Itza

1 hour 30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Cenote Saamal

1 hour • Admission Ticket Included

Zona Arqueológica de Ek Balam

1 hour • Admission Ticket Included

Additional Info

  • Confirmation will be received at time of booking
  • Children must be accompanied by an adult
  • Not wheelchair accessible
  • Dress code is smart casual
  • Please advise any specific dietary requirements at time of booking
  • Vegetarian option is available, please advise at time of booking if required
  • It is recommended that you bring sports shoes, sandals or flip flops, swimsuit, towel, sunglasses, hat, biodegradable sunscreen and mosquito repellent, a camera and Mexican Pesos in cash for expenses and tips
  • Travellers should have a moderate physical fitness level
  • This tour/activity will have a maximum of 18 travellers

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

  • For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
  • If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
  • Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.
  • Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.
  • This experience requires good weather. If it’s cancelled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund.
  • This experience requires a minimum number of travellers. If it’s cancelled because the minimum isn’t met, you’ll be offered a different date/experience or a full refund.

Traveller Photos

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Traveller Tips

This is well worth you time and money to do
I recommend it above those available at Hotel lobby.Everyone was professional, knowledgeable, with good food and destinations.It is an all day event, will be hot in summer and kids may not like the long day.Thomas Hendricks
Full 12 hour day for us after being picked up and dropped off at our Playa Del Carmen Hotel.

