Mexico is bigger than the beach.
Which Chichen Itza run beats the coaches to the gate. Where the cenote water still runs clear in August. What a whale shark swim off Isla Mujeres really costs. Every tour in Mexico, reviewed.
Mexico’s most popular tours start at Chichen Itza.
Every review →The days more travellers take than anything else in the country, and what makes each one worth its slot.
1
Chichen Itza, Cenote, and Valladolid Tour
Review of the Cancun Chichen Itza, cenote, and Valladolid tour, with practical advice on cost, pickup, guides, shopping stops, and timing.
From · $45
Read our review →
2
Chichen Itza, Cenote & Valladolid Tour with Tequila and Lunch
from $34
3
Teotihuacan, Guadalupe Shrine & Tlatelolco Day Tour with Lunch
from $39
4
Cabo Beach Camel Ride, Mexican Buffet and Tequila Tasting
from $99
5
Xochimilco, Coyoacan and Frida Kahlo with Optional Lunch
from $34
6
Mr. Sanchos Beach Club All-Inclusive Day Pass
from $79
7
Chichen Itza, Cenote & Valladolid Tour with Lunch
from $49
8
Early morning Chichen Itza Tour: Cenote and Tequila Tasting
from $26
In Mexico the day splits: ruins by morning, water by afternoon.
The pyramid, the sinkhole swim, the reef boat, the tequila cellar and the buggy trail. Five or six days carry most Mexico itineraries, and each one books differently.
Cancun is a base camp, not a destination.
The reef, the ruins and the sinkholes all sit inside a two-hour drive of the hotel zone. Boats leave at eight and the pyramid coaches leave before dawn, so the booking decides the day far more than the resort does.
Chichen Itza before the coaches, cenote afterwards.
All 103 Chichen Itza & cenote tours →
The shape of the day barely changes: pyramid, swim, lunch in Valladolid. What changes is the departure hour, the size of the coach and whether the entrance fees are already in the price.
Chichen Itza, a cenote and Valladolid
Out of Cancun in the dark, at the pyramid for the opening hour, in cold water by two, and back through the colonial streets of Valladolid before the drive home.
Three cenotes and nothing else
Open pool, half-cave, full cave. The jungle sinkholes north of Playa hold water at a steady twenty-five degrees, and the light through the roof hole is the whole reason to go.
Tulum on the cliff, early
The smallest of the great sites and the only one built over the sea. Go at opening, walk the wall in an hour, then take the stairs down to the beach underneath it.
Mexico City needs four days and usually gets two.
Teotihuacan at opening, the blue house in Coyoacan, and the canals at Xochimilco with a brass band pulling alongside. The capital runs on timed tickets and early starts, and the good balloon flights lift before six.
What a day out in Mexico costs.
Every tour on the site, sorted by what it actually costs. A good Yucatan day can come in under the price of a resort lunch.
Cenote swims, market walks, ruin entries and the short boat hops between islands.
The standard day out: Chichen Itza with lunch, reef catamarans, buggy trails, tasting rooms.
Private drivers, chartered boats, balloon flights at dawn and the swims that need a permit.
By region, coast to coast
Cancun109 tours
Mexico City99 tours
Los Cabos106 tours
Playa del Carmen63 tours
Puerto Vallarta56 tours
Cozumel42 tours
Oaxaca18 tours- All 28 regions →
By experience, what kind of day is it?
The cenote, the mask and the shark.
Beaches and old stones turn up all over the Americas. Flooded limestone caves, a wrestling ring in a 1950s arena and the largest gathering of whale sharks on earth belong to Mexico alone.
The Cenote
The Yucatan has no rivers. Rain drains straight through the limestone into a flooded cave system thousands of sinkholes deep, and the Maya treated the openings as doorways. Some are open pools with vines to the water, some are pitch-dark caverns reached by ladder. The water sits near twenty-five degrees all year, so the swim works in January as well as July.
- 1Chichen Itza, Cenote, and Valladolid Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 24,293 reviews
- 2Chichen Itza, Cenote & Valladolid Tour with Tequila and Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 15,789 reviews
- 3Chichen Itza, Cenote & Valladolid Tour with Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 6,722 reviews
Lucha Libre
Masked wrestling is not a tourist invention. Arena Mexico has run fights since 1956 and the good cards are Tuesday, Friday and Sunday, with families in the cheap seats and beer sold by the tray. The mask matters more than the wrestler: losing one on purpose, in a mask-versus-mask bout, ends a career and fills the building.
- 1Lucha Libre Tickets & Tacos & Beer & Mezcal – BEST NIGHT EVER!★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,077 reviews
- 2Lucha Libre Experience in Mexico City★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 595 reviews
- 3Lucha Libre Tour and Mezcal Tasting in Mexico City★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 519 reviews
The Whale Sharks
Every summer several hundred whale sharks gather off Isla Mujeres to feed on tuna spawn, the biggest known aggregation of the species anywhere. Boats run on permits and a strict two-swimmers-at-a-time rule, the sea is often rough by ten in the morning, and the season closes in the middle of September.
- 1La Paz Whale Shark Snorkeling Tour and Lunch From Los Cabos★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,066 reviews
- 2Whale Shark Adventure in Isla Mujeres and Cancun★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 951 reviews
- 3Whale Shark Tour from Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Tulum and Riviera Maya★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 929 reviews
In Los Cabos the day starts at the water line.
The arch at Land’s End only looks right from a boat, the grey whales come close between December and April, and the desert behind town is buggy country. Book the water first and fill the rest in around it.
- 1Cabo Beach Camel Ride, Mexican Buffet and Tequila Tastingfrom $99
- 24×4 ATV Adventure with Tequila Tasting and Mexican Buffet Lunchfrom $75
- 3Outdoor Ziplining and UTV Adventure from Los Cabosfrom $139
The mezcal bars open when the ruins close.
All evening tours →
Lucha Libre Tickets & Tacos & Beer & Mezcal – BEST NIGHT EVER!
Read our review →
Four Mexico days that will not wait for you.
Most of Mexico can be booked from the hotel lobby the night before. These four run on seasons, permits and fight nights that pay no attention to when your flight lands.
- 01La Paz Whale Shark Snorkeling Tour and Lunch From Los CabosThe season runs mid-May to mid-September and the boats carry permits, so places are capped long before you arrive.
- 02Luxury Catamaran Whale Watching Cabo San LucasGrey and humpback whales are only in Baja waters from December to April. Outside that window the trip does not exist.
- 03Balloon flight + Breakfast in cave + Pyramids + Pick up CDMX.Balloons over Teotihuacan lift at dawn and only in calm air, so each morning has a handful of baskets and they go early.
- 04Lucha Libre Tickets & Tacos & Beer & Mezcal – BEST NIGHT EVER!Arena Mexico fights on set nights of the week. Land on the wrong day and the next card is three days out.
One loop of the Yucatan, start to finish.
Cancun
Tulum
Merida
Bacalar
The afternoon downpour is a schedule, not a surprise.
From June to October the Yucatan sky darkens around four and clears again by six. Put the reef and the ruins in the morning and keep the afternoon for a cave cenote, a mezcal cellar, a cooking table or a ringside seat. Rain cancels none of them.
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