Cenote tours from Mérida: which one to choose

Cascabel, Chaksikín, Xooch and Pool Cocom: one closed, two semi-open and one open, all in the same morning.

The point of Santa Bárbara is that the four cenotes are genuinely different from each other, so you learn in one morning what a «closed» or «semi-open» cenote actually is. You move between them by bicycle or cart inside the grounds, which is half the fun. Lunch at the end: regional dishes with tortillas straight off the comal. Departure is at ten, so no early alarm.

• Location: Homún, Yucatán
• Schedule: 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM · daily
• Duration: 7 h approx.
• Included: Transport, Certified guide, Entry to all four cenotes, Regional lunch
• Not included: Drinks with lunch

Guided visit to the henequen estate and a swim in the Carlota and Azul Maya cenotes. Entry is included.

In the henequen years, Mucuyché was among the estates that moved the most money in Yucatán, and it still shows: the arches, the machinery and the stone walls are all standing. But what people remember is not that — it is that its two cenotes are connected. You get from Carlota to Azul Maya through a channel, swimming between rock walls that rise on either side, or walking the stone edge if you would rather stay dry. Entry to the estate and to both cenotes is already paid.

• Location: Abalá, Yucatán
• Schedule: 9:30 AM – 4:00 PM · daily
• Duration: 7 h approx.
• Included: Transport, Guide, Entry to the hacienda and cenotes
• Not included: Food, Drinks

Half a day in the city of three cultures and half a day underground, in the Yaxbacaltún and San Antonio cenotes. Lunch is included.

They call Izamal the yellow city because it genuinely is: façades, walls, even the convent share the same shade. What almost nobody notices is what lies underneath. The 16th-century Franciscan convent was not built on flat ground but on top of a Maya platform, still visible if you look at the changes in level. Inside is the baroque altarpiece, five bays across and three tiers high, and afterwards there is free time to wander the town with no guide and no rush. Later in the day we drop down to the Homún cenote ring, which is where the morning’s heat comes off: two cenotes, with lunch served between them.

• Location: Izamal and Homún, Yucatán
• Schedule: 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM · daily
• Duration: 9 h approx.
• Included: Transport, Guide, Entry to both cenotes, Lunch
• Not included: Drinks

The city of three cultures in the morning and the full five hours inside the Santa Bárbara grounds in the afternoon.

This one puts together the two most requested. Izamal first thing, when you can still cross the atrium without the ground burning, and Santa Bárbara afterwards, with the full five hours the site allows. Inside you do not walk between cenotes: you go by bicycle or cart. And the four are nothing alike — one is a closed cavern, another opens just enough to let a shaft of light through, and the other two are out in the open among the trees. Entry and lunch are included.

• Location: Izamal and Homún, Yucatán
• Schedule: 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM · daily
• Duration: 9 h approx.
• Included: Transport, General culture guide, Entrances, Lunch
• Not included: Drinks

The yellow convent of Izamal, the Maya city of Chichén Itzá, a cenote for midday and Valladolid before heading back.

This is the full day. We set off early for Izamal, where the Franciscan convent and the yellow streets are walked at an easy pace. Then Chichén Itzá, with a guide, so you understand what you are looking at instead of only photographing it. Regional lunch in Kaua at midday, and as soon as the heat sets in, the Selva Maya cenote. We close in Valladolid, with its original wrought-iron park railings and the church of San Servacio.

• Location: Izamal, Chichén Itzá and Valladolid, Yucatán
• Schedule: 8:00 AM – 8:00 PM · daily
• Duration: 11 h approx.
• Included: Air-conditioned transport, General culture guide, Regional buffet lunch
• Not included: Chichén Itzá entrance, Cenote entrance, Drinks

A guided visit to the Tulum archaeological site and four cenotes at the Casa Tortuga park, with lunch and cenote entry included.

Tulum is the exception: while the other Maya cities sit deep in the jungle, this one was raised on a cliff above the sea. El Castillo served as a lighthouse for navigators, and there is a white sand beach below. After the guided walk, the Casa Tortuga park: four different cenotes — open, semi-open and cave with stalactites — with changing rooms and trails. Cenote entry and lunch are included.

• Location: Tulum, Quintana Roo
• Schedule: 5:00 AM – 10:00 PM · daily
• Duration: 17 h approx.
• Included: Guide accredited by the Ministry of Tourism, Round-trip transport, Lunch, Cenote entry
• Not included: Tulum archaeological site entrance, Drinks