So this would probably be the most common tour for first time visitors to the Cancun / Playa Del Carmen / Tulum area. Most tours start by picking people up at their hotel and then they drive them to a Cenote and a some kind of buffet lunch and finally they get some time to see Chichen Itza.
We did this kind of tour – it makes things easy – but to be honest, if I were to do this again, I would take a car and drive myself or take a car and driver. The drive is very simple. It’s on toll roads the whole way and if you do it yourself you don’t need to worry about the tour taking you to their friend’s centote with a story of how you are “supporting tribal people” or being sold crap that is “made locally” but is actually imported from China.
Nethertheless the actual Cenote that we went to was actually pretty neat. It was probably the widest one I have been to in my time in Mexico and the water was refreshing as usual. In this one lifejackets were mandatory (read – cash grab) so you had to pay for one. It’s not expensive but we felt we were being nickel and dimed the whole day.
How COVID has changed things a bit
To get into Chichen Itza involves a line even if you are already on a guided tour. You don’t really save any time even if you have bought tickets in advance. However, the fun part of this line was that they were using a cheap camera and an AI algorithm to identify people’s faces and take their temperature with an infrared camera. You can see the results as you walk though it.
Once you get through that line and actually enter, Chichen Itza is very cool. With a tour you only get about 90 minutes to see the site. It’s enough to see it but I feel most people would find it more relaxed if they had additional time.
The main pyramid on the site is very impressive. At two times of the year you can see the sun cast a shadow on the pyramid that looks like a snake running (slithering?) up the side of the pyramid. The whole thing is very impressive.
Valladolid
On the way back you get a brief (maybe 15 minute) stop in Valladolid. This place deserves at least a couple days and if you had your own wheels you can stop here for as long as you like. Most of the buildings here were build by the Spanish and are really lovely to see.
Conclusion
I never usually recommend or pass criticism on companies on this blog. I usually write Tripadvisor reviews (which I have done here) – however I feel a bit compelled with this one.
This tour was booked by USA Transfers. They however, do not actually run the tour. They outsource to Mayab Travel. You should remember that name (Mayab Travel) as a company to avoid. The whole thing was very rushed and they were more focused on selling booze than on telling anybody about the history of the Mayan people. They actually started to sell alcohol around 9am. I was actually shocked that some people took them up on this offer (although maybe I should not be).
There were several stops at the tour guides “friend’s” shop to buy souvenirs or to procure more alcohol. This just served to waste time which could have been spent seeing the thing we paid for – Chichen Itza.
On top of this, the buffet lunch seemed to be of very low quality and several people got sick on the bus on the way back to Playa del Carmen. Vomiting on a coach is never a fun thing to do and I cannot really give a positive review to any tour that gives people food poisoning.
So in conclusion – Chichen Itza is certainly worth seeing – but before you buy a tour be certain of what your experience will be like. And – even better – just go and do it by yourself. It’s an easy drive and will be so much more fulfulling.