Cenote Suytun is easily one of the most beautiful places my travels have led me to. The cenote has quickly become one of the most Instagrammable cenotes in Mexico, and it’s easy to see why. A fully enclosed, underground cave, Cenote Suytun is just a few minutes outside of Central Valladolid and just over an hour away from Tulum. If you’re visiting Tulum, pair this cenote with the town of Valladolid, Chichen Itza, and Coba for a fun day trip! Before you go, here’s a few things you should know:
CENOTE SUYTUN LOCATION
Carretera Ticuch Km 8 S/n, 97780 Valladolid, Yuc., Mexico
Cenote Suytun is located in Valladolid, a city in Mexico just a 1.5 hour (102.5 km) drive from Tulum. Visiting Valladolid from Cancun is 2 hours and 15 minutes (156.2 km) driving.
CENOTE SUYTUN ADMISSION
120 pesos per person {approximately $5.55 USD. Worth every penny.} for 40 minutes. When we went, a life jacket was included in the price of admission, however there have also been reports that life jacket rental is an additional 30 pesos. Admission is much less expensive than cenotes closer to Tulum.
HOW TO GET TO CENOTE SUYTUN
As someone who doesn’t drive, I hate to say it, but the only feasible way to get to Cenote Suytun is really by driving a rental car. If you don’t have a rental car or don’t want to make the drive, you can take the ADO bus to Valladolid, then take a taxi from there. The cenote is located a bit of a ways down the entrance and does require driving on some fairly rough roads after passing through the entrance gate. For this reason, as well as the generally uneven, rough, speed bump filled roads in Mexico, I would recommend getting an inexpensive rental car or something more lifted, like a Jeep Wrangler. Click here for car rental options in Mexico {we used Easy Way}.
If you are driving from Tulum like we were, make sure you fill up on gas while in Tulum, there aren’t many gas stations between Tulum and Valladolid. The drive between Tulum and Valladolid is through the jungle and beautiful, take it in!
WEAR WALKING SHOES
After parking your car, actually getting into the cenote requires a short trek through a narrow path in the woods, and a descent down some very steep, slippery when wet, stone stairs, with a rope for a railing. Wear sneakers or sandals with good grip. I would not recommend wearing slides, wedges, etc. If you’re me, and you didn’t do that, take off your shoes to walk down the stairs, it’s too steep.
GO EARLY
We got to the cenote at 8:30 am on a Thursday, and had the whole thing to ourselves for an hour and a half. It was one of the most incredible experiences I’ve been able to have, and I think visiting the cenote would have been a very different experience had we gone later in the day or on a weekend. Technically we were only supposed to have 40 minutes, however the attendant allowed us to stay longer as no one else was there.
BE CAREFUL
At one to five meters deep, Cenote Suytun is one of the shallowest of the Mexico cenotes. That being said, being enclosed save for a small skylight hole makes it one of the darkest. It’s dark enough and so clear that it’s difficult to tell just how deep the water is at a given point. Be careful when swimming for this reason. The water level does fluctuate greatly — I had never seen a photo of the iconic platform underwater prior to going, so imagine my surprise when the platform was submerged under about three feet of water!
DON’T WEAR SUNSCREEN
In general, cenotes in Mexico ban the use of suncreen. Sunscreen poses a risk to both the water and wildlife in cenotes. The cenote is so dark, that barely any sun gets in, so there’s really not much of a use for it anyway.
LEAVE THE DRONE AT HOME
Like many cenotes, drones are banned at Cenote Suytun. Your bag will be checked to ensure you don’t have one. Although it would have been cool to be able to fly, especially as the water is absolutely crystal clear, a drone would have been a hazard to the hanging rock as well as the bats in the cave {yes, there are a few bats, however they’re out of the way and there is nowhere near as many as we experienced at Gran Cenote}.
MIND THE FISH
Cenote Suytun is filled with hundreds of black fish {like so. many. fish}. The fish will swim away if you come too near, but they will get close. I know that some are uncomfortable with fish, so if that’s you, cenotes may not be the best activity option.
SAY HI TO THE PEACOCK
As we were paying admission, we noticed a beautiful peacock freely walking around the grounds! I was totally not expecting to see it, but it was a great surprise. Keep in mind that the peacock will get rather close to you if you let it.
xx,
E
IN MY CLOSET
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