The 15 Best City Tours on the Riviera Maya

1.E-bike cenote jungle city tour in Playa del Carmen

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 33 reviews · 3 hours 30 minutes (approx.) · from $101Our pick

Set out from central Playa del Carmen with guide Mateo on an all-terrain electric bike. This 20-mile, 3.5-hour outing combines city neighborhoods, jungle trails, local plants and wildlife, and a clear cenote where you can snorkel and jump from a dock. Groups are limited to eight.

“This was a great experience. Mateo has very knowledgeable and passionate about the local ecosystem. The bikes were very fun and the cenote was very cool.”

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2.Deluxe adventure! 2 Sacred Cenotes, Chichen Itza and Valladolid from Tulum City

★★★★★★★★★★4.0 · 16 reviews · 13 hours (approx.) · from $139

Start from Súper Akí in Tulum at 7:00 am for Chichen Itza, Valladolid, Cenote Hubiku, and Cenote Ik Kil. Guide Hector, known as Foca, brings humor to the long day. Your package includes transport, a regional buffet, box lunch, and drinks on the bus.

“Tour guide hector aka “foca” was so fun and hilarious. It makes a BIG difference when the guide loves their job. And foca was great! Chichen was hot! Wish i had more water. The iced cold beer was a nice bonus coming back on the bus. It was fast paced but makes sense since there is so much to do. Cenotes were the most incredible from my whole trip that week. Absolutely gorgeous! 10/10 most memorable trip”

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3.PDC Walking Food and City Experience -Suitable 4 Veggies 2

★★★★★★★★★★4.5 · 10 reviews · 4 hours (approx.)

Join Francisco for a four-hour walking food tour through Playa del Carmen. Taste seafood, tacos, tamales, quesadillas, tropical drinks, ice cream, crepes, and chocolate while learning about Mayan culture, Mexican food, and the city’s growth. Vegetarian options are available if requested in advance.

“Best walking tour we have done! We were just the two of us and our excellent guide, Francisco. The tour was perfectly tailored to our preferences. We got not only a food tour, but a city tour and an introduction to the culture of the area. So glad to have found this tour. We recommend it wholeheartedly.”

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4.Full-day Tour of Chichen Itza, Cenote & Valladolid City

★★★★★★★★★★4.5 · 8 reviews · 12 hours (approx.) · from $145

Travel from Tulum to Chichen Itza, Cenote Nool Ha, and Valladolid on an English-language group tour of up to 30 people. Expect a 45-minute guided ruin visit, one hour of free time, a buffet lunch, cenote swimming, and a short Valladolid stop. Hotel pickup is not included.

“The trip was adequate. Stops at Chichen Itza, Cenote and Valladolid was great. They should have used the time at the Mayan village (1.5h)and cut down Chichen Itza (2.5h) each by half an hour as we only had 40min for the cenote and 20min Valladolid. The busdriver left us twice standing for 10+Min outside in the blazing heat while he was sleeping in the aircon bus. Our bus arrived 30min late. The english speaking tour guide at Chichen Itza was useless and I got more info from google. Best would be to try a different tour as it was more sale of local produce than informative.”

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5.Iconic Chichen Itza Experience! Classic Tour from Tulum City

★★★★★★★★★★3.5 · 7 reviews · 12 hours (approx.) · from $97

Leave Tulum at 8:30 a.m. for Chichen Itza, with a bilingual guide, one hour of guided touring, free time at the ruins, a cenote swim, Mexican buffet, and a short Valladolid visit. Expect a full day, group transport, a possible cenote change, and extra fees for tax and life jackets.

“Chichen Itza was great, wish we could have spent more time there. We arrived at the cenote at dark, and didn’t have much time there but it was beautiful nonetheless.”

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6.Luxury Chichen Itza Full-Day Adventure from Tulum City

★★★★★★★★★★4.0 · 6 reviews · 12 hours (approx.) · from $53

Travel from Tulum to Chichen Itza with a bilingual guide, then swim at Cenote Saamal and stroll Valladolid. Guides Victor and Nestor bring Mayan history to life. The 12-hour trip includes transport, buffet food, drinks, and a Mayan village visit, but add the $40 preservation tax and $5 life vest.

“It's been a week since our daytrip to Chichen Itza with stops at Cenote at Saamal, the Mayan village at Kaua, and the Spanish Colonial city of Valladolid and we are still processing the wealth of information that our guides Victor and Nestor gave us. Victor is so knowledgeable about the Mayan history and is witty, articulate and a tremendous educator. Full marks to each of them, and our driver. Highly recommend this tour.”

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7.Full-Day Lagoon of Seven Colors at Bacalar from Tulum City

★★★★★★★★★★3.0 · 5 reviews · 12 hours (approx.) · from $131

Travel from Tulum to Bacalar for a full day beside the Lagoon of Seven Colors. You get breakfast, lunch, a two-hour boat ride, Cenote Azul, Fort San Felipe views, and free time in town. Meet at Súper Akí Tulum at 7:50 am and return there after about 12 hours.

“Very basic tour. They do not pick you up from your hotel as advertised. Locations we were taken (restaurant and beach club) were very basic. Food was terrible. The guide was great. The views beautiful.”

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8.Mayan Adventure! Tulum Ruins, Coba, Cenote + from Tulum City

★★★★★★★★★★4.0 · 4 reviews · 9 hours (approx.) · from $130

Spend about nine hours visiting Tulum Ruins, Coba, a Mayan village, and a cenote from Tulum City. You get a bilingual guide at Tulum, buffet lunch, transport, and cenote access. Coba is self-guided, and a $23 preservation tax plus a life vest fee are extra.

