Merida: Ancient Mayapan & Breathtaking Cenote Adventure

Santa Barbara is clean, safe, friendly and professionally operated. Of the 4 cenotes there, 2 are fun (1 & 4) and 2 are absolutely stunning (2 & 3). Restaurant is excellent, too. If you want a full day of cenote experience in one location, this is your best bet. Our guide/driver Julio was a pleasure; super-friendly with excellent English. Ask to see photos of his grandkids!

Javier was a very accommodating, pleasant & charismatic tour guide. The Cenote's were absolutely gorgeous! I will definitely revisit this destination in future when I return to Yucatan. The pictures should speak for itself. Just be sure to go on the earlier tour so that you avoid the crowds.

While the guide was lovely, you don’t really need one to visit the Santa Barbara Cenotes (all 3 of which are within a single complex and walkable from each other). This is more of an expensive taxi service. The guide left us to wonder on our own both at the small archeological site and the entrance of the cenote complex so I really didn’t feel like it was necessary to have one.

this is a must to do if you come to merida. if you enjoy swimming, caves and overall adventure, you have to do this tour. the water was clean and beautiful. there is so much to do in this beautiful state of yucatan.

What an incredible day! Happened to be my birthday and was possibly the best one ever. Our guide Julio was incredibly welcoming, knowledgeable, and dealt admirably with a flat tire on our way back. A unexpected highlight was riding beach cruiser bikes between epically gorgeous cenotes. Maravillosa!

We had a great time! Stopped at Mayan ruins in the middle of town and then onto the cenotes. Fun to take a bike ride to each of the cenotes. And really fun to explore the cenotes as an open swim hole, partially closed swim hole and as a cave. Lunch was okay. The only too bad bit - the van transportation was so uncomfortable, seats did not recline, tight space between each row of seats. Luckily it was only for an hour - much longer and I'm not sure my body would have recovered!!

The rating I gave was for the tour itself based on the friendly guide and the expert driver. My problem comes from the misleading Viator ad for the tour. All other cenote tours described the opportunity to swim in the cenotes and the time given to swimming. Since I wasn’t interested in the swimming part, I went with this one. There was no mention of swimming, just visiting cenotes and a historical site. I became suspicious when the pre-tour communications I received mentioned bring a bathing suit and towel. I questioned that, explaining that the trip description said nothing about swimming, and that I had concerns about how I and my husband would be spending our time while others swam. I was assured that the swim time would not be extensive and that there would be plenty of scenery to enjoy in its place. That wasn’t the case, as the “scenery to enjoy” took maybe 15 minutes and the swimming time was three hours. So, IF you are looking for an opportunity to swim in a cenote or two, and IF you want a wonderful meal at the restaurant, definitely book this tour. But if you are in it for the sightseeing, skip it.

We had an amazing day, swimming in the three cenotes which were open (the 4th was not). Each was unique, the one pictured being the most beautiful. We were able to bike or take a Disney-type train between the ceynotes, and spend about 45 minutes in each. Access was via steps, some steeper than others, but with rope railing to assist with the climb. Swimming was followed by lunch...we ordered the salbutes (hearty serving, free) and beer (not free). The visit to the Acanceh ruins was underwhelming...it was a hot day and thankfully we didn't spend a lot of time there.

The cenotes were wonderful. One was closed, though. Very well organized regarding transport between the cenotes, lockers, life jackets and lunch. The temple is very small as well as the town. Jonathan and Alex were very friendly and helpful. More information about the Mayan culture would be appreciated.

All-in-all a great experience. Our guide, Javier, and our driver, José, were great! We only got access to three cenotes because one was closed - not the tour company’s fault, but the tour description should be updated until the other cenote reopens. It would have been nice to have more time in Acanceh, but we really did enjoy ourselves and I would definitely recommend this tour.