Reviews

4.5
215 reviews
Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews
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Reviews by Viator travellers.
Showing 1-10 of 215 reviews
Chichen Itza best!
Sarah_C, Sept 2023
Patrick was the perfect friend/host. Also the driver was very nice. We were treated with respect at all times. An excellent fun packed day out. Good value for money too, we were fed and watered well at all times! Thank you very much for a day I shall
Best tour for two ruins and cenote
Emily_P, Sept 2023
We were picked up on time at our hotel in Playa del Carmen. The tour started with Ek Balam and included a climb to the top of the steps. Next, we went for lunch and then Chichen Itza. We ended with a swim in Cenote Saamal. Patrick was an amazing guide and was highly knowledgeable about Ek Balam and Chichen Itza. The order of destinations made it enjoyable in the 33 degree celsius or more weather. He answered many of our questions and had a positive attitude throughout the entire tour keeping us engaged and entertained. Our driver Jose Miguel got our group to each destination swiftly and safely. Value for money is completely worth it. Highly recommend this tour and if you can request Patrick as a guide please do!
Great experience
JulianDobson, July 2023
Guide excellent Driver great Sites fantastic Lunch great Swim fantastic All in all great so would recommend
Great tour at 3 great sites with an amazing guide!
Christina_F, June 2023
This was such a great experience with Cancun Bay Tours. We first went to Ekbalam, then Chichen Itza and then Cenote Samaal. All places were amazing and I am so happy to have chosen the Ek Balam option. It really was so cool to be able to climb on the ruins and to enjoy them without that many tourists around. Our guide, Thomas, was excellent and provided tons of information about all sites, I really learned so much and got way more than I expected out of this tour. We got a guided tour at both Mayan sites and then about one hour to explore on our own, which I thought was enough. I would have enjoyed some more time at the Cenote but I overall really enjoyed the whole tour. They also offered cold bottle of water before each stop, which I know not all tours do. The lunch was good too: I assume that most of the tours to Chichen Itza stop at this place. It is obviously catered to tourists but well, what else could one expect near a major archeological site in the middle of nowhere? I fully recommend this (but I don't think paying extra for the breakfast is worth it, as you can probably find similar quality sandwhiches at a grocery store for cheaper)
A Chaotic Rush
jbhunziker, Feb 2023
The tour I signed up for was canceled because not enough people, so we transferred to a different tour that did not include Ekbalaam, but instead the town of Vallolodid. The morning pick-up was chaotic and then we were shuffled to the back of a tourist shop in a mall to pay our "taxes." First stop was a "local" market where we were shown the value of obsidian in the area and pressured to make purchases to support the local villagers. A good meal was provided there. We understood our stop at Chichen Itza would be 3 hours, but we only had two hours there, one of which was taken up by the guide. We enjoyed his presentation. However, the additional one hour was not enough to see the grounds. The stop at the cenote' was refreshing, but felt rushed in order to return to the tour bus on time. Our stop in Vallalodid was for literally "34 minutes." Enough time to walk around the block or the park. In retrospect, we found Chichen Itza to be fascinating, but would have liked more time there.
Worst tour of life! Avoid at All cost
Kamini_N, Nov 2022
Worst tour of our lives! The pick up was promptly at 7:00 and the good stops there. The operator took 2.5 hours to pick other people. He had an active cold and cough. He did not use mask or sanitizer and kept passing things with hands that he just used to blow his nose. His English was pretty bad. The approx 12 hr tour took 16 hours. The driver drove us the wrong way and missed turns. On the way back he stopped at 3 gas stations trying to find gas since he was running out of it! We reached our first destination Ek Balam at 11:00 (started at 7:00 from our pick up point) Nobody could understand what the guide spoke. We were given a full 30 mins there ! After being in the bus for 5 hours!! We were terribly rushed. Then he drove us to lunch- that too after us insisting that we needed food! The lunch was horrible. Stale,cold, old food but we were hungry. We get better tacos in Los Angeles than they served here. After lunch we went to Chichen Itza - again had to tolerate guide’s extremely incomprehensive lecture and were given 1 hr. Then went to a cenote - already it was 5:30 PM and it was dark. The whole point of cenote was to cool down after a hot day but here it was dark and cold already. Started around 6:15 from there on yet another torturous 5 hr ride. He stopped 3 times searching for gas. It surprises me that the tour operator who is supposed to be doing this as a job did not fill enough gas beforehand nor knew his route to fill gas ! Because of this tour my child got sick and we had to miss another Viator tour which won’t offer a refund now !! They were worse than this and asked for funeral receipt when I wrote my child is sick. Highly not recommend taking this tour and HIGHLY NOT recommend Viator!!
Good experience
Brett_N, Aug 2022
Great trip with Cancun Bay tours and our great guide tomas!! Trip was excellent with good stops, bus was clean
Spent more time picking up and dropping off others
gene_l, July 2022
I booked for an English only tour but they grouped us with Spanish-speaking tourists. Although the guide is bilingual, he forgets to translate it to English sometimes and he is more focused on the Spanish group, which made me feel isolated. Translating in both languages also doubled the time that could have been spent on something more productive. The tour was supposed to start at 6am as per the Viator listing but pick up did not start until 7am. We also spent almost 2 hours picking up more tourists along the way. We were rushed in Chichen Itza, only stayed there for 1 hour in total, and of that, only 10 minutes were allotted to personal time for pictorials, not enough to capture good photos of the vast place. The listing said that breakfast is included but we did not get one. Coming back, we had to drop off people in Playa del Carmen first before returning to Cancun, which they never told us about, not even on the listing. In total, my family spent 14 hours for this trip but only 1 hour in Chichen Itza, 1 hour in Ek-Bakam, 45 mins in Mayab restaurant, and 1 hour in Cenotes. The rest were spent on the road. Would not recommend this to young families.
Great experience in small group!
Andrea_L, May 2022
Fantastic day among Mayan ruins, great service overall. Francisco was a great guide and explained us everything relevant
