Expédition Chichén Itzá, cénote Suytún et cénote Ik-kil

Driver Victor was professional and drove safely. Jorge was generally responsible, although Spanish explanations were much longer than English throughout the tour. The main issue was guide Efrain. Asian passengers were placed in the back rows by Efrain near the restroom while others sat freely in front. Even with empty front seats, they were not allowed to move forward. Two Asian guests with motion sickness asked to switch seats, but Efrain refused and told them just to use the restroom. Shopping stops reduced time at attractions and made the tour feel overly commercialized. This created a strong impression of discriminatory treatment and was unacceptable.

Great tour guide and tour! Fun and awesome! It's an unique experience. Hot weather but alright! Recommend it for anyone.

The tour is very rich, mto charming... the problem is that everything is too far away, with that, it gets very tired

First off let me say that the operators were the best I've ever had. Like hands down. 13 hour trip and they were amazing from the moment they grabbed us from the resort to dropping us off. If you want a quality tour this is the one to take. With Hector the operator, Juan the driver and Alfredo the man on the scene. Juan the driver was born to do this. He got us where we needed to be, kept the AC on and closed the curtains to ensure the bus was cool and didn't let any other bus or van take his spot or get in front of him. Juan rules. Hector the man behind it all was insanely knowledgeable, funny and gave a straight up 5 star guide of every aspect of the day. In both Spanish and fluent English for us gringos who couldn't learn Spanish in time to visit. Alfredo not only provided drinks but also kept everyone smiling and laughing, made sure everyone was in line, paid and ensured everyone had sunscreen bug spray and more. Plus the dude came out clutch at the end of the tour with blankets and sweet breads. These guys managed a 13 hour day with no BS and did it with style. 5 stops on time and on point. This is the one tour I'd absolutely take again and after being burned by operators or misleading promises on other tours in the area it was incredible to finally find one that gave everything that was promised. So yeah 10/10 Juan Hector and Alfredo are the people to see about this if you want a quality tour without having to worry That being said there were a few issues that were out of their control and I'll detail them below. None of it could be controlled because people are going to do what people do. So here's the honest part you need to read 1. Pick up: look, 7 am pick up means 7 am pick up. They grab people from 3-7 different resorts. Every resort they call you in advance to let you know they're coming. Then spend 5-10 minutes yelling your name out. If one group is late to the pick up spot it means the entire bus is 5-10 mins behind for the next resort, and if a group their is late it's 5-10 minutes late for the next one. So 7 am at the first resort can be 8 am at the last one. So be on time ok. Like actually outside ready to go 2. Pack sunscreen towels and extra clothes. It's Mexico, inland. It's hot as hell. You're going swimming and the bus has fabric seats. If you don't have extra clothes it's miserable on a bus with quality AC. If you don't have sunscreen it's worse at Chichen Itza. They have a list of essentials listen to them. 3. Cenotes Suytun: Arguably the 2nd most essential stop. It's wet. It's busy. So be ready to hit the shower because without it you get pulled out of line and waste everyone's time. The stairs are also slippery so water shoes keep you from dying. Don't bring anything you don't need. Just water shoes (no sandals) and your phone The best time to be there is immediately in the morning or between 11 am and 1 pm for that light ray photo. Do not bring sandals and be ready to shower. No shower no water no photo. This is non negotiable The issue is, without being the first bus there you're either the second or 7th. Everyone wants THAT photo and EVERYONE waits in line for it. You have 30 seconds and then the lifeguard blows his whistle and asks you to move on for the next group to get their photo. One larger group of selfish a-holes needing 34 different photos of each person or different people can screw over two busloads of people. And when there's 3-5 busloads all there at once it's insanely frustrating to wait in line for an hour and not even get a photo. So don't be those people. Get in, 30 seconds photo get out. 2. Mayan Village: ok so it was alright. The coffee bar at the end made the best caramel frappe my wife has ever had. But it's insanely overpriced and the demands for tips is off putting. The same bracelets at the souvenir shop downtown Cancun are 7x more expensive there and they have hawks leading you around helping you "shop" ensuring you buy something. Then it's the dancers who want tips. The guys dressed up as Mayan warriors who grab your phone without asking them demand $200 pesos for the photos they take, then it's the guys dropping a basket at your table saying tips are not mandatory but are mandatory So if you have a guilty soul best believe you need to bring paper money because this place while cool is a frustrating aspect of the tour. The only thing worth it was the Mayan calendar write up about your birthday from the family on site. Absolutely worth the $ and goes directly to the family. 3. Chichen Itza: INSANELY busy UNESCO world heritage site. We again did not learn Spanish so we got stuck with an older English speaking "guide" from the facility that we walked away from within 5 minutes. Now look, guides are great but we only had 70-80 minutes to explore and we found out this guide didn't leave the starting point for 40 of those precious minutes and then spent 25 more just at Temple Kukulcan. The people who stayed with the guide only got 15 minutes of time to roam. So don't feel bad about wandering away and doing your own thing. Also, NO drones and NO camera lenses longer than a 24-120 mm. A larger lens on a DSLR will get you sent back to your bus. Pack light, like very light. No tripods no extra camera gear etc. sunscreen IS a must as is water. Don't worry about bug spray either. Not needed at all. All in all Chichen Itza was amazing for us as we wandered off and explored on our own. Not the tour operators fault the facility stuck us with a bad guide so don't feel bad about wandering off on your own but make SURE you know when to be back at your bus. 4: Cenotes Ik-Kil. Again, bring extra clothing and a towel and NO sandals. You HAVE to shower again to get the bug spray, soaps, sunscreen etc off of you. They have lockers and shower stalls etc here so it's pretty solid. The walk down the stairs is steep and wet so water shoes again as sandals are not allowed. The bottom is busy and you can't bring anything but a phone with you but without a water proof case there's nowhere safe to put your phone so unless you bring someone who is not swimming don't bring ANYTHING with you down in to the swimming area. You can dry off get changed and grab a bite at the restaurant or bar if you want after 5: Spanish Church & Plaza: final stop on the trip was actually dope. First authentic (ish) Mexican town you get to see. The church is amazing, hard to photograph and the plaza is insanely busy but it's really cool. You get 20-25 mins to explore but that's enough to stretch check out a shop or grab a bite to eat. The ride back was amazing and please ensure you have like $20 USD or $500 pesos for the end of the tour because the tip for Juan Hector and Alfredo is worth it and they absolutely earn every cent of it So again, the tour and the three lads running it are an absolute 10/10 and if you have ANY issues I promise it will be 100% caused because you didn't pack properly, didn't plan ahead, didn't listen to Hector or Alfredo or because someone else didn't listen pack it plan or were just incredibly selfish. Best trip from Cancun hands down.

