Could you share your XCaret experience?

[Anonymous]

We just booked our winter break trip to Mexico. I originally wanted to stay at XCaret but it was not available. Instead we decided we can do a day trip to XCaret. I'm looking at the website and there seem to be multiple parks and tours.

Could you share your XCaret experience?

How did you get there? Transportation is available but they seem to want to pick up at 6:45am.

[Anonymous]

I did Xplor which was great with teens. As for which park, it depends what age kids and what you want to do. We did the transportation which was long but very easy. Make sure you get the photo package!

[Anonymous]

The Xcaret Hotel and Xcaret park are different. It sounds like you are doing the Xcaret park? If so, most people start with the river swim. Wear a swimsuit and water shoes. There's a locker for your stuff at the front of the park and a locked bag they will transport to the end of the river. It's a nice swim with lots to see. After the river you can wander and see animals and some cultural demonstrations in a village. We liked the aquarium and butterfly garden. There's also a pool where they loan out snorkeling equipment and you can snorkle to see tropical fish. In the evening there's a popular show about the history of Mexico.

We didn't bother with any of the paid activities. The river swim is the best part--don't skip it. The rest is fun, but not amazing.

[Anonymous]

If you stay at the Xcaret Hotel you get free admission to all of the parks in the Xcaret group. If you stay elsewhere then you can buy passes to the parks individually.

The parks ranked in my order of preference from best to worst:
1. Xcaret Park
2. Xplore
3. Xplore Fuego (the same park as Xplore but at night and you need a separate ticket so they consider it a separate park)
4. Xavage
5. Xel Ha
6. Xenses

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you stay at the Xcaret Hotel you get free admission to all of the parks in the Xcaret group. If you stay elsewhere then you can buy passes to the parks individually.

The parks ranked in my order of preference from best to worst:
1. Xcaret Park
2. Xplore
3. Xplore Fuego (the same park as Xplore but at night and you need a separate ticket so they consider it a separate park)
4. Xavage
5. Xel Ha
6. Xenses

Oh, there's also a tour called Xenotes. We didn't do that one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Xcaret Hotel and Xcaret park are different. It sounds like you are doing the Xcaret park? If so, most people start with the river swim. Wear a swimsuit and water shoes. There's a locker for your stuff at the front of the park and a locked bag they will transport to the end of the river. It's a nice swim with lots to see. After the river you can wander and see animals and some cultural demonstrations in a village. We liked the aquarium and butterfly garden. There's also a pool where they loan out snorkeling equipment and you can snorkle to see tropical fish. In the evening there's a popular show about the history of Mexico.

We didn't bother with any of the paid activities. The river swim is the best part--don't skip it. The rest is fun, but not amazing.

Is it safe to assume that they will give you life vests?
Do we need to bring towels?

Strongly prefer not to get on a bus at 645am. So early! We don’t need to be there all day. I can’t seem to pick another pick up time besides 645.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Xcaret Hotel and Xcaret park are different. It sounds like you are doing the Xcaret park? If so, most people start with the river swim. Wear a swimsuit and water shoes. There's a locker for your stuff at the front of the park and a locked bag they will transport to the end of the river. It's a nice swim with lots to see. After the river you can wander and see animals and some cultural demonstrations in a village. We liked the aquarium and butterfly garden. There's also a pool where they loan out snorkeling equipment and you can snorkle to see tropical fish. In the evening there's a popular show about the history of Mexico.

We didn't bother with any of the paid activities. The river swim is the best part--don't skip it. The rest is fun, but not amazing.

Is it safe to assume that they will give you life vests?
Do we need to bring towels?

Strongly prefer not to get on a bus at 645am. So early! We don’t need to be there all day. I can’t seem to pick another pick up time besides 645.

There are life vests provided everywhere. I think you had to bring your own towels at Xcaret park. They will put them in your locked bag so they are waiting for you at the end of the swim. We didn't bother and just dripped dry as we walked through the park so we wouldn't have to carry them.

You can get your own taxi if you don't want to come on the tour schedule.

[Anonymous]

We went to xel ha in April. The single best water park I’ve ever been to in my entire life, bar none. 1 day was not enough. I’d go back there in a heartbeat.

[Anonymous]

We went to Xplore. No need to bring towels - no where to put them. In fact there is nowhere to keep anything dry except in the lockers. Also sunscreen isn’t allowed. It was fun but I wouldn’t do it again. We didn’t do the photo package and we didn’t feel like we missed anything. The zip line is really long - I didn’t do it and a couple of my family members thought it was too much, but once you commit there’s no way out.

[Anonymous]

It was awesome. You don't need towels as much as you might think, you'll dry off pretty quickly in the heat! Keep in mind you're not allowed to wear sunscreen, so long sleeve rash guards for everyone are crucial. There's no need to get on transportation at 6:45, just splurge for the taxi. Find out about return transportation.

I will never forget swimming around with those fish, it definitely made we want to learn to SCUBA dive, which I've yet to do, but on my bucket list!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It was awesome. You don't need towels as much as you might think, you'll dry off pretty quickly in the heat! Keep in mind you're not allowed to wear sunscreen, so long sleeve rash guards for everyone are crucial. There's no need to get on transportation at 6:45, just splurge for the taxi. Find out about return transportation.

I will never forget swimming around with those fish, it definitely made we want to learn to SCUBA dive, which I've yet to do, but on my bucket list!

You can wear reef safe sunblock at all of the parks.

OP, the different parks in the Xplore group aren't necessarily that close together so look to see which one is closest to your hotel. If Xcaret is far, consider going to XelHa to save on taxi costs. In general Xcaret park, Xenses and Xplore are close together, while Xel-Ha and Xavage are closer to the airport.

[Anonymous]

Definitely STAY FOR THE FINAL SHOW! IT was so beautiful. Too many people skip it. It celebrates the history and different regions of Mexico. It was stunning.

The caves are dsrk. With the water, aLOT of kids find it scary.

The aviary was great. Buffet was good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We went to xel ha in April. The single best water park I’ve ever been to in my entire life, bar none. 1 day was not enough. I’d go back there in a heartbeat.

We loved Xel-Ha too, was just there a few weeks ago.

[Anonymous]

We've been to Xplor twice and love it! You can wear reef-safe sunscreen and (other than the ziplines, which I recommend you do first), it's mostly shaded or underground. The easiest day of the trip NOT to burn!

[Anonymous]

Thanks for this! We'll be making on second trip to Puerto Aventuras this December - staying two weeks. We've yet to visit any of the XCaret parks, but Xel Ha sounds great even if my kids (4 and 9) are too young/little for some of the activities. And the pricing doesn't seem too terrible given that meals and drinks are included.