First time traveler to Cancun so this review probably has a few other details. First, let me tell you that today was amazing! I knew I wanted to see some Cenotes but wasn’t quite sure how to go about it or which ones were worthwhile or if there were some that were not. Upon the recommendation of a friendly gym owner, we traveled to Cenote Zapote. It’s not part of an organized tour and isn’t anything you need to book in advance. We headed south from Cancun towards Playa Carmen and Tulum on the 307. The turn off(to the right) is called Leona Vicario but is also known as ‘Ruta de los Cenotes’. It’s about 30 – 40 minutes south of the hotel zone in Cancun and is right outside of Puerto Morelos. You’ll know you passed it bc it has a large arch over the road. We had to circle back on the highway, exit to the right about 2 miles before the turn, and finally go down the correct road. The road is paved for this part and I saw surprisingly little traffic. I do know that some tours are offered in this area because I saw larger tour buses, but I’m glad we didn’t do that because I think they must all go to the same 1 – 2 cenotes. So, about 20 km or so down the road is a sign for ‘Kin-Ha’ road. You’ll also see a sign for ‘Cenote Zapote’. It’ll be a left hand turn. This road is not paved but is very well maintained. We didn’t have any problem in our super small, super cheap rental car. So, go down the road for about 5 km and you’ll have a bend, keep going down the road until you see the Zapote sign. We expected to pay a fee when we got there but were surprised that it was 300pesos apiece. We hesitated initially but decided to go for it and got a package where we could go to 4 cenotes(all privately owned) with a guide. At the end we were SUPERGLAD we did! We coupled up with another pair from Puerto Rico and it was just us at all of the cenotes we went to! The first one was Zapote. Open, clean, bright, with some diving platforms to jump into the water from. Second was Cenote Las Palmas. This one was more of an open pool at land-level but the owners had strung up a zip-line over the water for some added fun. The third was somewhat forgettable and not really anyone’s favorite but the fourth was amazing!!! Completely underground with a single hole in the cave above letting in a beautiful shaft of light that illuminates the whole Cenote. Stalagtites and beautiful clear water. Exactly what you picture when you think of cenotes. The water here was a little colder but if you just jump in, you acclimate within a minute or so. If you have goggles, you can see that this is fed from an extensive underwater cave system as you can look down and see that things go on for quite some way. Long story shortened is: Cenote Zapote — go there, pay the money(it’s worth it), go for the fourth one(sorry, forgot the name), and tip your guide(they live off tips apparently-not sure if it’s true but we were so happy with the experience that we definitely tipped). Had an amazing time!!!
