My fiancé and I went on the Chichen Itza excursion in September 2023. Our tour guide was Miriam and our driver was Fabian. They were both fantastic. A couple days before the trip, I was sent a message through trip advisor with a bunch of information on what to expect and what to bring. They also confirmed our hotel for pickup and the pickup time. They even had an app where I could find additional information on the excursion which I really appreciated. Day of they showed up on time and confirmed us by name. We were picked up originally in a smaller van and then transferred into the larger tour bus. Both vans were comfortable and air conditioned. The pickup of everyone else did take a while but that’s to be expected with a shared tour. Miriam was an excellent tour guide who was full of information and clearly very passionate about the Mayan culture. She talked for a while on the way to the ruins but then let us rest for a while. At the ruins, we were given time to get water, rent umbrellas, or use the bathrooms. Then the guided tour started which was excellent and very detailed. I almost wish the guided portion was longer but understand some people preferred to have time to explore and take their own photos. After Chichen Itza, we went to the cenote. Miriam shared more information on the way to the cenote and was also able to answer my questions about options at the cenote if I didn’t want to go swimming. We had one hour and 45 minutes for the buffet lunch and cenote swim which was plenty of time. The buffet was fantastic with tons of traditional Mexican options, including three kinds of tacos. You do have to pay extra for a life jacket at the cenote which is mandatory if you want to swim. My fiancé went swimming and found it very refreshing. I walked around the cenote, which has a railed path around the entire circumference. Finally we headed to Valladolid which is a very charming city. We only had 30 minutes to explore but after a long, hot day in the sun, that was more than enough. We had a great time on the tour and even though it was very warm and quite tiring, I’m glad we did it.
