Tulum, cenotes, and the terrific snorkeling site of Yal Ku Lagoon make this day tour from Playa del Carmen one you must book. Walk through the ruins of Tulum, a bluff-top city overlooking the Caribbean Sea, and one of the last places inhabited by the Maya people. Discover cenotes and explore a lagoon teeming with marine life—the perfect spot for snorkeling. This guided day of culture, history, and adventure includes lunch and hotel transport.

Day tour of Tulum, cenotes, and Yal Ku Lagoon from Playa del Carmen
Stroll through the archaeological site of Tulum and learn about this former Maya city
Visit cenotes, part of one of the world’s largest underground river system
Snorkel in Yal Ku Lagoon, where freshwater and seawater merge
Lunch and round-trip hotel transport from Playa del Carmen included

What's Included

Hotel pickup and drop-off
Professional guide
Snorkeling gear
Life jacket
Lunch
Bottled water

Gratuities
Souvenir photos (available to purchase)

Meeting And Pickup

Pickup points

Select a pickup point

Start time

09:00 am

Pickup details

Round-trip transportation is included from most hotels in Cancun & Riviera Maya. Round-trip transportation is included from select hotels exclusively for our guests who book their tours at least 48 hours in advance. Please consider 2 to 3 hours of transportation for this tour. The actual time depends on your hotel's location.

What To Expect

After morning pickup from your Playa del Carmen hotel, travel with your guide to Tulum, a former Maya city perched on a cliff with the Pacific Ocean forming a dramatic backdrop. As you walk through the ruins on a guided tour, imagine the place when it was bustling with the Mayan people as you hear stories and speculations about this interesting city.

Then, enjoy free time to wander about the grounds on your own. Hint: There’s a hidden beach behind the Maya castle at the base of the ruins.

Following Tulum, stop at two cenotes, or natural sinkholes, and explore the impressive caves and ancient rock formations.

Next, continue to Yal Ku Lagoon for snorkeling and wade into an estuary, where freshwater from the underground rivers combines with saltwater from the sea to create an environment teeming with aquatic life. The shallow rock-reefs in the area provide an ideal location for snorkeling.

Your day tour concludes with drop-off back at your hotel.

Tulum Archaeological Site

2 hours • Admission Ticket Included

Yal-ku Lagoon

1 hour • Admission Ticket Included

Punta Venado Eco-Aventura

1 hour • Admission Ticket Included

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Minimum age is 8
Not recommended for guests with limited mobility.
Guests must be relatively fit and must be able to swim.
For safety reasons, we do not recommend participation on any snorkel activity if you are pregnant, have respiratory problems, injuries, back/neck issues, heart conditions, or conditions that can cause loss of consciousness.
Not wheelchair accessible

Not recommended for travellers with back problems
Not recommended for pregnant travellers
No heart problems or other serious medical conditions
Most travellers can participate
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 16 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

Reviews

5.0

705 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travellers.

Showing 1-10 of 705 reviews

Excellent Service.

Darna_S, May 2023

Fernando, our driver is excellent and gave a great service to us. Edgar, our tour guide, gave us a great experience.

Fun Filled Day

Yuichiro_Y, May 2023

Felix (Chewbacca) and Norbert was our guide. The ruins, cenote, snorkeling, and lunch was all great!

Great experience

Marlene_A, May 2023

We had a great time on this tour , we had a great driver Diego and tour guide Jareth. Very pretty cenote good food. Definitely would recommend!

Lots of great sights heads up on a later lunch

Jennifer_M, May 2023

Great excursion and lots of great stops. Lunch was much later than expected but snacks were provided. Just be aware lunch isn’t at American lunch time.

Great experience

Deborah_R, Apr 2023

The tour of Tulum, swimming in the cenote, and snorkeling were wonderful. The meal was good also. Our guide Kikie, and our driver were very helpful, knowledgeable and patient. I would highly recommended this tour.

Best time in Tulum.

Thuy_H, Apr 2023

Great trip. Gina very nice. Lunch at the beach is beautiful. I would recommended to who need to look for tour this trip and this company is good. Thank you

Unsatisfied

Jahson_J, Apr 2023

Make sure you contact the company as soon as you purchase it because they will not specify what time they will pick you up.. if it says 9am pick up they later tell you it’s 6:40 am. We missed trip and no refunds only reschedules which wouldn’t matter if you are traveling. Horrible communication

Worth Every Penny! Good group size.

Lisa_S, Mar 2023

Definitely recommend spending the extra money to go in this tour. They only take 11 people in the group, so you do have to stand in line all day waiting. The tour was 8 hours start to finish. Our tour guide, Mar, was very knowledgeable and stayed with us throughout most of the stops. The Cenote was worth every minute. The food and private beach was great. I saw other tour buses filled with 40 plus people. It took them way longer to visit all the destinations with so many people. Wonderful experience

Spring Break

Nicoleta_D, Mar 2023

Our guide Jonathan was great! As was the driver!! Out trip was 3/14/23 It was one of the best excursions we've taken yet! Would definitely recommend booking this tour!

Wonderful family day

Carolyn_H, Mar 2023

Great family adventure. Gained a little knowledge during the Tulum guided tour. Then cooled off and the refreshing cenote. Loved snorkelling in the lagoon. And the beach lunch was tasty and picturesque. A great day with the family.

Beautiful Tour

Jennifer_O, Mar 2023

Damian and our driver were excellent the whole day and providing us with enough free time to explore, swim and relax on what is a very long day. They even provided us with water and snacks the entire trip which was nice. The cenotes was our favorite part and the lunch by the beach was really tasty.

