Visit the ancient Maya city of Chichen Itza on a full-day tour from Cancun to a remarkable UNESCO World Heritage Site. Stop at a local restaurant for a buffet lunch, take a guided tour of Chichen Itza’s towering pyramids and ball courts, enjoy time to explore the site on your own, then cool off in an underground cenote. This tour includes entrance fees, lunch, and round-trip hotel transport from Cancun.

Full-day Chichen Itza tour from Cancun
Eat a buffet lunch at a local restaurant
Visit a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Swim in a cenote
All entrance fees included
Hotel pickup and drop-off in Cancun

What's Included

Lunch
Professional guide
Hotel pickup and drop-off
Air-conditioned vehicle

Drinks
Gratuities
There is no charge to bring a camera into the ruins, but you must pay $50 pesos for video camera.

Meeting and Pickup

Pickup points

Select a pickup point

Start time

Confirm time with the local provider in advance of your experience.

Opening hours

10/17/2016 - 3/20/2025
Monday - Sunday : 07:00 AM - 08:00 AM

Pickup details

Pick up at ALL hotels in the Cancun area.

What To Expect

Start the day with pickup at your hotel in Cancun or the Riviera Maya, then travel to the UNESCO-listed site of Chichen Itza in an air-conditioned coach. Pass through the colonial city of Valladolid along the way, then stop at a restaurant for a traditional buffet lunch and a jarana dance performance—the lively dance and music are typical of the Yucatán Peninsula, and dancers perform in elaborate embroidered costumes.

Upon arrival in Chichen Itza, take a guided tour of the ancient site with an INAH-certified guide. After the tour, you independent time to explore on your own, take photographs, or simply enjoy the unique atmosphere of the archeological site.

Board the coach for the return trip to Cancun, and make a stop along the way at a cenote, one of the Yucatan’s many limestone caverns. Bring a bathing suit to swim in the fresh water that flows through the cenote.

This full-day tour concludes with drop-off at your original departure point.

Valladolid

3 hours • Admission Ticket Free

Chichen Itza

3 hours • Admission Ticket Included

Xcajum

45 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Children must be accompanied by an adult
You can bring bottled water with you.
Not wheelchair accessible

Bring walking shoes, hat, perhaps an extra shirt, sun block, swimming suit and towel.
Most travelers can participate
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 30 travelers

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.

Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.
This experience requires a minimum number of travelers. If it’s canceled because the minimum isn’t met, you’ll be offered a different date/experience or a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Reviews

4.5

306 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travelers.

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Showing 1-10 of 306 reviews

Prepare yourself.

Olinka_C, Oct 2023

This is an ALL day trip so you should certainly plan accordingly. The tour guide is extremely witty and knowledgeable. It is clear he cares about Mayan civilization and preserving the cultures rich history. Although he is bilingual, mostly Spanish is spoken with very little instruction given in English. If you are an English only speaker, it can be a little difficult to keep up. This tour is also a COMPLETE money grab. There are hidden fees everywhere! A buffet lunch was included in the tour we booked however beverages were not included and it was mandatory we purchased drinks. The buffet lunch is decent at best - if you have dietary restrictions, your options will be limited. Check to see if water is included in your package or you will be charged for that as well. In addition to the hidden fees, the up charge is pretty insane. But to end on a positive note the cenote is amazing and chichen itza really is marvelous. You can in fact bring your phone to the cenote experience. You’ll have to pay for a locker and life jacket. If you’d like to purchase a towel you can. The long journey is worth the experience. Just prepare yourself.

Absolutely awful

Hayley_C, Oct 2023

Went on this trip with 3 other people, got on the bus the tour guide said hi but for the rest of the trip they spoke spanish and completly ignored my family and the others who spoke english, the guide brought around drinks but didnt ask any of us english speakers so i asked for a bottle of water as we had been on the bus for 3 hours and his reply was they arent for you, i asked could i buy one and he just replied no, just as we approached chichen itza he came and give umbrellas to all the spanish as it was a very hot day, i asked if i could have one and again he replied they are not for you even though they had 6 or 7 left, once off the bus the guide said english over there and gave us the entry tickets and continued the tour in spanish, it clearly states on viators site that there is an english tour guide but we didnt have one, once at the cenote i asked what time we needed to be back at the bus and he said local time but we wont wait for you, we did enjoy the cenote but once back on the bus we sat on there for 40 mins waiting for spanish members of the group to come back which the guide was happy to do. The total trip was 14 hours and 40 mins and we did not get spoke to once in english, the whole bus trip was awful, dont book the trip as you will not enjoy the experience

