Cancún Adventures and Excursions

Xcaret Park and cultural night show (8–12 hours)

At this ecological and archeology park, you can swim in cenotes, snorkel in the clear aqua waters of the Caribbean, and watch for monkeys, birdlife, and butterflies as you stroll through the jungle. During the evening, we watched their spectacular folkloric ancient Mayan cultural show underneath the stars in their outdoor arena.

If you want to see and do as much as possible, I recommend getting there when the park opens. However, the show starts late in the evening, so we arrived around noon so that we could spend about six hours doing activities before the show started because we didn’t want to be there for 12 hours. Since you’ll be there all day, I recommend purchasing the all-you-can-eat package, bring your own water bottle, wear comfortable water shoes, and bring a change of clothes.

Rio Secreto underground river tour with crystal caves

Explore the Rio Secreto Nature Reserve near Playa del Carmen. On this excursion, we geared up in our provided wet suits and life jackets and were led to swim and wade in one of Mexico’s most spectacular underground caves where you will see the most amazing stalactites and stalagmites. Afterwards, they fed us a delicious Mexican buffet lunch. You won’t be allowed to bring your own camera to take pictures, so be prepared to purchase the photos taken by them. They can be quite expensive, but well worth the memories.

Xplor Park

This park is for people who are extreme thrill seekers. The adventure park includes: high-speed zip-lining through the jungle, driving in underground caverns in an ATV, swimming in cenotes, exploring underground caves, and much more. Your ticket includes free, unlimited snacks and an all you can eat Mexican buffet. Plan to spend all day at this park and get there when the park opens so that you will have time to do all of the activities. The zipline line was the longest, so get that activity done first.

Ruins of Tulum: Express half-day private tour (4 hours)

This was absolutely the best way to visit the Tulum ruins. Our private tour guide/driver picked us up early in the morning at our hotel. Because it was an early morning tour, we toured the ruins before it became scorching hot in the summer heatwave. We were able to avoid the busy crowds that came later in the day. The guide was an expert in Mexican culture and history, so he gave us amazing nuggets of information that you would only be able to get on this private tour. I recommend bringing an umbrella for shade and good walking shoes.

Cancún speed boat & snorkel tour (4 hours)

We met our guide at a marina in Cancún. Then drove our own two-passenger speedboat around Nichupte Lagoon while driving along the scenic coast of the shoreline. Next, we parked the boat and snorkeled over the underwater statues at the Punta Nizuc coral reef. We saw colorful marine life in the sparkling blue waters. Our tour guide was with us throughout the entire journey to make sure we operated the boats safely. Bring your own camera to take pictures because the picture package they will try and sell you is really expensive.

Puerto Morelos Food Tour

This is a great food tour if your hotel is located in Rivera Maya or Playa del Carmen. This small fishing village is full of local restaurants where every authentic Yucatan dish was prepared fresh for our small groups.

I can’t remember the names of all the little restaurants we visited, but I do remember how they made me feel. Every restaurant owner came to greet us personally and made us feel like family. My favorite dish that I tried was called “cochinita pibil”, a slow-roasted pork marvel marinated in citrus and annatto seeds, traditionally cooked in banana leaves. Our guide taught us about Mexican culture and how food has played an important role in Mexican history. This was the best food we tasted during our time in Cancún!