Gran Cenote
A collapsed cave filled with clear fresh water, with turtles below and bats overhead.
Duration
2 hrs – 3 hrs
Best time
At opening
Open
Every day
Entry price
To confirm
A cenote is a collapse in the limestone roof that lays bare the freshwater table beneath. The Yucatán peninsula has thousands, all connected to the same flooded network — the longest underwater cave system in the world.
Gran Cenote is half open, half roofed: you swim from one pool to the other through a passage under the rock, with stalactites overhead and bats on the ceiling. Freshwater turtles live in it, and the water stays at twenty-four degrees all year.
Getting there
Four kilometres west of Tulum on the Cobá road. Bicycle, scooter or colectivo from the village centre.
What the price covers
paid entry, rate to confirm; mask and snorkel usually rented on site
What to bring
- Mask and snorkel
- Headlamp
- Swimsuit
- Sunscreen
Rules on site
A shower before swimming is compulsory and sunscreen is banned, even the biodegradable kind: it destroys the pool's ecosystem. A buoyancy vest is required and is provided.
Other places in Tulum
Tulum RuinsThe only Maya city built facing the sea, on a cliff above a turquoise beach.
- Playa ParaísoWhite sand right below the ruins, regularly ranked among Mexico's finest beaches.
- CobáA Maya city in the jungle, with white stone causeways running for miles.
Sian Ka'an Biosphere ReserveSix thousand square kilometres of protected mangrove and lagoon, where you float down Maya-cut canals.