Chichen Itza & Cenote

Adrienne_Q, Aug 2023

Hearing the history of the ruins. This is my 3rd visit to Chichen Itza and the first for my daughter. So amazing! It is disappointing though to see how this archeological site has turned into a flea market only a few yards away. Our tour guide at the ruins was fantastic; however, there were some logistical issues that caused me to rank this tour a 3. I believe that I along with maybe 3 other people were the only English-speaking people so the entire bus ride was in Spanish with a little English thrown in here and there. I caught most of the language on the tour from taking Spanish in school, however, missed key information about the first stop being for lunch AND the cenote. The tour guide let us out and it seemed like after leading us into a shopping area, we were ushered into the buffet area to eat. My daughter and I looked around and wondered where the rest of our tour had gone other than a few people that looked familiar. We assumed they were in the 2nd buffet area that was mentioned. After eating we realized that we had another hour at Chichiken so we sat in the hammocks. It finally dawned on us that this stop also included the cenote. We decided to walk up a path and sure enough, we saw signs directing to the cenote. By this time, there was only 20 minutes remaining before getting back on the bus so we took a few pictures and headed back. We arrived at the bus and the driver put up his hands that there were 7 minutes left before we could enter. It was hot as ykw with a 108 degree heat index. Others who attempted to get onto the bus during the last 5 minutes were also ushered away. At Chichen Itza, our tour guide did think to pair us with another guide who was more proficient in English. This was great. This guide switched back and forth between the 2 languages with ease. Only problem, we had to keep an eye on the time since we were now separated from our original tour group and did not want to be left. Our original guide made the statement to "be back at 4:25 and we're leaving at 4:30 pm" in a harsh tone. I did not want to be THAT American and complain about not being catered to in a Spanish-speaking country. It seems that when reservations are made, there could be a predominant language inquiry to make sure English-speakers are grouped similarly like what was done at the Chichen Itza stop. The time to change clothes seemed rushed and had we known the order of stops, I definitely would have already had my swimsuit on underneath my clothes. Mute point since we didn't know the location or timing of the cenote anyway. We were told that we had 10 minutes to change into swimsuits. A bus full of women with 4 stalls. I don't need to say more on this. I decided to step outside the restroom and stand in the doorway to keep an eye on the tour group to make sure we weren't left. A man came to the door of the restroom door (other English speaker) and was urging his wife to hurry because the guide just said "OK, we have everyone so we can now proceed to ..." No he didn't have everyone because my daughter and I and now a gentleman and his wife were still missing. The general area is marked by paths and you probably won't/can't get too lost but you don't know this initially so does scare you a bit. Overall, our initial guide (on the bus and Chichiken stop) was not giving off friendly tour guide energy. Borderline abrasive and rude. He was just OK and my daughter even commented "I don't think he likes us".

Amazing trip! But don't forget to bring water!

Rianne_B, Jun 2023

Really great trip was good stop offs along the way. The tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and passionate about his history which was lovely, and it was very informative. Do be warned though there is no water on the coach and it is a very long day (around 14 hours) so be prepared for the heat and bring plenty of water!

extremely uncomfortable transportation!

Alyssa_L, Dec 2022

I’ve always blindly trusted viator but will not do that any longer. What was advertised as a 12 hour tour lasted over 14 hours, most of that time being crammed into a bus where the seats were so close together that by the end of the day my knees had abrasions from pressing into the mesh on the back of the seat in front of me. The tour guides themselves were good, one was even great, but unfortunately the level of discomfort significantly detracted from the experience. We were picked up from our hotel 15 minutes late by a couple of men in a tiny shuttle who did not speak to us at all and listened to loud rap music. We got to playa del Carmen and had to sit in the uncomfortable shuttle for 45 minutes while they tried to pick up other passengers. Again, no explanation of this. All this waiting to drive 4 blocks to get transferred to the aforementioned bus that was even more uncomfortable. The experiences themselves (swimming in the cenote and seeing chichen itza) were excellent, but I would never recommend this tour simply because the level of discomfort was almost unbearable, and the false advertising about being back at your hotel in 12 hours caused us to miss scheduled plans. I will definitely be more careful booking through Viator in the future.

Don’t book this trip!

beckyjewett, Nov 2022

We were picked up at 8:10 and didn’t get to Chichenitza until 3:00 pm. The 7 hours before our arrival were lacking content. Also they would only give us water if we bought the $20/person drink package, despite it being sunny and hot.

Great tour.

Leely_B, Nov 2022

Shouldn’t miss this tour. Wish it was a smaller group vs full bus load, it would have been exceptional. We were packed silly in the bus and then there were 2 people who missed their own bus and were allowed to board our bus group who were so annoying. Tips should be mandatory, i couldn’t believe the number of guess that did not tip.

The information and...

Ana_P, Mar 2022

The information and history provided. The guide was funny and definitely knew what he was talking about. All crew was well organized too

Highly misleading description.

