Tips 👏
- It’s a small city with few reliable ATMs, bring cash.
- The water in the lagoon is not salty which is amazing!
- An hotel on the lagoon is the best to make the most of this place.
🏠 Accommodation
We stayed at Habitación Ramona, a nice private room with access to the lagoon 5 minutes walk away. While very nice with outstanding hosts, it was expensve and not on the lagoon so we wouldn’t recommend.
🚲 Getting there
We drove 4h on good roads from Uxmal, doing a stop in the middle.
⏱ Duration
We stayed two nights and two days and felt that was good.
Chill in the city 🍺
Upon arrival, we checked in in the flat and took a nice walk in the city. It was pretty small, so fairly easy to get a good overview in a short amount of time. We swang by the Fuerte San Felipe, took a walk on our private lagoon entrance and then got some food in the lovely city center. Overall, it was nothing crazy, but nice to relax.
Lagoon boat trip 🚤
The next day, we enjoyed a lazy wake-up, after what we walked down to the lagoon searching for a boat tour. Few discussions later with some seller on the side of the road, we agreed for a 2:30h tour for 250MXN/person. Again, online prices were higher so wiser to go same day, specially since those boat ran from 9AM to 4PM.
We boarded the boat (bring beers) and started our journey onto the lagoon at 1PM. During the ride, we admired the deep Cenote Negro, the wide Cenote Esmeralda and the Isla de los Parajos to observe birds, before stopping for 30 minutes to do a bath in the fresh and blue water of the lagoon. We then carried on up to the Pirate Channel where we stopped for another bath and to walk around, after what we headed back to the pier.
Overall it was a great trip, booked last minute, where we could enjoy the colors and the water of the lagoon, giving us a good overview of the highlights.
Cenote Azul 🏊
Post-boat trip, we decided to go exlore the Cenote Azul at the end of the city. We paid 25MXN/person to get in, and found a lovely spot to get food on the shore. We hanged out for a while there, doing the bath and taking the sun, before heading back to town. That was clearly not the nicest cenote we’ve been since it looked more like a lake, but still a decent spot to chill.
Chacchoben Ruins 🏛
After checking out of our flat, we drove 45mins on our way to Tulum, to reach the mayan Chacchoben Ruins on the way. We parked the car safely in front for 50MXN and paid the entrance fees for 65MXN/person. Once inside, we again simply walked around and admired the three wonderful pyramids hidden in the jungle of wide and strong ficus.
The spot was quite touristic but not too packed, making the visit enjoyable and authentic. We wandered around for an hour before jumping back in the car for the remaining drive. The best spot was the further pyramid, which was in a very good state with no one around since climbing steep steps is required to reach it.
Restaurants 🍲
- Pizzeria Bertilla: Good but pricy italian pizzas and pasta.
- Panaderia La Tartaleta: Cheap bakery with good pastries and sandwiches.
Read Next ⏭️
Our 4 days stay in Tulum, check again Uxmal, or go back to the main Yucatan post.