After months of driving by the sign for Dzbilchaltun, and trying to learn how to say that word properly, we finally had the opportunity to visit this tourist attraction. For some reason we had no idea what to expect and were thinking we were just going to go swim in an above ground cenote. However, much to our surprise this site is also covered in Mayan ruins which Evan & Noah had the pleasure of exploring.

The cenote was fabulous! Lyn dove right in, the boys took a couple of minutes before they jumped in but they finally made it in. We had brought their life jackets so that they could float and swim all over and we were glad we did. When Evan got out of the cenote, Lyn used his life jacket to just float and watch the fish swimming. Grandma & Grandpa mostly stayed in the very shallow part of the cenote, hanging out on the rocks at the end. There was only about 15 people there while we were there which was great. We came on a Wednesday afternoon when the boys were done school, we wanted to be sure to miss any tour buses from the cruise ships.

After the cenote, we all took our time to explore the Mayan ruins. Some of us climbed to the top of every one, others of us stayed mostly on the ground! Evan and Noah sure scared us a few times as they played tag and hide & seek in the ruins jumping over holes and from level to level.

Entrance fees were 115 pesos for each adult but the kids were only 5 pesos. They do offer guided tours, which probably would be useful but all we wanted to do was swim and explore the above ground cenote. There are a lot of options for the guided tour as the grounds are fairly large with lots of ruins spread out. Each of the ruins has an information plaque which is helpful but probably does not have as much information as the guide would provide. There are pictures at the end of the slideshow of the entrance fees and guided tour prices.

Backpacks are not allowed past the front entrance, where they have someone ready to put your bags in lockers. Towels are permitted and they will give you a plastic bag to carry them in, but no backpacks. I was allowed to bring in my pack which contained my camera but they did search it to ensure I did not have a tri-pod as these are not allowed. They let us enter with the boys lifejackets but I am not sure if you are allowed to bring other floating devices into the cenote. We left our ‘noodles’ in the trunk. You are not allowed to bring in outside food and beverages, and it looked like they sold some things in the tiny market at the entrance.

Dzbilchaltun is located north east of Merida and is very easy to get to. The Mayan Ruins throughout the site and the above ground cenote make this a great place to spend an afternoon.

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