Evan_K, Dec 2021

If you don’t pay $15 extra (even though it includes a meal) you don’t get anything to drink. If you bring your own water bottle you are not allowed to enter the cafe. Viator told us 9am pickup. Tour company emailed saying pickup at 7-7:10 or they will depart without us. We waited from 6:50 until 7:40 before they finally showed up.

Too little to long

Karl_S, Nov 2021

Very long day. 6am -10pm. We had no dinner by the time we got back to the resort. We had less than 2 hours to run through Chichen Itza at the end of the day. We barely saw it. If we would have taken a tour guide we wouldn't have seen as much. Also the tour package didn't write that the cost of life jackets wasn't included at Cenote, which is required. On the bus they sell an upgrade to pay for this.

Terrible

Hannah, Aug 2021

If you don’t speak Spanish, it’s gonna be a terrible experience since from pick up to drop off. The guy who picked us up didn’t communicate at all. So we didn’t know that we need to switch the bus to Chichen Itza. He even complained that “lady you are the only one who didn’t know” Of course I didn’t know coz I don’t understand Spanish at all. Also The tour guide Mili is very rude. She didn’t communicate at all in English all throughout the tour. At the end of the tour, she dropped us (me and my 2 kids, 7 and 4) out on the sidewalk which is like almost a mile away from the hotel at 9pm. Finally we took a taxi back to the hotel. Not really a drop off service. Overall experience, TERRIBLE!!!

ChichenITZA

Clara_S, Jul 2021

Recommended with water and sunscreen and your friends!! The history is super cool and interesting!!! Worth it.

Incredible!

Michaelan_m, May 2021

The tour was wonderful from start to finish. All of the staff were friendly and attentive. We toured the archeological site with Juan Carlo. He was fantastic. I learned so much history of the Mayan people and the amazingly complex and accurate construction of the Chichen Itza buildings. I would definitely recommend a tour with Juan Carlo.

Best day in Cancun

heduardo967, May 2021

The tour price compare with hotel prices were great, the tours guides did a amazing job, great tour como truly recommend this tour.

The Good and the Unexpected/ 4.5 stars

Sara_S, Jan 2021

4.5 stars. The tour was great. Our favorite part was the cenote swim and authentic lunch. The pyramid and the ruins were also great to explore. It was good to see a little bit of real Mexico. A couple of unexpected things: The tour was almost 15 hours from pick up to drop off, much longer than we expected. There were vendors lining every path inside the ruins, this distracted from our experience there. The only place you need cash is for tipping the tour group and probably for most vendors inside the ruins, every other place took cards.

Nedra's experience

Wander58446810119, Sep 2019

This is a great tour. I enjoyed shopping & the cenote swimming. it was extremely hot weather. Bring sunglasses & hat .

Very enjoyable tour

Brady_A, Jul 2018

This was a family trip with adults and teenagers and kids we all enjoyed it Pepe and Carlos our driver and guide were great we all enjoyed the tour

Its an all day trip try and have a...

clyde_m, Jan 2018

Its an all day trip try and have a good breakfast before you leave, if you are into history this is the tour for you.

The tour lasted a total of 14 hours...

kaden s, Jul 2017

The tour lasted a total of 14 hours, way longer than expected. We spent about 9.5 hours sitting on the bus, and a few of those hours we were just waiting on stupid things. We were the first to be picked up and it took about 80 minutes to finish picking up everyone else. The tour guide starts with getting after people for sleeping for the first few hours of the ride, really annoying especially when you have to take medicine to not get motion sickness. 2/3 of the bus only spoke English so he would switch back and forth while giving instructions and talking about the history. After a hour into the tour he gets really lazy about explaining anything in English, you could here him go on for 3-4 minutes in Spanish and then would give two sentences in English. Often it was just parts of information and he would switch back to Spanish before finishing most instructions. We stopped at four different places, the first was a Mayan shopping center and from what we noticed is the tour guide must make a spiff from the silver you buy. The second place is the cenotes, this was very cool and the food was great, After getting on the bus at the time they told us they would be leaving and not waiting for anyone, we sat for almost 25 minutes waiting for two people. Everyone on the bus continued to wait on mostly these two people at every stop for between 20-45 minutes, The tour guide claimed he would not wait but for some reason wouldn't even say anything to these two every time they were late. The chechen itza stop was also very cool, but very hot bring sun screen! The last stop is a complete waist of time, the tour guide took up to a city for a 20 minute stop so we could all see the downtown area. After twenty minutes of walking around and getting different snacks we continued to wait 45 minutes for the tour guide and these two same girls to get back. The driver and other helpers on the bus were very friendly and did great. We finally got back to the hotel at about 9 pm, giving us a total of 3.5 hours of doing what we signed up for and about 10 hours of sitting on a bus and waiting on people.

It was an awesome tour, but it gets...

marchan1956, May 2017

It was an awesome tour, but it gets really, really hot so bring a hat or an umbrella. Our tour guide Gabriel was very informative. He was great!

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