Grutas Tolantongo — Attraction in Hidalgo

The park itself was pretty beautiful! Very happy that many people come from all over to have a great time in the water! PLEASE COME VISIT, IT IS INCREDIBLE AND BEAUTIFUL!

Food was good in the restaurant right before going down the steps to the river.

THE REST OF MY REVIEW IF FOR MY EXPERIENCE WITH THE HOTEL AND SOME STAFF PLUS PROCESS. I LOVED MY TIME IN THE PARK ITSELF!IT IS AMAZING!

*BUT Sadly there were many things that added up to make the experience less than desirable. To start off, lack of reservations for the hotels (4 official in the park). You also have to buy 2 days worth of parking and park entrance fees if you would like to stay the night at ANY (4 official or 5+ unofficial) hotels within the park grounds. The staff was pretty rude from the moment we had to pay entrance fees, to making our ways to park, and even just walking around. They came off as very apathetic and at times just ticked off by the guests. Didn't matter wether you were a local or tourist, they just seemed off.

Biggest issue, ROACHES! Upon entering my room #86 ( the hotel near the river once you take the top left entrance into the park) it smelled like raid or a harsh chemical. Room felt very humid and it was excruciatingly hot in here even with the massive fan they provided and having all windows (including the restroom) open! My mother spotted one roach and I brushed it off as a one time thing and just a side effect of being surrounded by nature. Around 12 am, I woke up gasping from air from how hot the room was and I turned on my phone for light and saw about 5 roaches scurry off away from the bed as I reached for my shoes. Seeing that prompted me to kick the shoe instead and 3 more rushed off from under my regular shoes and aquatic shoes. It was horrible! I grabbed each shoe slammed them against the floor and made sure nothing was inside but sadly there was a big one inside one of them and I was fearful to put them on but I decided to go ahead and keep the on the rest of my time in the room. I ended up falling asleep again after checking my bed. 3 am hits and I wake up again from the heat, rush towards the fan and then turn the lights on, and saw 5 scurry off from my luggage that was not on the floor, but on the vanity the room had. I was so grossed out by all this that I woke up my whole family and we didn't sleep at all just checking our luggage and just hoping for the sun to come back up and leave the room.

If I am to come back, I would stay at the second to last UNOFFICIAL buildings I think it had a sign saying Entrance 1 (Entrada 1). Just make sure it is orange and the first floor is open air dining area with a washing machine in a small room to the right next to the stairs to go to the rooms. We were quoted 1k for 2 bed and 800 for the single. The hotel we stayed at was 1.2k for the double and 1k for the single. I have heard people recommend the OFFICIAL hotel too but on the lower right entrance to the park . It is called Paraíso ESCONDIDO. It is the one a few steps below the fancy Paraíso. It was 50% cheaper than the one upstairs. It filled up first though (obviously for how cheap it was and how close it is to last Grutas)

Hotel didn't provide shampoo, they provided liquid soap that seemed to just be for hand washing but they were not marked other than just the branding of Grutas de Tolotongo

MAKE SURE TO BRING AN EXTENSION CORD IF YOU HAVE MORE THAN 1 DEVICE TO CHARGE I.E. YOU HAVE OTHER FAMILY WITH YOU. Our double bed room had only 1 wall outlet. The room had 3 total but 2 were already used for the TV(which was busted and had screen damage) and the big fan ( a major necessity) I ended up unplugging the TV and standing on my toes to reach the outlet. Not even the bathroom have an outlet!

I hope to give this place...

