If you have not read Part 1 of the Travel diaries: Our trip to Riviera Maya, Mexico – Grand Palladium White Sands, I highly recommend you do! I also did a post on my must do packing list, which you can read here. This post will concentrate on the things we did while we stayed in Riviera Maya, Mexico like visiting one of the modern seven wonders of the world (Chichen Itza), going to Playa del Carmen and ticking off one of the things from our bucket list and swim in the cenotes!!
How did we choose our destination?
When we booked this holiday at the beginning of 2024, I did a lot of research on the time of the year to visit, places to stay and things to do. We both wanted a 2 week holiday somewhere warm and for us this trip was not about going on excursions and trips but to completely relax! We narrowed it down to end of March/beginning of April (before Easter) and had two contenders – Thailand and Mexico. We picked Mexico because I think we both wanted to go somewhere amazing where we could relax. We thought Thailand would be too much of a rush jumping from one place to another.
Check before you book!
When we decided on our destination, there were two things that were on our “MUST DO” list in Mexico. Shaun wanted so see Chichen Itza and I wanted to visit Frida Museum. I thought I scored the jackpot, as Riviera Maya was in the middle of the two (or so I thought). A few months before we were setting off, I thought it would be wise to book Frida museum tickets online and shock horror, it turns out we were staying nearly 1600 km away from THE Frida museum which is in Mexico City and not Playa del Carmen. I was so disappointed, but I was not letting my mistake spoil our holiday.
We left Isle of Man and travelled to Mexico on 26 March and after staying overnight got the morning flight from London Gatwick to Mexico. When we arrived in Mexico, we decided to spend first few days by the pool and relax and explore the hotel and the amenities.
Frida Museum – Playa del Carmen
We arranged for our concierge to book us a taxi, who would take us to Playa del Carmen and then come and collect us in about 3 hours and bring us back to the hotel.
Once we got dropped off we went to look for the Frida Museum. The ticket to the museum was approximately £12 per person and included a cute little tote bag. Although this was a small museum which concentrated on the key events of Frida’s life, I really enjoyed the visit and our tour guide was the sweetest young woman who shared Frida’s story with us. I was so overtaken by emotion I even had a little cry.
We spend about an hour exploring the museum with and without the guide and also visited the little souvenir shop, which if course I did not leave empty handed. If you are a Frida fan and are in the vicinity I would definitely recommend going there, we both really enjoyed it and have vowed to visit Mexico City and visit Frida’s old house and the museum very soon.
Once we left the museum, we had just over an hour left at Playa del Carmen and to be honest, it felt very touristy and a bit busy for us. Everyone tried to get you in their restaurant or shop and they were all touristy things rather than authentic Mexican experience we wanted. I totally get it this is a tourist destination so we enjoyed our experience and visited a few shops. We got a few souvenirs and a little art piece that would remind me of our beautiful trip.
We met our taxi driver and went back to the hotel just in time for some food.
Excursions and TUI rep at the hotel
There are so many options to book your excursions and trips through the hotel. You can either ask the concierge or there are literally various reps at the hotel lobby you can organise your trips with. As we booked our holiday through TUI, we got a meeting booked with our rep that weekend, so we went to check what excursions we could do.
Chichen Itza
As we already had to pay for the upgrade for the hotel (which we hadn’t planned for), we knew we could only do a couple of trips and also out hotel was amazing, so we didn’t really want to spend too much time away from the resort. Our “must do” on the list was Chichen Itza and one thing we really wanted to do was go to Cenotes. So when there was a trip available which included both, we jumped at the chance.
We booked Chichen Itza and Cenotes via TUI rep for 1 April, it was around £280 for both of us and was all day trip to Chichen Itza with a guide and refreshments and a trip to Cenotes and lunch. We had to be up very early as the coach was leaving at 5:30 am to arrive in Chichen Itza at 8am local time (there is a tine difference between Yukatan and Riviera Maya.
The coach trip was 3 hours long but honestly, it did not feel long at all. We got to have a little snooze on the bus, and about an hour before the arrival our Guide shared his knowledge with us, we also got some breakfast and not long we arrived.
We had 3 hours at Chichen Itza, we didn’t have to queue up and were provided with the passes, water and equipment for the audio tour. We then had time to roam around by ourselves and take pictures. Chichen Itza was BUSY even at 8am, but thanks to our guide we got through security very quickly and could start our tour.
There are a few market stalls around and I am pretty much sure I got scammed out of £20 spending on a bracelet that later broke but it is part of the experience. I kept thinking I am sure he needed that money more than me.
Cenotes Tsukan Sanduario De Vida
It was then time for a 30 min drive to the Cenotes at Tsukan Sanduario De Vida.
It was a magical experience! We were both a little scared at first as it is literally a natural sinkhole, but it was such a magical experience. Before we entered the Cenotes we were blessed by a Mayan shaman, which was such a beautiful experience which I will always treasure.
We had 2 hours to spend here, so we got our life jackets and jumped in.
We decided to spend an hour swimming in the Cenotes and then spend the next hour for lunch and wandering around.
I won’t go in too much detail, but being the explorer that I usually am not, I decided to start exploring and because of the little paths, two exits and not being great with direction walked int he wrong direction and we nearly missed the coach.
It was 100% worth it and I would definitely recommend this trip.
My tips:
- Always carry small notes of either US$ or Mexican$ for tips and other expenses (like the locker we had to pay for at the Cenotes).
- Hotel had wi-fi so we didn’t feel the need to get an e-sim for our stay, however, we did purchase 24 hours e-sim when we travelled to Playa del Carmen just in case. I went with Holafly.
- For the Cenotes trip get yourself a waterproof phone case – like this waterproof case (affiliate).
- Wear sensible shoes, it was so hot at Chichen Itza and we did a lot of walking, so I had some flip flops in my bag but I wore trainers to be comfortable.
- Wear a hat! It is hot hot hot!
- Bring a selfie stick. People are lovely and will always take photos for you, but if you don’t want to ask people, it is so easy to film and take photos with this.
- Bring a power bank. Our batteries were drained after taking photos and videos and the power bank saved us!
