Chacchoben Mayan Ruins with Local Experience Costa Maya Excursion

Excellent excursion. The tour and the stops along the way were perfect. Service and courtesy A+. A big thank you to Rafael, a great guide, for making this tour memorable. Notes: We were a family of 7 (grandparents, parents, children) on a cruise to Costa Maya and everything was very well organized, from the pickup to the return. Communication before departure was also fast and precise. Muchas gracias Rafael y a tu equipo por el magnífico día.

The guide was amazing! He was noligable. We had s good time.

When we originally signed up for this, we only signed up for the Mayan ruins, but I guess because of the makeup of the rest of the group, we were told we were going to Bacalar with no additional charge. Bacalar ended up being the highlight of the trip. It's a pretty good bus ride from Costa Maya to the ruins and to Bacalar. Probably an hour over not so decent roads. Not terrible, but certainly not what you expect in America. There is some nice scenery and a lot of swampland in that area, which you will see in abundance. Got to the ruins. The guide was able to show us around and tell us some nice things about the Mayan culture and the Mayan ruins. And we were able to climb up onto some of the ruins and experience a close-up view. I will warn you that the climb up is not for the faint at heart. And there's no handrails or any kind of rope to hold on to. Boy, it would be great to have something like that. So if you fall, you're going to roll down the hill potentially quite a ways. I was daring enough to do it, but my wife stayed on the ground. Sure would be nice if they just installed some simple handrails or even a heavy rope that you could grab and hold onto while you pulled yourself up onto the ruins. Once we left the ruins, we took about an hour drive to Bacalar, which is a totally spring-fed lake from Cenotes, and the water is amazing and clear. We were put on a boat and showed the cenotes and then taken out to an area where the water is shallow and warm. Water was about waist deep on an average size male. And we were given probably an hour just to climb off the boat, get in the water, hang out, drink some drinks in the water, and just enjoy the moment. This was the best part of the trip, probably, unless you like the Mayan ruins. I was very impressed at how long the trip lasted. It actually left early right after the boat docked and we didn't get back until about half an hour before the boat boarded. And so it was a very full day and was a lot of fun. After the two-hour boat trip around Bacalar, we were taken to a small family-owned restaurant for a good lunch period. Not great, but certainly decent, which was included, and then embarked on the long drive back to Costa Maya and the cruise boat. I suggest that you buy and take with you a $20 portable fan on Amazon and carry it with you everywhere in Mexico. A lot of these vehicles are barely air conditioned and it would be a great benefit to have a nice little handheld portable fan to blow on your face. 20 bucks, very well spent. Other than that small complaint, the trip was fantastic. The crew gave us beer and tequila. And so we had a very relaxing and enjoyable time. It was about $120 a person and well worth the price. Okay.

They were very friendly and knowledgeable. Our tour guide was Carol she was great!! The port was a little tough to find the way out.

We had an excellent time on the tour. Chac Ek was very, very organized—they gave us INCREDIBLY detailed instructions about how to get to the meeting point so we didn’t get left behind, including step by step directions from the cruise port, a map, and a video! They send everything through text the night before and the morning of. They also provided us with water and invited us to wait in the air conditioned van while the rest of our party for the tour was still arriving. Our guide, Juan Corona, was very knowledgeable, patient and accommodating. He also took excellent pictures of us! He and our driver Manuel gave the whole group the ability to have exactly the kind of visit to Chacchoben that each individual wanted to have. Would absolutely recommend!

Carol was great, we enjoyed the smaller group and the ability to move quickly when needed or double back if we wanted to. The quick stop at the Lighthouse on the way back to the port gave us a great photo opportunity with the MSC Seashore in the background

Carol was a great host. My family learned so much. The bonus was seeing the spider monkeys in the jungle. 10/10!!

Absolutely wonderful experience. Carol was the best guide. She was just absolutely amazing all day. The communication was top notch leading up to the excursion. Best I have ever had. They reached out the day prior via WhatsApp and we stayed in communication through walking off the ship as we docked a bit late. Her knowledge about the site was amazing and the kids really enjoyed it more than i expected since it wasn't necessarily adrenaline pumping.

This was wonderful. We had Karol as our guide and she was so enthusiastic, friendly, and kind. My kids took to her immediately and she had endless patience while my 11 year old peppered her with questions on Mayans. I chose this experience as I thought a smaller group experience then what was offered by cruise excursions would be better for my kids to learn something and be more engaged. It absolutely was the case and highly recommend this excursion. On our way back we also stopped at a fruit stand where she purchased delicious fresh fruit for us to try. We discovered Mamay there - it is not to be missed. Be sure to get some if you stop there! Thanks Karol for a great time.

We could not have been more blown away by this experience. Rafael was an absolutely fantastic guide that taught us so much about the Mayans as well as local culture. The tour was about 4 hours and was packed full of activities. Rafael had a cooler for us with waters, sodas, & beer, AND snacks for the road! After touring the amazing ruins, we stopped at a fruit stand and had some of the most delicious fruit I’ve ever tried. We stopped for chips and salsa & even tried mezcal - it was genuinely such a blast. I can’t recommend this tour enough!