Playa Del Carmen - Grupo Xcaret Xenotes Tour (4 cenote tour)

 OH. MY. GOSH. This tour was AMAZING! This is an all-day experience, touring 4 cenotes (which they call xenotes because everything Xcaret is branded with an X), and including lunch.  Our tour guide was great and interacted with our kids (5 and 7). 

Pick up was pretty easy and the whole process was explained. Don't bother putting on sunscreen and/or bug spray - they want you to wash it off at the first cenote to avoid contaminating the water.

First cenote was like a little river. At the beginning you have the choice of going down a waterslide to get in or on a zipline (the kind that is just a bar you hold on to) or walking in from steps. It was colder than I expected but once you get used to it, no problem. After getting in, you swim/float down the river. There are inner tubes for kids if they don't want to swim. At the end of the river, you can get out and jump off a small cliff.

After the first cenote, we were served a small snack and Mexican hot chocolate. Then we headed off to cenote number 2.

Cenote number 2 was our favorite! It has two ziplines - one is a bar you hold onto and drop whenever you want. The other is a sling you can sit in, hang from, fly like superman on, etc. These ziplines go all the way down so you can hold on/stay on until you're actually in the water. My 7 year old was scared at first but our guide offered to go down "spiderman-style" (upside down) if he went down "princess style" (sitting in the sling). He sat in it and realized you feel very secure and decided to go for it. Then wanted to do it over and over until we had to leave. 

Cenote number 3 was a beautiful blue cenote. We snorkeled around and into a cave then on the other side we got to go on a short kayak trip. After that cenote we had lunch, which was sandwiches with a selection of cold cuts/cheese/toppings. In addition, there was nice, cold coke and other pops as well as wine and beer. We had time to relax and enjoy our meal before moving on to the 4th cenote.

The 4th cenote was so cool! We put on harnesses and rappelled into this deep, beautiful, blue cenote inside a cave! My kids were wimps and said it was "too cold" but they both braved the rappel line so I couldn't complain. We had some time to swim and jump off a stone diving board into the water before cleaning up and heading out.

During the tour, you have your own personal "paparazzi" with you. Ours took about 300 pictures of our group of six and they were pretty good pictures. Cost for digital copies of all of them was $140. 

I highly recommend this tour. It was well-organized, well-balanced, and tons of fun for all ages. We were there with my in-laws and my kids so three generations all loved it!

Next up: Cirque Du Soleil Joya...

Travel on!