Very long drawn out itinerary not enough time at Chichen Itza itself Tour guide spoke English and Spanish but spent most of the long drive speaking Spanish so English speaking passengers did not enjoy it much (many others complained to us about this as well) We had to tip additionally for an English speaking guide at Chichen Itza so that sucked They convinced you to buy insect spray which went unused They refused to take it back and refund us plus the bus guide owed me from the spray but never paid me back only a buck but it was purposely done which was bothersome But the experience of Chichen itza was amazing I just with we had more to time If you want the history of the place drive yourself and pay a guide

Great tour but heavy Spanish speaking. A lot of times didn’t know what was going on especially in the beginning where you have lots of people meeting at one location go on different excursions. 18.83 pesos to one dollar

It’s a group tour. Takes longer because you have to wait for everyone. Our kids got tired. Oh and keep snacks for kids.

I highly recommend the guys at J Capital. They really advised me very well, resolved all my doubts, and made our trip a unique experience.

Excellent tour. I don't think it's right to charge the "taxes" before leaving the tour, since they're charged in cash or by card and are almost the same as the cost of the tour. I'd rather be given the full amount at the time of booking.

- This was a guided tour, where there were around 60 people. Loved the overall experience. The tour guide who travelled with us was very engaging and informative. - We first went to a shopping complex, where all the tourists were gathered and were asked to pay for the tax for cenotes/chichen itza. This took away almost 30-45 mins of our time. - We then went to Cenote Suytun - where the main attraction is standing on the platform in the cenote and taking a picture. If you would like to take a picture, ensure that you are one of the first people in the line, because the stop is only for an hour and much time is spent standing in the line. The Cenote was beautiful. - Then we were taken to a place where Mayan welcome tradition was shown, followed by complete selling of some souveniers there - which were a bit costly. The food was atrocious - given we were vegetarians, not much options - no food placards - need to ask everytime - 'tengo carne???', which is frustrating. - Then we were taken to Chichen Itza - where given we did not know Spanish, we were accompanied by a guide (Pablo) who knows English and he was tremendously informative and helpful. Loved the way he engaged with us and shared the history, significance of the wonder. - Then we went to Cenote Ik Kil - which was beautiful. Loved taking dives into the cenote. Had enough time to swim. - At every stop, we were given an opportunity to have a drink (both alcohol/non-alcoholic) for free. - Then we went to Valladolid - where we hardly spent 30 mins. We were a bit disappointed that we had to spend such less time here, rather the initial time of gathering tourists at the shopping complex could have been reduced. - We went back to the room by 9:30 PM (started off at 7:30 AM). Some dislikes about the tour: - No clear instructions (the driver's number, the bus number, etc) were given about where our pickup would be. We were lucky that we went to the front of our resort and could find them. - The order of the activities on Viator is unreliable - because this was not followed. - The time mentioned on Viator is completely off, as our trip took almost 14 hours. - The food was disgusting. In the morning, we were given Ham and Cheese sandwich (no vegetarian option). In the afternoon, no quality food at all. But overall, enjoyed the trip and would recommend going on such a group package.