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Ek’Balam Archaeological Site: Explore Mayan History
4.8
139 Ratings
Valladolid
Discover Ek Balam’s ancient ruins and swim in Cenote Maya. Experience Mayan culture with a blessing ceremony and traditional meal. Book your adventure now.
Discover Ek Balam’s ancient ruins and swim in Cenote Maya. Experience Mayan culture with a blessing ceremony and traditional meal. Book your adventure now.
Duration:
10 hours
Cancellation:
24 hours
Highlights
- Cenote Maya Park - Explore the majestic Cenote Maya, with the largest dome in the Yucatan Peninsula. You can swim in this natural jewel and enjoy some adventure activities. Discover the Mayan culture, participate in an authentic blessing ceremony and enjoy traditional buffet prepared with organic vegetables.
- Ek Balam Village - Get to know the…
- Cenote Maya Park - Explore the majestic Cenote Maya, with the largest dome in the Yucatan Peninsula. You can swim in this natural jewel and enjoy some adventure activities. Discover the Mayan culture, participate in an authentic blessing ceremony and enjoy traditional buffet prepared with organic vegetables.
- Ek Balam Village - Get to know the pre-Hispanic city whose name in Mayan means “black jaguar”, one of the most impressive ceremonial centers of the Yucatán Peninsula, featuring the incredibly detailed decorated temples and plazas. Admire the magnificent high-relief sculptures that have surprised by archeologists and visitors. Be amazed by such imposing structures as the “false arch” and the detailed explanations from your guide during the trip, along with the “Acropolis”, the only structure in the Yucatán you are permitted to climb.
What's Included
- Private guide
- In-vehicle air conditioning
- Safety gear at Park
- Lockers
- Lunch
- Private guide
- In-vehicle air conditioning
- Safety gear at Park
- Lockers
- Lunch
What's Not Included
- Photos (available to purchase)
- Gratuities
- Souvenirs
- Towels
- Photos (available to purchase)
- Gratuities
- Souvenirs
- Towels
Additional Information
Visit the archaeological site of Ek’Balam, an ancient Mayan city that flourished before Chichen Itza. This site has become one of the newest Mayan attractions due to recent restoration efforts.
Explore the impressive Cenote Maya at Native Park Yucatan, featuring the largest dome in the Yucatan Peninsula. Swim in this natural wonder and partake in various…
Visit the archaeological site of Ek’Balam, an ancient Mayan city that flourished before Chichen Itza. This site has become one of the newest Mayan attractions due to recent restoration efforts.
Explore the impressive Cenote Maya at Native Park Yucatan, featuring the largest dome in the Yucatan Peninsula. Swim in this natural wonder and partake in various adventure activities. Immerse yourself in Mayan culture, join an authentic blessing ceremony, and savor a traditional meal made with organic vegetables.
- Bring comfortable shoes, fresh clothing, bathing suit, hat, extra shirt and cash or credit card for crafts and photos.
- For safety reasons, at Cenote Maya, using cameras and recording devices of any kind (including cell phones, or tablets) are not allowed, except for “action cam” (Go Pro) style, only if it is assembled on a chest or head mount during the excursion.
- We recommend you to bring your own water bottle or container
- People under the influence of alcohol or toxic substances won’t be allowed to participate
- Children may enjoy the expedition if they are aged 6 and over
- Minimum height: 3.6 ft. - Maximum weight: 264 lbs
- Harness sizes at waist: 23 to 42 in.- Harness sizes at thigh: up to 26 in.
- This tour is operated by Alltournative
Location
Cenote Maya Park
Km 3, Carretera Chechmil a Uspibil
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.8
(139 Ratings)
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Parasalyne
Jun 24, 2023
Fantastic experience - thank you Pablo - Many thanks to our tour guide, Pablo, who made the tour very educational and absolutely fun. He taught us many things about the archaelogical sites, the language, and the Mayan people. Pablo was also very understanding of the needs of our group (we traveled with my baby cousin).
