Pippa S.
Yelp
I had wanted to visit this cenote ever since I saw a photo on Instagram showing someone standing in the middle, below a glorious beam of light. It was too beautiful of a spot to pass up on this trip!
The cenote is located in Valladolid, about a 10-minute drive from the city centre. You can get there by taxi from the main ADO bus station for about MXN80-120 pesos (our guy charged us MXN120). On the way back, our taxi driver charged us only MXN60. We were coming in from Tulum after a long morning full of shooting along Tulum Beach. For those planning to visit from Tulum, I advise taking the ADO bus. It's super easy and costs MXN98 per person. I'm sure you can take the bus from other places, but I'm not sure how long it would take or what the costs are. When taking the bus, do allow yourself enough time (if visiting in the afternoon) to get there. Our bus ran a little slow and took just over 2 hours to arrive in Valladolid. After hopping in a cab, we ended up getting to the cenote around 4:15pm. I was under the impression that it closed at 5:00pm (my Google search informed me as such), so I was afraid we would only have an hour to take photos. But when we arrived the lady at the front told us we had until 6:00pm. I'm not sure if this is only on Saturday, so double check just to make sure before going. The entrance fee was MXN80 per person (cash only). Compared to a lot of really popular cenotes in Tulum, I found this to be pretty affordable.
If you want to enjoy the cenote without a lot of people around, I recommend going mid- to late afternoon. This way, you can avoid the large crowds from tour buses and even have the place to yourself. Plus, by that time, people have left because they're off to another activity/dinner and not many more will arrive because it's simply so close to closing. When we got there at 4:15 pm, we were legit the only tourists there. We entered into the cenote as two people were leaving and had the whole place alone for a good half hour (before a large group came). For photo purposes, we waited until they left and asked the security guard if we could spend some extra time (5 min) for some last photos and he kindly agreed. That's another thing - all the staff here are so friendly!
I do think you should be careful if you or anyone in your group has mobility issues. The steps may be steep for some and can get very slippery from all the water that people bring along with them while passing in/out.
The cenote itself is so beautiful and the water is so so clear. It really looks like something out of a movie. And you can even see lots of little catfish swimming around. It's so nice and can be really enjoyable if you go during down times so you're not fighting crowds. Although I'm happy we went at the time we did, we did have to make the trade off of not getting that beam of light shining through the top of the cenote. Had I had the time, i would've probably spent all day there to photograph it! Maybe next time ;)
This is definitely a must-see if you are in the area.