Tolantongo (Tlgo) is beautiful & we enjoyed it. We visited in Oct., stayed 2 nights, arrived on a Sunday. I wish I knew this before our trip. Tlgo is 1-hr from nearest town. We opted to stay 2 nights after reading reviews of same-day tours. We took bus from Qro. to Ixmiquilpan -$12/pp. From bus depot you can walk to Tlgo shuttle depot (30min walk) or get a taxi or combi. Shuttle to Tlgo is 1-hr. ride. Taxi can take you to Tlgo but they're expensive. a) Same-day tours are expensive & rushed. You spend more time riding in a van. Mid-week is less busy. Weekends are crowded and most people camp. Sunday afternoon we found walkways crammed with tents & pools full of people. Mon. & Tue. were peaceful. Entire park is pesos cash only. Costs below are in pesos. Shuttle to Tlgo - $70 pp Park day pass - $230 pp. If you stay 1 night you must buy 2 passes. A couple staying 1 night will pay $920 to enter park. You have to show your park passes at hotel receptionv so hang on to them. Hotel options vary from with or without basic amenities. Search website for options, note some hotels have similar names. You can reserve in advance via Whatsapp (they only reply M-F) and ask you to wire $ to reserve. We opted to book on arrival since we arrived on a Sunday as people were leaving. We got a room right away. Hotels with basic amenities and closest to thermal pools are at the top of the hill. At Hotel Paraiso a room with HVAC, wifi, TV, hot water, full size bed cost $1500 mxp/night Rains closed half the park in Oct. They closed access to the river, the cave and waterfall - the best parts of the park, but they still charged full entrance rate. Check ahead via whatsapp to make sure it's all open again. The shuttle stops at park entrance, a man hops on to sell park passes. Ask him about luggage transport to your hotel. Otherwise you must drag your luggage up stairs & steep ramps through the park to get to your hotel. There's no signage guiding you to hotel reception areas until you are right in front of hotel. We had 3 medium size bags and we had a hard time climbing. Worst thing is that once we got to our hotel, we saw a road that could bring people to the hotel reception area but no one offered that. If you are staying in Hotel Paraiso, ask if they can send a mototaxi to take you to your hotel - $100 pesos Pack light. Hotels offer no toiletries. You'll need aqua socks with good tread (thermal pools are slippery), waterproof case for your phone, sunblock, mosquito repelent for night, tote for your towels. Tlgo is hard for those with physical challenges. Lots of stairs without rails, steep ramps, and getting in & out of pools requires balance and agility. Hotel is clean, the park is scrubbed down each Sunday night. Many food options (if you can't handle spice tell them). There's no pharmacy so bring pepto-bismol. Lots of security making sure everyone has a safe time. Staff hospitality is lacking, esp. in the hotel.

We were lured by the pics on insta. Glad we stayed for more than one day. We do recommend it, but think they need to be more open on what to expect, esp. because it's in such a remote place. We hope this info helps you.

To Tlgo staff - If your hotel guests are checking out early the following day don't charge them another full day pass that you know they won't use.

Make a section of the park for adults only, so families with kids feel comfortable and kids don't see things they shouldn't, and adults seeking to decompress have a quiet space too.

Offer mototaxi service at the park entrance for guests are staying in hotel can be taken to the reception area. The people selling park passes should promote this at entrance. It's an ugly welcome to have to lug your bags up a steep hill...

Visiting this place was a fantastic adventure for me and my friends. The place mixes the best elements of a tourist resort and a nature destination, from camping sites to well established hotels, restaurants and facilities.

Here some key aspects you may want to take into account when visiting: Bring cash. They announce this in their website and most of their media, because all transactions happen with cash only. Don't expect to have ATM's nearby. That being said, it is not expensive for what you get. I will do a costs breakdown below for you. Bring water shoes. Except for the swimming pools and slides, you will want to use water shoes when walking around the place and entering the river/grotto/tubs because these can be slippery and rocky. Hotel rooms have their own bathrooms but not all of them offer hot water. The cheaper hotels will not have hot water in the shower, so be sure to ask about this where you stay if it's important for you. In line with the previous recommendation, if you use bathrooms outside your hotel room, bring paper with you (more relevant to the girls in our group) since not all have available. Bring water and snacks. You can buy these on-site, but I highly recommend you bring a couple of liters per person to reduce costs and ensure your group is well hydrated. The entrance payment works for both the "Paraiso" and "Rio/Gruta" sections, so you can move among them with your car, which we found very convenient and easier than having to hike a lot of kilometers between them or pay the internal transportation. Lastly, a warning for kids and older folks: there are A LOT of stairs. The complex sits in the slopes of a mountain range, which means that the car can't go all the way down. Hence, expect a lot of stairs. Most of the roads have cement and are well traced, but there are still obstacles in the floor, no handrails and poor illumination at night. I do not recommend this place to people with difficulty walking or hip problems.

We stayed for 2 nights, and had a great time. Here is an estimate costs breakdown (in mexican pesos!), in case it's useful for you to plan your trip: From Mexico City, we took the highway through Pachuca and paid $60 pesos in toll. The entrance per day was $150 pesos (so $450 per person total), and parking was $20 per day (so $60 for our car). We paid a room with balcony in the Paraiso Escondido hotel (no WiFi or hot water), that was $900 pesos per night, so $1,800 total. Lunch and dinner go from $75 to $200 pesos per person depending on what you order. Consider ~10% tip. Breakfasts was from $50 to $100 pesos per person depending on the order. They have some breakfast packages that are worth the value. We also found that the smaller "snack" shops were better than the restaurants (even though they are both operated by the resort). Consider ~10% tip. We paid $80 pesos (plus $70 that you get back) at the grotto to leave out stuff in a locker and not have to go all the way back to the car. If you have a waterproof phone case, it will come in handy to visit the tunnel because it's completely dark in there. The way back to Mexico City was lengthier and we used the Queretaro highway, for which we paid tolls for the Arco Norte, Mexico-Queretaro and...