Bad Communication

Moshae_D, Mar 2023

I booked this excursion days before we left. Upon successfully booking, the website sent the booking details to my wallet with a departure time of 9:00AM. I saved the booking card to my wallet and added the time to my calendar. Later, once we had arrived, an email was sent about a pickup time of 6:45 AM. It went to my spam inbox, and I didn’t receive it. The day of the excursion came, and we were outside the resort at 9AM. No one came. We called, and they said that they were gone; that they came to the resort earlier. I never received a phone call that morning. I could have jumped up and made it in time. I asked for a refund ($318), and they refused because they claimed that they had attempted to pick us up, so the cost was forfeited. The pickup time was not well communicated, and upon their alleged arrival, they did not call or alert the front desk. They just left, if they came at all. Very disappointing.

Best part of the tour was...

KEVIN_B, Feb 2023

Best part of the tour was the cenote but generally speaking the tour was great. Erik did a very good efficient job explaining things while moving the tour along.

Excellent Experience

Michael_K, Feb 2023

What a great tour! I loved the history of Tulum and the snorkeling experiences were incredible! Our tour guide Hazel has made this day delightful with his charming personality!

Fun One Day Adventure

Dawn_K, Feb 2023

Overall experience was great and informational. We had Ceci and Sergio as our guide and driver. Both were attentive, informational and ensuring we had a great time! We were celebrating a birthday; they went out of their way to celebrate with a dessert at lunch and sing Happy Birthday 2x that day, totally unexpected. A few things to note when booking: lunch is later than anticipated. After reading reviews it seemed close to 2:00PM, but it was actually 3:00PM you eat lunch. They do provide some light snacks and bottled water, but I would go as far as bringing additional items to munch on, if you can with the time between breakfast and lunch. The downfall is once you get to the lagoon you are so hungry you do not enjoy the snorkeling as much. We almost just wish to have eaten then go to lagoon. When traveling, all the off roads are just that, off roading. Be prepared to be jostled around, it was not an issue but would recommend not doing a heavy night of drinking the night before. Lunch was great, great portions and delicious. They even let us purchase additional food like guacamole. When at the beach club do not expect to get a day bed, more so just eat, take photos and enjoy the bar or hammocks, if you can. The ruins can definitely be hot, drink water, but it was so neat to see. Afterwards it was nice to have some time to grab a bite, drink or shop. The cenote by far was our group favorite. Since the majority of us grew up on the water, lagoon snorkeling was more of a wading situation for us, but we still enjoyed the dip. The fish were beautiful to see. The water in all locations is a bit chilly, just bite the bullet and jump in. Would book again or recommend anyone for this excursion, well worth the money. I had a few in our group who were not so positive about the excursion beforehand due to the 9:00AM start time, but by the end they were so glad they did not back out and even mentioned they felt bad for being such a "debbie downer" about it at first.

Worth the Money

Dorian_S, Feb 2023

Overall the experience was amazing. My wife and I really enjoyed each part of the experience with our favorite being the cenote. I will say that you might be picked up rather early. Stop early you aren't able to grab coffee or a bite to eat from your hotel. It would have been nice to have some coffee in the van. Also, be prepared for a long day. They provide some cookies and bananas, but we found that the snack options in the van could've been a little better and we would happily have paid a several more dollars for that...maybe different fruits and/or protein bars. The only other critique we had was that the last stop of the day was very crowded. It was supposed to be a place to relax and unwind a little but there were no hammocks or beach beds available. I would highly recommend this experience and if you are lucky you will receive a tour guide as amazing as Maui. Our driver Victor was awesome at well.

Best part of our trip!

Teresa_M, Feb 2023

This tour was the highlight of our trip! Our guide, Mario, was fantastic from start to finish. You could really tell he loves what he does and had our groups best interest in mind. Every stop on the tour brought something different. It was so great learning about Mayan culture and beliefs in Tulum, seeing the roots of the ceiba tree deep in the cenotes, and then seeing all different kinds of fish while snorkeling. Lunch at the end of the day was some of the best food we had all trip and was in such a beautiful and relaxing setting. In terms of planning for the day, I would definitely recommend bringing a pair of water shoes to help protect your feet from rocks in the cenotes and lagoon.

Tulum ruins & Cenote tour

Yvans_B, Jan 2023

Eric/Franco did an excellent job during the tour. very friendly & fun. Great knowledge of the area & detailed communication at every stop. I would highly recommend this tour …give it a try if your in the CUN/Playa del Carmen area

Bucket list items

Amanda_M, Dec 2022

We had a great time with Max as our guide. Got to see and learn a bit about the ruins and got to bypass the line to buy tickets. Swimming in the cenote and lagoon were amazing. Max checked in on everyone many times to make sure we were all good. Lunch at the end was at a beautiful beach bar/restaurant. Only downside was we wish there was a little more in the tour of tulum as it was a wee bit rushed. Would absolutely recommend this tour though, it was fantastic!!

Cenote and snorkel are amazing, tour guide knowledge disappointing

Lauren_D, Nov 2022

The cenote and snorkel were amazing! The cenote is in a beautiful cave full of stalactites. There are so many fish in the lagoon. The Tulum ruins were nice, but this part of the trip was less enjoyable. Our guide Josa was super nice and funny but he knew very little about the history of the Maya and the ruins. The ruins are also very crowded.