
Mammuth Grotte
The mammoth grottes near San Cristóbal are both cooler and less cool than you might expect.
The uncool thing:
In and around Valladolid there are a lot of cenotes. Explained in short: it’s natural swimming pools, that have formed in a cave. Those caves then are either completely open or only a little bit open or just through a whole accessible. As there are a lot of cenotes around Valladoid, I chose the ones I liked most and went there. Have fun exploring them with me 🙂
Cenote Zaci – in Valladolid
Cenote Suytun – including lightspectacle
Cenote Oxmán – with liana
Cenote XKekén – a cave-cenote
Cenotes Samula & Samaal
Basic information
What: Cenote
Where: Valladolid
Opening hours: 08.30 – 17.30
Fee: around 30 pesos
Website: https://cenotesmexico.org/cenote-zaci/
Cenote Zaci is the only cenote in Valladolid that is located IN Valladolid and not in the neighbourhood of Valladolid. Accordingly, it is basically treated like a public swimming pool and is usually well attended. So it’s not overcrowded, but you can usually find someone chilling out, swimming or just wanting a quick dip. As I think the entrance fee is or was around 40 pesos, you will meet many locals here as well as tourists.
I still remember my first visit to Zaci very well. Basically, you arrive at a completely nothing saying entrance and walk down a narrow path that leads you into a hidden jungle paradise. It’s really beautiful. Zaci is a semi-open cenote with a large pool that you can jump into from a platform 😀 – awesome, right? 😊 There’s also a little place in the rocky part of the cenote where you can leave your things and chill out. On the other side of the cenote is the reason why I just said jungle paradise. Everything crawls and paws and I was allowed to observe and photograph an iguana 😊 Well, they’re more common in Mexico, but it was still cool 😀 Unfortunately, I wasn’t in the water itself because I was alone at Zaci and was scared about my things – today I am firmly convinced that this was unfounded. But I did go swimming in other cenotes, so I can tell you that a dip in Zaci is probably very refreshing and chilling down. 😀 Because Valladolid can certainly get hot 😀
There, yes or no? Definitely! Cenote Zaci is not only located right in the city, but is also one of the most beautiful cenotes I’ve been to. So let’s go there! 😊
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Basic information
Qué: Cenote
Dónde: Valladolid
Horario: 9-17 h
Entrada: ~ 120 pesos (creo que serían 80 para mí en ese momento, así que el precio puede haber cambiado, pero definitivamente es un poco más caro porque tiene un estatus tan «especial»)
Página web: https://rutadecenotes.com.mx/info_cenotes/index_cenotes.php?nombre=cenote_suytun.php&lang=de (u otros)
Cenote Suytun es uno de los cenotes más especiales y únicos de todos. ¿Por qué? ¡Porque el sol brilla hacia el interior por un único agujero pequeno en el techo, que se refleja en el agua y luego vuelve a reflejarse en el techo y! Un puente va al centro del cenote. Por si acaso que la descripción no fue suficiente, checa a las fotos. Se explican por sí solas. 😊
Mi historia personal con el cenote es bastante sudorosa. Recuerdo la primera vez que vi la foto en Google y supe: ¡Tengo que ir allí! Luego me enteré de dónde estaba… En el culo del mundo -eso te lo aseguro-. No, claro que no, pero está tan lejos que no se puede ir andando. Como la distancia igual no parecía tan lejana, investigué un poco para saber cuánto se tardaría en bicicleta. 20-30 minutos. Posible. Alquilé una bici en el hostal y me puse en marcha. Bueno, de lo que no me había dado cuenta era de que en Valladolid puede hacer mucho calor a partir de las 10/11 de la mañana y que toda la ruta transcurre por una carretera abierta y polvorienta -a veces con algunos baches- sin sombra y, por lo tanto, bajo un sol abrasador. Además, esta bici era algo rara y solo podía cambiar el circuito de muy fácl a muy duro. Como la carretera no siempre era perfecta para una bici y tenía que ir por el lado para evitar que me atropellaran, tuve que reducir la velocidad una y otra vez y luego intentar ir medio rápido de nuevo, porque por desgracia ir despacio no era mejor que pedalear fuerte por una vez y ya -créanme que probé las dos cosas-. Estoy acostumbrado a ir en bici, pero esto… creo que ha sido el paseo en bici más agotador de mi vida. `:D No por la distancia ni por la bici, sino porque en Valladolid ya estás chorreando de sudor cuando aún estás en la sombra… Así que llegué con la cabeza roja, sudada de arriba abajo, completamente agotada y probablemente extremadamente acalorada.
Como tenía previsto visitar tres cenotes ese día y no quería andar todo el día con la ropa mojada para luego enfermare -viajaba en bicicleta (con el aire corriente)-, no me bañé, estúpido como era entonces, sino que me limité a hacer fotos. Así que me refresqué en la sombra del cenote y seguí mi camino. Si estás sacudiendo la cabeza para mí por ser tan cabezota y no querer / poder cambiar mi plan – tienes toda la razón. Y por lo tanto lo siguiente:
No hagas lo que yo hice. Hazlo con tiempo, temprano, una bicicleta decente y sin planes de pedalear a dos cenotes más. Y preferiblemente con gente, claro. Así los cenotes son siempre más divertidos porque no tienes que preocuparte de tus cosas.
