Santa Barbara Cenotes 1 Day Tour

This shared day tour takes you from Mérida to the Santa Barbara cenotes in Homún, Yucatán, a town known for its large number of cenotes, caves and archaeological sites. The total duration is about 10 hours. The operator picks you up at 8:00 am at your hotel in downtown Mérida, and you return to Mérida at the end of the tour. Homún is around 60 minutes from the city.

The source presents the day as an adventure through three of the most beautiful cenotes in Mexico, while you learn their history and why they matter to the state of Yucatán. The word cenote comes from the Maya dzonoot, meaning hole with water: caverns or flooded grottos connected to each other. The visit is known for its unusual way of getting around, since you travel between the cenotes in trucks, small carts pulled by horses, and the itinerary also mentions bicycles.

The three cenotes are described one by one. Poolcocom is an open cenote with coarse vegetation, roughly 13 meters long by 5 meters wide, with a depth of 1.5 to 2 meters at the edge and up to about 15 meters at its deepest. Cascabel is a closed, cavern-type cenote with few rock formations, with a depth between 1.5 and 15 meters. Chacksikin is semi-open, with an entrance 5 to 6 meters wide and a drop of about 12 meters; its water surface is 40 meters wide under a large vault decorated with stalactites, stalagmites, columns and stone curtains, and its water is crystal blue.

This tour fits travelers who want to swim in several cenotes in one day with lunch and transport handled for them. A moderate level of physical fitness is expected, and it is not recommended for pregnant travelers. Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap. Bring swimwear and a change of clothes.

The price includes travel insurance, tickets, GST, lunch, the truck or bicycles and in-vehicle air conditioning. Beverages, gratuities and activities not mentioned in the itinerary are not included. The hotel pickup applies to hotels in downtown Mérida and does not apply to Airbnb rentals.