Avoid due to extra charge scam
Diane_M, Feb 2022
The tour was actually good - the issue is the BS 40usd cash charge for”tax.” The tour is the most expensive group tour to Chichen Itza and to charge an additional $40 was upsetting when we got to the site and saw what the actual charges were. I would not recommend due to this “scam”
highly recommend
george_b, July 2021
Victor, Adrien and Choche were terrific. They were fun and full of knowledge. It was truly a beautiful and fun experience. I highly recommend this tour. Thanks guys for a great time.
Sites worth seeing...with a different tour group if possible
Jen, May 2021
I really enjoyed the sites in this excursion. I was anxious to do Chichen Itza and Ek Balam in the same day since they are both quite a drive from Playa del Carmen. And the Cenote Hubiku was a good addition. I will say, I was not impressed with Yalku tours which is the company that led this excursion for us. I found out the night before my scheduled outing that they were cancelling for the day I had scheduled because they didn't get enough customers. They pushed it out a few days which messed up my plans. If I had known that would happen, I would have easily used another company. They were not great about communicating options until very last minute and it made for a stressful situation. We decided to take the delayed option and go a few days later. The things I loved: The sites! All three were worth going to! Our tour guide was pretty good too. Negatives: The bus we rode on was messy (wrappers and empty water bottles everywhere when we got in), with lackluster AC. Then, to boot, it broke down when we were still almost 2 hours from being back at the resorts. The alternator totally crapped out. We're all pretty convinced it was because the driver slept with the AC on in the van during our tours. That was pretty disappointing. They eventually called and got a rescue van to come get us (this one was like the Ritz Carlton! Not sure why we didn't take it on the long road trip to begin with...) but weren't great about giving us updates and didn't offer anything in exchange for the inconvenience which was frustrating. I was surprised there was no discount or partial refund given, honestly. Also, be aware that in addition to the cost of this tour booked here, you have to pay $40 USD for the archaeological site taxes ($20/each) when you get picked up. They did give a "sack lunch" meat sandwich with fruit and juice on the first leg of the drive and had a cooler of cold water bottles for throughout the day. The late lunch/dinner buffet (super tasty food!) at the cenote was included with the exception of drinks and tip. And towels and life vests at the cenote cost to rent at Hubiku. Anyway, I would suggest doing these sites together, but I wasn't impressed with the tour company. Not really sure how you avoid that though.
Wonderful experience, great tour guide!!!
Jinxin_Z, Apr 2021
Great tour, knowledgeable and experienced tour guide (Lucina), and responsible company (yalku tours). Lucina has been a tour guide for over 20 years, this guy knows his stuff! All the cultural information really made the places come alive. Chichen itza and ek Baram are only an hour away from each other, both are 2 hours drive just one way from cancun or playa, so I am so glad to be able to combine both spots in one day. We had a little over a hour at each location which is enough for the casual tourist like us. We liked ek baram better as it’s less tourist there, but chichen itza is clearly the biggest and most impressive center of power for Mayans of the old days and has more fun cultural information. Also, cancun folks gets picked up first and dropped off last, so if you want to save a hour, use a day in playa to do tours. I think this will be true of all the tour companies as playa is a central location to pickup tulip, playa, and Cancun tourists. Had two hiccups in this trip. They didn’t have vegetarian snacks ready for us but our tour guide stopped at a store and picked us up vegetarian items. You get a snack for the trip and a buffet at the end. Our van was also a bit old and broke down on the way back. The company promptly sent out another vehicle that was much nicer. Things happen, it’s good to know that the tour company will be responsible if something goes wrong. We stopped by cenote hubiku for our buffet and swim. The buffet is very tasty, great quality of food, with hot items, dessert, and vegetarian friendly. I recommend bringing your own towel or your hotel towel. (This is a tip for anywhere in the region, there is no towel rentals, only buying a towel at steep tourist prices) I would totally use yalku tours again.
The Perfect Mix of On and Off the Beaten Path
Gretchen_H, Mar 2021
Chichen Itza is a wonder of the world, but Ek Balam and the Habiku cenote will steal your heart. This is a great tour that mixes the on and off the beaten path. Our guide Mario was great! He’s always setting the record straight about what we might have seen in Indiana Jones or The Discovery Channel, which was awesome and informative. Ek Balam is really interesting and very worth the stop. We had a good time climbing the pyramids and enjoying the quieter pace. The cenote is gorgeous and the perfect way to cool off after a hot day of exploring ruins. It’s a long day, but they do a good job making sure we make the most of it and enjoy our time.
Great day
gigi_o, Dec 2020
Our guide was really good And the food at the cenote was great. It's a long day but worth it. The history is amazing
Don’t overthink it
Pavel_S, Dec 2020
Tour was exceptional. There was a bit of a delay in the morning organizing people into buses, but the rest of the say made up for it. Amazing tour guide, got enough free time to roam (would’ve liked more), but overall highly recommend!
Highly recomend
Larry_B, Mar 2020
Fine tour, our guide Adrian and driver Joel made our day quite enjoyable as they were both professional, knowledgeable and friendly. Thanks for a great day !
As it should be!
Serge_K, Feb 2020
Spectacular! Professional guide, early access and two pyramid cites are complementary to each other. Chichen Itza gives you a smell of history but Ek Balam is amazing opportunity to touch and climb over ancient buildings. Cenote we visited during the tour was something special with no crowd and absolutely clear refreshing water. I recommend this tour to everyone!
Very Cool
Lynndouville, Feb 2020
Very well done, tour operator was so knowledgeable about history. Loved it. We were very well taken care of the entire day.
Good Trip :)
jonmat1990, Feb 2020
Nice & new car Good driver Friendly, nice and informativ guide Breakfast: Cookies , juices & bananas + Every Break some small waterbottles Tour: Chichen Itza, Cenote/lunch and ek balam And very nice - all Sales Actions were Really Friendly and Not Disturbing and annoying -
...

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