Chichen Itza & Ek Balam Tour från Cancun

Excellent experience. I recommend Xcaret premium service that gives you a parasol.

Our guide Antonio was excellent thanks to him we had a great day! He really takes the time to explain and in detail! We highly recommend this tour and Antonio!!👌🏼 10/10

Julio is a VERY PASSIONATE GUIDE an a good care taker too! Deep knowledge of the Mayan history! Both Sites are a MUST SEE!!!

Great outing. Very complete. Beautiful Ek Balam, spectacular Chichin Ithza and exciting bathing in the Samal cenote. That's our guide. Precise and prepared. Lunch at the typical restaurant in the good Mayan village. A day we will always remember. Super recommended.

We really enjoyed seeing both Ek Balam and Chichen Itza on the same day. There are limited tours that offer this option which is why we chose this. We were picked up at hotel (Cancun hotel zone) at 7:45 am. Picked up another group south of Cancun which significantly added to drive time. Went to Ek Balam first & had time to walk around and climb to top and see the carvings. Then we went to lunch at a tourist trap store and lunch. Lunch was buffet and good. Do not buy the added drink package as not worth it- 20$ for 2 drinks. After lunch drove to chichen itza which was truly amazing! Our guide did discuss the Mayan calendar, showed us photos of the snake. Then we had 45 minutes to explore the site. We walked to the cenote and also viewed the ball court. We could have spent hours here which is the downside of this tour option. The cenote was fun but a little chaotic to get the lockers, changed, into the cenote, changed and back to the van. We made it back to our hotel at 9pm. There were water bottles offered at the sites but no other drink options offered as advertised for your extra drink package. This was a lot of drive time but we really enjoyed seeing Ek Balam and Chichen Itza in the same day. I would have preferred a picnic lunch and more time at the sites.

Biggest issue was late pickup, and surprise fees. It took a few times reaching out to the tour operator or get a confirmed pickup location and time, and once it was confirmed, they were very nearly an hour late. Calling the three phone numbers provided got no answer, but after a while I did receive a text. We were told they'd be ten more minutes, but it was closer to 30, and the van arrived to pick us up at the hotel, where we waited close to five more while they called out the wrong name. Read the fine print carefully to not be surprised by "taxes" that nearly double the cost of the tour, after you've already paid through Viator. And then, be prepared for a surprise charge of $4 USD per person for life vests which are mandatory to swim at the cenote. Add in fees for lockers at the cenote, and tips at lunch (which servers are somewhat aggressive in seeking), and you should be prepared to spend much more than you thought. ...but. The tour itself was quite good. Knowledge guide, and incredible sites. It's a lot to do in one day, so you won't have enough time to really go in depth at either archaeological site, but that's the cost of hitting both in one go. Chichen Itza is a vast site, which goes WAY beyond the iconic pyramid temple. Take the opportunity to explore it. Ek Balam is less well known, but also less crowded and not at all overrun by Instagram tourists. It gives you the chance to feel more immersed in the historic experience. You can climb the main structure to see the incredible carvings and the view from the top, and enter smaller rooms in another structure. Parts of the site are unexcavated, with the jungle still covering the stone buildings. Highly recommend visiting either, or both ruins. I'd recommend shopping around before committing to this particular tour operator though.

This is such a great tour and experience. The whole day was filed with educational learning. The bus transportation was great. Thank you

We woke up the morning of the trip to find that, upon checking the website, our tour had been cancelled. I received no email or any type of message to alert me of the cancellation. We were not charged.

Might have been nice but they'll cancel on you without telling you. I had to reach out to them to confirm pickup since the tour was supposed to be tomorrow, they said they won't be doing the tour. They wouldn't cancel it, so Trip Advisor thought the tour was still going, which wouldn't let me cancel. I had to go through the headache of calling in just to get my money back.

In my opinion we had the guide from hell. We received an email the day before our tour to bring mosquito repellent. I rushed out the morning of our tour and bought some. When the guide showed up he told us that they would prefer it if we didn't use mosquito repellant and that we wouldn't need it anyways.   Our tour van was an 11-passenger van that had been reconfigured into a 14-passenger van (translation - less legroom than in an airplane).   Our tour guide told us about all of the different governments, politicians and tourist groups that he hated. Then he told us about his medical problems.    The tour description advised that you should be in good physical shape and that there would be a lot of walking. Our guide was in such poor physical shape that he couldn't climb stairs and had to cut his walking short.   Our guide used a microphone and a chest mounted speaker. It was painfully loud and I asked him several times to turn it down.  Personally, even if they paid my $500 I wouldn't go on this tour again.  On the other hand, my wife really enjoyed it.