Porque el Cenote Suytun realmente merece la pena: es «sólo» un puente y «sólo» un espectáculo de luces, pero la verdad es que mola mucho. Aunque me jodió, también me alegré mucho de haber ido porque se pueden hacer fotos muy bonitas y el cenote tiene algo fascinante. Es simplemente algo especial con el puente y el juego de luces y sin duda recomendaría ir allí. Eso sí, no como yo 😀 ¡Así que un gran SÍ también para el Cenote Suytun! 😊
Back to the beginning
Basic information
What: Cenote
Where: Enter Cenote San Lorenzo Oxmán Yucatán into Google. Then you should find it
Opening hours: 08.00 – 17.00
Fee: according to https://cenotesmexico.org/cenote-oxman/ about 100 pesos (4.50 euros) per person, but when I was there it was definitely cheaper. So it’s best to check again on site, because the websites in Mexico are not always super up-to-date.
Website: https://cenotesmexico.org/cenote-oxman/ (use with caution!)
Cenote Oxmán is actually one of the coolest cenotes of all. It’s really beautiful and very interactive. When I was on my way to Cenote Oxmán, I had just come from Cenote Suytun and was accordingly sweaty, exhausted and at the end of my strengths (the journey on the long dusty road in the middle of heat if anyone remembers). Cenote Oxmán, on the other hand, can be reached via an equally dusty path, but it leads through and over a bit of greenery and the area is not quite as deserted as the one at Cenote Suytun. And I think what also played a part here was that it was in the afternoon and therefore not quite as unbearably hot as on the way to Cenote Suytun.
The reason why Cenote Oxmán is one of my favourite cenotes is quite simple: you can jump over the water from the edge with a rope like Tarzan and then let yourself fall. Awesome, isn’t it? There are also life jackets for visitors on the edge and Cenote Oxmán is generally much busier than Suytun. When I arrived and walked into the cenote, there was still a large group splashing around in the cenote. I waited a short while, had a proper drink and then a nice Mexican offered to take photos of me jumping in. He probably saw me taking a photo of the cenote and thought to himself ‘That kid will probably want a photo with herself in it too’. Well, that’s how I got my Jane pictures of me swinging into the water on a liana and then getting the refreshment I’d been waiting for the whole time. It was AWESOME!!!Seriously just awesome. And right at that moment I asked myself why I hadn’t already jumped into the pool in Suytun 😀 Well, you never stop learning… 😀 😀
Should you go? Definitely! You can also plan a whole day here. Especially with a group, you’ll never get tired of taking turns swinging into the water on the liana and there’s plenty of space to store your things, chill out and eat something.
Highly recommended! 😀
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Basic information
What: Cenote
Where: just type Cenote XKekén into Google and you’ll get there
Opening hours: 09:00 to 18:00
Fee: the internet doesn’t quite agree; prices range between 125 and 200 pesos. It’s best to ask a local on site – and I don’t mean someone who works there, but someone who is independent of tourism
Website: https://cenotesmexico.org/cenote-xkeken/
This cenote is truly unique. At least I’ve never been to another one where you can see so many large stalagmites and stalactites and swim in the cave at the same time. Cenote XKekén is basically like a cave with a pool. And beautiful too. Apart from the cenote itself, XKekén also includes another small mini cave, which you can also visit but is not worth mentioning here, and on top another cenote in the same area. But more on that in another post. You walk to the cenote via a kind of path that leads to stairs going downstairs. These might seem a bit steep, narrow and slippery, but… just hold on tight 😉 Mexicans get up and down there too – some of them unsporty – and survive 😀
Entry to this cenote costs a bit more than to the others because you’re entering a kind of terrain and not just driving to a cenote. XKekén is also really special. I really haven’t seen anything like it anywhere else. Because yes, of course there are caves and sometimes it’s damp etc., but Xkekén is something else. The only thing that is of course the case due to the closed nature of the cenote: little light. Everything is lit exclusively by spotlights and lights. Accordingly, swimming here is not for people who are easily scared. However, the atmosphere is not scary at all, so that should be fine😊
I don’t think I need to say much about this. If there’s one cenote that you definitely have visit when in Valladolid, is XKekén. Simply because, in my opinion, it really is the most special one.
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Basic information
What: Cenote Samaal and Samula
Where: just type “Cenote Samaal” and “Cenote Samula” into Google and you’ll get there
Opening hours: both 09.00 to 17.00
Fee: Samaal about 80 pesos, Samula is included in the price of XKeken (if vice versa my bet)
Website: there is no official one, so just stick with me 😉
The cenotes Samaal and Samula are relatively close to cenote XKekén, which is also the reason why I visited them. One of them is also in the same area as XKekén. Meaning you’ve already paid for it anyway. But even the one outside the Xkekén area isn’t really expensive or anything – at least it wasn’t at the time I was there. Cenote Samaal is pretty plain and simple. It’s basically a pool with a very high edge and can only be accessed via a staircase that leads into the cenote from above. Here you swim through the cenote with the help of something like a string. However, there is a small waterfall here where the light refracts in sunny weather and creates a beautiful rainbow.
Cenote Samula is a little quieter and the atmosphere in the cenote is also calmer. It’s a bit like an enclosed cocoon where you can relax, take a deep breath and enjoy some time to yourself. As I said, neither is stunning or super special, but Samula in particular is perfect for a relaxing dip and getting away from the hustle and bustle of tourism.
Go, yes or no? I’d say that’s up to you. If you have time yes, otherwise not 😊
Back to the beginning
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