“pickup was nearly thirty minutes late. we were not told that the bus would include a large group from cancun, which is fine but this booking made it seem like it’d only include folks from tulum. what we strongly disliked was all the additional fees throughout the trip. it would’ve been nice to have known this at the time of booking, because otherwise we wouldn’t have booked this. our guide, Jimmy, kept trying to sell us on a “diamond” package where he claimed it included all drinks. he tried to deny us from taking our own water into the first park, but it turns out you can bring reusable bottles…”

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9.The 7 Colors Of Beauty Lagoon, Bacalar Experience from Tulum City

★★★★★★★★★★4.0 · 4 reviews · 12 hours (approx.) · from $145

Leave Tulum at 7:00 a.m. for Bacalar and Xul-Ha, where you can swim at Cenote Azul, cruise for two hours with a guide, see San Felipe Fort, and enjoy breakfast, lunch, and free time. The English-language tour returns to Súper Akí Tulum after about 12 hours.

“I love it. It was fun and interesting the guide very informative. The bus confortable It’s a must see”

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10.Chichen , Valladolid and Sacred Cenote Saamal from Tulum City ABP

★★★★★★★★★★4.5 · 4 reviews · 11 to 12 hours (approx.)

Travel from Tulum’s Super Aki Market to a Mayan healing ritual, regional buffet, Chichén Itzá, Cenote Saamal, and Valladolid. An English-speaking guide, round-trip transport, and entry to the sites are included. Expect a long day, up to 50 people, extra fees, and mandatory life-jacket rental.

“The tour was very informative, but very long, over 11 hours! The lunch was good, but didn’t need the shopping time before we ate. A lot of sales pitches along the way.”

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11.Adventure at Chichen Itza! Cenote and Valladolid from Tulum City

★★★★★★★★★★3.0 · 4 reviews · 12 hours (approx.) · from $98

Travel from Tulum’s Súper Akí Market to Chichen Itza, Cenote Noolha or Chichikan, and Valladolid. A bilingual guide leads the ruins visit, with buffet lunch included. Expect a long day, possible schedule changes, a $17 preservation tax, and a mandatory paid life vest.

“War sehr interessant das alles zu sehen, hatt aber alles zusammen länger gedauert von Hotel 6.50 früh bis 22.20 abends, 1 stunde 20 min Chichen itza war ausreichend, 40min Cenote zu Kurz, 30 min Valladolid zu kurz, die andere Zeit ist Fahrzeit. Abholung vom Hotel hat wunderbar geklappt. Würde den Ausflug weiter empfehlen.”

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12.Playa del Carmen Family and Kids Private City Tour

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 3 reviews · 2 hours (approx.) · from $65

Walk about ten to twelve flat blocks through central Playa del Carmen with a bilingual guide, stopping for street art, local sights, snacks, and ice cream. The private format lets your family shape the pace and questions, making this a relaxed introduction for adults and children.

“Une magnifique visite avec une guide au top qui s'adapte à la demande, pleine de bienveillance et de connaissance !”

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13.Tulum Legends: A Self-Guided Audio Tour of the Ancient Mayan City

★★★★★★★★★★3.5 · 3 reviews · 40 minutes to 1 hour (approx.) · from $6Best value

Follow a self-guided English audio walk from Librería Educal Tulum past the Casa del Cenote, El Castillo, Temple of the Frescoes, and Great Platform. VoiceMap provides offline audio, maps, and geodata for about 40 minutes to one hour. Entrance fees, transport, phone, and headphones are not included.

“We wound up hiring a private guide and did not use the audio however, I had listened to a sample of it when I downloaded it, and it was quite good when we returned to our hotel I thought we might listen to portions of it, but as it turned out, it said that we were 105 km from the starting point”

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14.Nature Day, Sian Kaan Biosphere Tour! Round Transportation from Tulum City

★★★★★★★★★★3.0 · 3 reviews · 13 hours (approx.) · from $201

Start at 7:30 am from Súper Akí in Tulum for a long ride into Sian Ka’an. At Punta Allen, take a three-hour boat trip, look for birds, turtles, dolphins, and fish, snorkel, swim in a huge natural pool, enjoy lunch, and return to Tulum.

“Pros: wild remote environment, friendly guides, beautiful birds, swim with fishes, turtles & dolphins (see only from boat, no swim), good colors. Cons: tortured 3h in van bouncing up&down in bumpy road, not seethrough water (maybe the season… told me good time to visit is december), overall high price IMO for time spent mostly in transportation.”

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15.Tulum Ruins & Casa Tortuga Eco Tour! 4 Cenotes from Tulum City

★★★★★★★★★★3.0 · 3 reviews · 10 hours (approx.) · from $151

Spend about 10 hours visiting the Tulum ruins, swimming in four Casa Tortuga cenotes, eating a boxed snack and restaurant meal, and stopping at Tulum’s Mother Nature monument and letters. Meet at Súper Akí at 9:30 am. Tulum guiding and lifejackets cost extra.

“My friends and I were staying in Tulum for a weekend and were able to find this place during our trip. It was worth it to pay a bit extra for a private tour with our group of 6. Elio is a fantastic guide and gave a lot of incredible information about the cenotes during our tour. All in all great experience!”

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