Las Coloradas Yucatán Con Hana Tours — Attraction in Yucatán

PSA: You can see both the pink lake and the flamingos for free. If you want a local guide that's fine too but just know it's not required. Just drive to the parking lot for the pink lake, get out, and walk up to the ticket booth where you would buy the over priced tickets for the lake. You can see the pink lake from there just fine. Buying a ticket just let's you walk an extra 300ft to get to the second lake but the difference in color isn't that much. As for the flamingos, take the unnamed dirt road from the pink lake parking lot east (the ocean will be on your left and the bay on your right as you drive). Drive about 10 minutes and you'll reach a fork in the road at which you should veer right so you're closer to the bay. Now keep driving east while looking towards the bay. The flamingos are in various points in the bay. There's no set place as they move around throughout the day. We kept driving for about 30 to 45 minutes and saw 4 to 5 large groups of flamingos. Hundreds if not thousands in total. We had a Chevrolet Aveo sedan with little ground clearance, so a 4wd SUV is not needed assuming the roads and dry and unflooded. The road is packed sand but we didn't see a single pot hole so the road is surprisingly good. Note at the first group of flamingos a few local guides were already there with their groups of tourists. We parked and tried to walk into the dried lake bed to get a closer look, but an ornery guide stood in the way of the path and claimed it was their territory so we couldn't pass. Eventually he asked for money which I don't believe he had authority to do. We just said no thanks and continued driving and eventually found more flamingos and there were no guides there to enforce a made up rule, and it was actually nicer cause we were the only people there. I highly recommend doing this drive as this is a rare treat of secluded beach and bay with few to no humans or buildings and amazing wildlife. Finally, both the pink color in the lake and the flamingos are apparently seasonal so try to find out before you drive all the way out here if they are in season and if the roads are dry and unflooded. We came on March 12, 2021 from about 2 to 3:30pm. I believe it's also easier to see the color in the lake at mid day when the sun is brightest. The furthest east we drove was about 10 miles east from the pink lake parking lot to these GPS coordinates where we found the last group of flamingos and then turned around: 21°33'31.6"N...

After reading about this place on travel blogs and seeing photos on Instagram, I was expecting one type of experience but things have changed a bit. I'm guessing that due to more exposure from social media, the salt company and/or locals have decided to cash in on things and restrict access. When you drive into town, you're greeted by guys who will tell you need a guide to view the lake, not entirely true as you can view it from a parking area through a tall rope fence. The fence isn't so dense (i.e chain link) that you can't put your hands and camera through it to get some pictures. The parking lot is swarming with guides who will take you further into the area, past a gate and gate house for 50 MXN (about $2.50 USD at today's exchange rate). We opted to get a guide since we were there and the view looked better. Choose your guide wisely, some appeared to be just escorts, simply walking with their group of tourists, not really explaining things. Language barriers might have also been an issue as this isn't a touristy area by any means. We were approached by a middle aged guy named Mario and decided to go with him. It turned out to be a good decision as he was very knowledgeable, had a little binder with pictures of the area, of the Maya's use of salt, etc and spent quite a bit of time with us, answering questions and talking. He also spoke decent English. Overall, we enjoyed our visit and despite having to pay for a guide to get access, it turned out to be an okay thing. The village does not appear to be a wealthy one, so if it's a help to the local economy, that seems like...

This is really not a tourist attraction per se. It's a working salt mine and the pink lake is owned by the salt manufacturer (it's pink because of the salt). If you go, you're probably going by car because it's a long drive and there's nothing else to do in Las Coloradas, which is populated by people who work at the plant and fishermen and not at all touristy. You will be stopped before you can enter the town or turn down the road to see the lake (beware that unless it's been updated, Google maps thinks you're "there" long before this, just keep going). The berm you walk out onto is now gated, a more recent development from what I've read. The person stopping you will sell you their services to take you over there and through the gate. It's reasonable at about 5 USD. They may also try to sell you an add on to go over and see the flamingos, which are quite distant and maybe not worth the extra 6 bucks, or another more involved boat tour for 40. When they walk you over, they will likely tell you all about it but probably only in Spanish. They'll also play photographer for you. It's not a bad deal. It's really pretty...