PLAYA DEL CARMEN · MEXICO
Cenotes, Maya ruins, the Caribbean coast.
Cenote swims in the jungle, Chichen Itza and Tulum by day, catamaran sails and reef snorkels straight off the beach. Every good day in Playa del Carmen, and every road out of it along the Riviera Maya.
Only on this coast
Three days you can only have here.
Beach clubs and snorkel trips turn up on every coast. Swimming a jungle cenote, climbing into a wonder of the world at Chichen Itza, and floating over wild sea turtles at Akumal do not.
Underground rivers
Swim a Cenote
The Yucatan has no rivers above ground; it keeps them below. Rain filters through limestone into thousands of cenotes — sinkholes of cool, glass-clear freshwater, some open to the jungle, others hidden in caves hung with stalactites. You climb down a wooden stair, push off, and swim through water so clear the fish look airborne.
- 1 From Playa del Carmen ATV Adventure with Ziplines, Cenote
- 2 Half-Day Sea Turtle and Cenote Snorkeling Tour from Cancun & Riviera Maya
- 3 Playa del Carmen Buggy Tour with Cenote Swim and Mayan Village Visit
A wonder of the world
Chichen Itza
Three hours inland stands El Castillo, the stepped pyramid of Kukulcan and one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. Twice a year the late-afternoon sun throws a serpent of shadow down its staircase. Stand at the foot of the great ball court and the Maya city still does the work no photo can.
- 1 VIP Chichen Itza Private Tour
- 2 Skip the Line Chichen Itza Private Tour, Sacred Cenote & Lunch
- 3 Chichén Itzá, Cenote and Valladolid with Lunch and transportation
Wild sea turtles
Akumal Bay
Akumal means “place of the turtles” in Maya, and the name still holds. In the shallow turquoise bay just south of Playa, green sea turtles graze the seagrass meadows all year round. Slip in with a mask and a guide and you drift a metre above them as they rise to the surface to breathe.
- 1 Half-Day Sea Turtle and Cenote Snorkeling Tour from Cancun & Riviera Maya
- 2 Hidden Cenote Swim: Snorkeling, Sea Turtles and Beachside Lunch
- 3 Full Day Tulum Ruins Tour Cenote and Swimming with Sea Turtles
Start here
The one almost everyone books first.
More Riviera Maya trips kick off with this half-day than anything else — jungle, a cenote and a shot of adrenaline before lunch.
Where most people start
Playa del Carmen's Most Popular Tours
Cenote swims, Chichen Itza and Tulum, sea-turtle snorkels and catamaran days. The trips most travellers come to the Riviera Maya for.
Where to begin
The trips a Riviera Maya week is built around.
The cenotes, the Maya ruins, the reef, the catamarans and the turtles at Akumal. The handful of experiences most trips are planned around, and the best way to do each.
The big day trips
Which Maya ruins are worth the day?
Three ancient cities, three very different days inland. Pick by how far you want to drive and what you want to stand in front of.
On the reef
The world’s second-biggest reef is right offshore.
The Mesoamerican Reef runs the whole length of this coast, a few hundred metres out. Pull on a mask off Playa and you are over staghorn coral, parrotfish and rays in minutes; take the boat out to Cozumel or Puerto Morelos and the walls drop into deep, clear blue. Some of the easiest world-class snorkelling anywhere.
Read the guide: the best snorkeling tours in Playa del Carmen →Know before you go
The three kinds of cenote.
There are thousands scattered across the Yucatan, and they come in three flavours. Knowing which is which is half of picking the right swim.
Playa by day
Eat your way down Fifth Avenue.
La Quinta Avenida runs the length of town a block back from the sand — taco stands and marisquerias, mezcal bars and rooftop terraces, all on foot. A guided food crawl is the fastest way to learn what to order: cochinita pibil, fresh ceviche, tacos al pastor shaved off the spit.
See the food & taco tours →Out on the water
The colour the sea actually is out here.
A mile off Playa the Caribbean turns the impossible turquoise of the postcards. A catamaran day is how most people meet it: sails up toward Cozumel or the Xpu-Ha reefs, a snorkel stop in the shallows, ceviche and an open bar on the trampoline back. The single best half-day on the coast.
Catamaran & sailing trips →Summer only · June to September
Swim beside the biggest fish in the sea.
Each summer hundreds of whale sharks gather off the tip of the peninsula to feed, the largest aggregation on earth. Boats run out past Isla Mujeres and Holbox, and you slip in alongside a spotted giant the length of a bus as it filters plankton at the surface. Harmless, slow, and completely overwhelming.
- 1 Whale Shark Encounter Full-Day all inclusive Tour from Riviera Maya
- 2 Private Whale Shark All Inclusive Experience
- 3 Whale shark encounter Private tour – swim with whale shark cancun
Plan by distance
Pick how far you want to go today.
Playa is the hub. Stay in town for the beach and a nearby cenote, run an hour down the coast to Tulum and the turtles, or give a full day to the long drive inland for Chichen Itza.
In town
Stay in Playa.Fifth Avenue and the beach clubs, the ferry pier, and a cenote half an hour up the highway. Days you never have to leave the coast.
Down the coast
South to Tulum.The clifftop ruins of Tulum, the turtles at Akumal, or the ferry across to Cozumel. Gone in the morning, back for the beach.
A full day inland
Out to Chichen Itza.The great pyramid and the colonial town of Valladolid, three hours each way. The big day that needs an early start.
Adventure parks
The jungle, at full throttle.
Off the highway the jungle is one big adventure park. Buggies and ATVs churning red-dirt tracks to a hidden cenote, ziplines strung over the canopy, rappels into sinkholes, and the big all-day parks at Xcaret, Xel-Ha and Xplor where you swim underground rivers between rides. The wettest, loudest fun on the coast.
See all 50 ATV & buggy tours →By place
The town, the coast and the road inland.
Playa for Fifth Avenue and the beach. Tulum for the ruins by the sea. Cozumel for the diving. Akumal for the turtles. Chichen Itza for the pyramid. Isla Mujeres for the catamaran day.
By activity
Pick what kind of day you want.
A cenote if you want the jungle’s cool water. The reef if you want the fish. A catamaran if you want the open bar. An ATV if you want the mud and the speed.
Plan it
Three days that cover the essentials.
First time on the Riviera Maya? Here is how three days plays out without a wasted hour.
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