Ek Balam was one of our favorite things during our time in Mexico, and it’s an absolute must-see. It is wonderful to see the restoration and ongoing excavation going on!
Cenote Maya was one of the best experiences - I was scared to rapel but Pablo and the team there made me feel safe and I had sooo much fun.
Last thing is the delicious food we were served. The best thing I ate in this trip.. better, MUCH better, than resort food.
The only thing I wished was different was to travel in a cooler van because it was a super hot day and the AC was not enough for everyone.
YU’UM BOOTIK!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Eric_a
Jun 6, 2023
Good times - What an awesome time! Celene did a great job with tour and translation and pur driver was great as well. She seemed very knowledgeable about things. We would highly recommend this tour!
Review provided by Viator
Charsal90
May 12, 2023
Incredible - Wonderful tour! Our guide was Anita and our driver was Ramon and they were an amazing duo! Anita was very knowledgeable about the ruins and gave the perfect amount of history of information and made the tour super fun. We had an hour of free time at Ek Balam which was perfect for climbing the pyramid and exploring the jungle. The lunch at the cenote was delicious and rappelling into it was so cool! Ramon was a great driver and kept us safe and cool on our journey and made sure our belongings were safe in the van. I also appreciated Alltournative’s dedication to eco tourism including a refillable jug for water bottles. Overall an incredible tour and I would 100% book with Alltournative again. Thank you Ramon and Anita for making our first excursion an unforgettable one.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Thomas
May 4, 2023
Best tour guide ever!!! - My wife, my daughter and I went on a tour to Ek Balam and Cenote Maya and had Eli as our guide - what an absolutely incredible time we had. The ruins were wonderfully interesting and we especially enjoyed the cenote as well as the ceremony (authentic and personal) and food (delicious chayitas and flavoured water with cardamom). However, the tour was made perfect thanks to our amazing guide Eli! He was everything we could have wanted - efficient and well-organised, friendly, entertaining, extremely educated and knowledgeable. It was a perfect balance of providing us with the attention we needed as well as leaving us to explore and enjoy the journey ourselves. It felt as if he really had a personal passion and excitement for the Mayan culture and history, plus he spoke very naturally so it didn't sound as if he was just reading from a script. What can we say - we couldn't have asked for a better tour guide and he is the best we have had compared to any previous holiday (ranging from The Grand Canyon and Egypt to Sicily and the castles of Scotland)! He truly deserves to receive as much praise as possible and All Tour Native should feel lucky to have him as part of their team. Muchas gracias Eli - fantastico!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Dontbethattourist
Feb 2, 2023
Why you should visit now! - This is the third tour I’ve done with this company - the first in 2009! They’ve been doing it right for years. I had zero intentions of doing anything but laying in the sun- but when it was suppose to rain and I caught a glimpse of the Alltournative brochure on the excursion desk I caved. Ek’ Balam is the last ruin in the area that allows you to climb the ruin. We had visited Coba with them in 2009 and again in 2015- but the pyramid is now closed. It is an amazing feeling to stand at the top and look out over the land and imagine what life would have been like at the height of the Mayan Civilization.
Highly recommend going- being part of that history is an amazing feeling! Our guide, Jens - shared with us he is still going through training to get certified to guide at the archeological sites, but he shared a wealth of knowledge in English and German - and helped me work on my Spanish! I love history and so when the guide at Ek’ Balam finished the official tour - Jens entertained my questions further- He will be a great guide when he is certified and can lead the tours completely on his own. Great personal energy and caring- we had some guests with special needs and he was always trying to anticipate their needs, and only joking chided me for wearing flip flops to climb a pyramid!
Like I said- I wasn’t planning to do anything but lay in the sun!
