Cenotes Sac Actún — Attraction in Quintana Roo

Here’s a very detailed breakdown of our time spent here for those of you who like to know what to expect….

First of all, we loved it! HIGHLY RECOMMEND coming to this cenote above all others. It was recommended to us by many locals. It was the highlight of our time in Tulum!!

If you are driving your own car great! It is hard to find if you aren’t local. You’ll basically drive to Dos Ojos Cenote but keep taking the dirt road until you reach the very end. You’ll need to keep all your stuff in your car since this place doesn’t have lockers. There are security cameras around so it feels very safe. If you are taking a taxi arrange for them to wait for you. The tour is an hour so they would probably need to wait 2 hours total.

When you arrive they will offer you 2 tour options. One is a guided tour with up to 10 people for $600 pesos per person or a private tour with $6,000 pesos. The private tour is very appealing because it comes with an added 15 minutes in the cenote, water phone cases, flashlights, and you get to see more areas of the cenote that the group tour doesn’t offer.

The tour guides speak multiple languages so you can get your tour in the language you prefer. Our tour was in English but they can also do two languages at a time.

We opted to do the guided group tour. They make you wait 20 minutes until they get more customers. We recommend going right when they open. We got there a little after 9am and 6 people came around that time too. By the time we were done there was already a line.

You can opt for a wet suit and snorkeling gear (highly recommend) but a life jacket is mandatory. It also makes the experience of floating around relaxing and fun. It was amazing! It comes with the price so get it. We paid an extra $200 pesos for the water phone case thingy. It was worth it! The gear was very clean and new. Especially if you’re the first customers of the day. 👍🏼

They make you put all your stuff in the car before you can get a wet suit. So you have to have your bathing suit on before you can get a wet suit. If you’re shy like me it was very uncomfortable waiting like that. I had hoped there would be a changing area with some privacy. If you’re a person who is larger than XL they do have some sizes for you. I was given an XL wet suit and a large life jacket that fit snug.

They have a bathroom nearby so you can change into your bathing suit when you get there and change out of it when you’re done.

You don’t have to wear water shoes on the tour. A lot of people walked with their sandals to the cenote and left their shoes on the dock. Most people had on water socks but we just walked barefoot.

DO NOT WEAR BUG SPRAY OR SUNBLOCK. You won’t be out in the sun for this tour and it helps protect the water/ecosystem.

The water has some small fish in it and we saw a lot of small bats sleeping in the caves.

The tour itself was incredible. I was a little nervous to do it but had so much fun once we got in the water. If you are claustrophobic, part of the tour might not be for you. Twice we went though an area that was really small. We had to swim in a single file line. Let your tour guide know right away if this is something that bothers you so he can plan to take an alternate route.

This cenote is NOT great for kids. That’s the biggest complaint I heard while here. Many kids are scared and screamed or cried during most of it. Which the tour guides hate (because you’re in a cave) and all the other people in your group will hate it too. If you have kids go elsewhere!

Tip your tour guide! They live...

This review is for those who like me feel nervous or scared about visiting this cenote. DO IT! You will NOT regret it! There is nothing to fear! Everyone’s comments about how magical this place is including my own will not do justice to the actual experience.

First of all, the guides here are very patient with people. We took the group tour and thankfully our group was a total of 6 chill people. We got our wet suits and life vests on. Our guide explained everything we would be doing and was clear that there were no immersions (as in having to dive underwater). I made sure to ask twice because that was what I was nervous about as I just recently learned how to swim in the past year and just got comfortable with swimming in deep water this trip. Anyway, the way this tour goes is very gentle. You get into more shallow waters first to get a feel for what it’s gonna be like. Then once we all verbally confirm we are good, the tour continues into the deeper parts of the cenote. The view underwater is what blew me away the most. This was my first time ever snorkeling (they don’t give you tubes as to not damage and hit the stalactites above you but the mask covers your nose) and what an amazing first ever snorkeling experience to have! I loved every second of it!! A few years ago I would’ve never imagined I could do something like this. Looking underneath felt like I was looking into a whole other world on another planet. The natural structures below are unlike any other cenote we went to (we visited dos ojos after seeing this place and dos ojos felt underwhelming in comparison but still a cool experience) I kept saying “how is this real?!”. I’m surprised this isn’t a wonder of the world. I loved how quiet our tour was because it allowed for me to really soak in the beauty and the peace of this place. When it comes to swimming through the spaces where the stalactites hang lower, it didnt feel that tight to me as I expected from some reviews and I felt completely safe as we were taking it easy and there was plenty of room for my head to be fully above the water. The closer spaces to me, felt magical like I was Ariel in her grotto. I hope this...

This cenote is truly unique compared to others. You can’t swim on your own here—you need to join a group or book a private tour. But I can’t even begin to describe how incredible it felt inside.

We did a group tour, but since we arrived early (around 10 AM), it ended up being just me and my wife. They usually wait about 20 minutes to see if more people join. Sometimes there can be 5-10 people, which might change the experience, but for us, it felt like a private tour.

Inside, there’s a breathtaking semi-open cenote where a tree grows straight from the water into the sky—it felt like something out of a treasure-hunting movie. That moment, standing in silence and taking in the view of that sacred tree, was one of the most magical experiences of my life. If you’re visiting with a group, I highly recommend asking for a moment of absolute silence to truly absorb the energy of the place.

The tour lasts about 45 minutes. They provide goggles and a brand-new snorkel straight from the package. Swimming through the enclosed cenote, looking up and down into the crystal-clear waters, was simply mesmerizing. I’ve visited nine cenotes in Mexico, but this one felt completely different—almost spiritual.

We paid 600 pesos per person. We left our bags in the car, and they safely stored our car key at no extra charge. Our guide, Daniel, was fantastic—he spoke excellent English, explained everything clearly, and shared fascinating stories.

The road gets very bumpy after the highway (!) which you need to drive very slow for like 7km, but it’s a very common thing in entire Tulum.

This is an absolute...