Cenote Chukum — Attraction in Yucatán

It was a really awful experience. We were there as a group, but our guide, didn’t give us clear instructions. At first, we walked into the souvenir shop, which was a typical souvenir shop. Nothing special. You only get one key per family for the lockers, and in the locker room, the lockers are in really bad conditions. They need to be updated because our lock was really loose. We needed to tighten the screws by ourselves because they almost fell out. Another family had trouble with their lock not working. The employees were also really unfriendly to them.

Upstairs, there are bathrooms and a few changing room cabinets, which are okay. The toilets spilt a few times because people threw toilet paper into them instead of the trash can next to the toilet. The toilets have seen better days, definitely. After you lock your things, you have to shower to get the sunscreen off before going to the cenote. I can understand that you have to do that, but the problem is that a man is watching you, which made me as a woman really uncomfortable.

Then you walk down the stairs to the cenote. The cenote itself is beautiful, but there are so many adults and a lot of children. You have to wear a life jacket, which is okay. The water was really cold—it felt like 60F—and the spaces were small where you were allowed to swim. Afterwards, we walked out of the cenote and I nearly collapsed because the water was so cold and the weather was so hot. So be careful walking up those stairs.

Then we tried to eat something from the buffet, which was THE WORST MISTAKE of this whole trip. I got SALMONELLA and DIARRHEA for a straight week from this food. At first, there were missing cutlery and plates. The plastic cups were dirty. The food containers were nearly empty. If you were lucky, you found some chicken fajitas, tortillas, vegetable rice, strange chili, vegetable noodles, salad, and that’s it. If you had the chance to get food, then it tasted like it was past it’s shelf-life. With every breeze, small pieces from the roof fell onto you, into your food and drinks.

If you don’t want to get diarrhea, don’t eat...

The cenote is lovely—large and inviting, as many have said. The admission price is higher than average, but they don’t charge for life jackets, lockers, or the zip lines, unlike other places. The bathrooms and changing rooms are clean and modern. It’s a mostly covered, underground cenote, which means the water is a bit cold, so keep that in mind. It’s not the “best cenote in Vallodalid,” but it’s an enjoyable experience. Get there before the midday busses start pulling in, discharging scores at a time—it can get very noisy inside.

So why two stars? Because we made the mistake of going for the lunch buffet/cenote visit combination, which cost an astounding 1100 pesos for two. We had paid slightly less for a great dinner and cenote swim the evening before at Zazil Tunich, which might real be the best cenote in Valladolid, so were shocked by the truly dreadful, cafeteria-style food at Chukum.

Everything had been blanded down — apparently for presumed American or European tastes — and was tasteless, overcooked, and under-spiced. The food is plentiful, if that’s all you care about, but you’d have to eat a lot to make it worth what they make you pay. Really, they ought to be ashamed to serve food that mediocre.

If you’re in the area, you might want to experience the cenote, but eat...

Staff was incredibly rude at the front desk. And half of it is marketing lies.

Me and a group of my friends seen that they promote freediving light-rays swimming photos we are all qualified freedivers, and ontop of that advanced and dive masters for scuba (just extra showing we know how to swim lol) All of their videos in the store and online promote the freediving, swimming, and beauty underwater we get there and it’s MANDATORY LIFEJACKETS we tell Them our situation what we do for a living which is freediving, diving and photography : promotion. They pretty much were very snarky at the front desk laughing that we asked to not wear life jackets then then even said specifically it’s all marketing strategy and fake to get people to come thinking they can swim freely but they can’t.. openly admitted it’s a scam marketing strategy

Just beware if you’re going to free swim and enjoy the underwater scenery don’t bother.

Plenty other centoes nearby way cheaper better staff and service and...