The Maya Cenote Park - was wear we visited Gran Cenote. We started with a Mayan Blessing with a Mayan Shaman. It was a beautiful cavern, where we could rappel down into the water and then “play.” Being from MN, I could have spent hours in there- yes it’s a little chilly- make sure you shower off well- 1) for respect of the scared area and 2) to prep yourself for the colder temp. The Zipline was short but fun-hang on tight! There are a couple of platforms to jump from.
Lunch was delicious- the fried corn sopes were my favorite!! The photos the offered were great- good quality and lots of them- you don’t have to worry about anything. You may only have GoPros if they are strapped to-your head or chest with the rappelling. No exceptions- please remember - these areas are sacred they don’t want things dropped- be respectful
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Tania
Jan 30, 2023
Don’t miss this tour! - We had the best time on this tour. Our guide Josue and driver Amelia were excellent. Josue was so knowledgeable and interesting as well as funny. We thoroughly enjoyed everything. The Mayan ritual, repelling into the cenote, exploring the ruins and climbing the pyramid. Also loved driving through the small jungle towns. We are so glad we chose this tour.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Louisperenna
Jan 19, 2023
Nice tour to Ek Balam. Climb the last pyramid you can! - Nice guides, specially Miguel and his explanations in the Mayan city of Ek Balam.
Nice Cenote, but can’t bring camera unless it’s a GoPro attached to your torso.
if you want their pictures, it’s 60$ !
Food is not a buffet, but it was good, specially the mini corn tacos.
No stop to tourists trap to buy stuff.
It’s not the cheapest tour, but a solid one without bad surprises.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Denise_l
Dec 28, 2022
Recommend for all! - Great time, cenote is beautiful, we had a great time on the zip line, floating around and jumping off the high platforms. Mayan ceremony was interesting and Ek Balam was interesting to learn about, it a huge place but fun to climb the ruins
Review provided by Viator
Allbuoys
Dec 22, 2022
Mayan cultural adventure! - Great day trip to authentic Mayan village. Quite a drive from our resort in Puerto Adventures, but if you can just take a nap you'll be fine! Started off with a Mayan ritual in the jungle to welcome us into the sacred cenote. Then we repelled down into the cool water where a zip line and other water fun awaited. We also had 2 small children with us that could not repell so they had an alternative method to get them into cenote. After the cenote the mayan ladies prepared us a delicious lunch; complete with freshly made tortillas, and spicy chicken, cooked on open flame in the dining hall. After lunch we headed to Ek Balam and our tour guide Antonio was so knowledgeable, really amazing stuff! The climb to the top of 2 of the tombs was well worth the leg pain the next two days!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Fundynamite
Dec 18, 2022
Highly Enjoyable, Accidentally Private tour - Booked the tour through the Best Day/Westjet rep in the lobby of the Grand Sirenis the morning after we arrived. Went two days later. Van showed up when they said they would so we weren't waiting around which has happened on previous trips to the area. It turned out that there had been a family that was also going to be on the tour but they cancelled last minute so my wife and I got a private tour.
Our first stop was at Ek Balam which is about a 2.5 hour drive. We got there around 10:30 so it wasn't yet stiflingly hot, which was good because if it was mid afternoon, it would have been rough. Our guide was excellent and I should have made a note to remember his name. He gave us a very informative tour around the grounds before leaving us to wander for a bit to look around and climb the main building. He seemed very knowledgeable about the area.
from there we drove for about an hour to the Cenote Maya. Our guide conversed with some of his colleagues and shifted the plan from grabbing lunch first, to going straight to the Cenote so we could have it all to ourselves before another group came in. That was very much appreciated, because having the Cenote to ourselves was an incredible experience. We did the rappel in which was a shocking, but much enjoyed, transition from the heat of the day above to the cold waters of the cenote. We did all the little activities within, including the rope swing, zip line and casual tube floating before making our way out of the cenote. From there we did the ceremonial incense burning with the Mayan shaman and were then treated to a delightful lunch before heading back to the resort. If there were other activities that included this Cenote I would definitely choose them. Having already seen Ek Balaam this trip I would find one with a different archeological site and do that.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
