Ek Balam and Valladolid Private Tour

Posted By : G3715SElucyh
Excellent family trip with school age kiddos. The private tour was well worth it. Alberto was our guide and Carlos our driver. Alberto was kind, patience, knowledgeable and answered many questions. Carlos was patience and a safe driver. They were amazing! We had a wonderful time.
Rating :
Posted On : 2024-02-08 11:28:10

Posted By : Tamara_C
We decided on choosing a private tour for our family of five, simply because we thought we could control our day a little bit. Our day began with Allonzo(driver) and Alberto(tour guide) picking us up at our resort at 7AM. Both spoke great English. During our two hour drive, Alberto educated us about Ek Belem and the history surrounding it. He had pictures and explained so much about Mexico and Mayan culture. Once at Ek Belem, he did a walking tour with us and then gave us plenty of time to explore on our own. Next stop, lunch and cenote swim. My family and I have done several tours in Mexico, but the lunch buffet provided was the best we have ever had! The cenote was beautiful. I would highly recommend this tour.
Rating :
Posted On : 2024-01-03 10:15:51

Posted By : Lisa R
Ricardo and our driver Nerya were great. Very knowledgeable and took great care of us. Lots of nice touches, with cold flannels after the temple climb, food and water throughout and even making sure we had umbrellas when there was a downpour. Seeing Ek Balam and then the centre swim were maxing and the lunch afterwards was lovely
Rating :
Posted On : 2023-08-24 10:17:51

Posted By : Carole_C
We just had the best vacation with our family of 11 from ages 11-74. This tour was one of three we took and it was a huge hit with everyone despite the heat! Our tour guides were excellent and well prepared to keep us engaged and comfortable. Ek Balam is a fantastic choice of ruins to see because you can still climb these very impressive ruins. This was followed by a most welcome and delicious lunch buffet. The chicken mole was the best mole sauce I’ve ever had! Lots of choices and all you can eat. The cherry on top was our swim in a Cenote. It was the perfect way to really cool off. It was complete with a platform for jumping or diving! Beautiful setting. Because of a heavy downpour we chose to have a short stop at the charming center of the town of Valladolid to get ice cream. A fun way to end a great tour. Huge shout outs for our driver, Rudolph’s, and guide, Victor Manuel!!!
Rating :
Posted On : 2023-07-31 17:07:46

Posted By : amyhG5232WM
We were picked up early by Miriam our tour guide & driver at our resort in Riviera Maya. They confirmed with our photo ID of the purchaser that we were the correct party. Then the adventure started. The van was clean and had great working AC, the drive was very pleasant and Miriam had great conversations with us. Her English was excellent.

We chose the Ek Balam tour because it is one of the few pyramids in Mexico that you can still climb. We arrived with no issues at Ek Balam, they provided us with cold water bottle which was needed for our hot visit. Miriam gave us a very personal tour of the campus and even climbed the pyramids with us. She answered all our many questions with ease.

Once we left Ek Balam we went to a Cenote to swim. Lockers were provided and we were able to swim with no issues. Lunch followed onsite of the cenote at Selva Maya. The food was traditional Yucatan, Miriam explained each dish prior to us devouring it all! The food was delicious and the service was excellent. There are also a couple of small shops there to pick up some unique tequilas or souvenirs.

From there we visited the city of Vellolidad. By this time the heat of the day was extreme so we chose to only visit Choco-Story which is a chocolate museum and shop (per Miriam's suggestion). At the Choco-Story shop you can get excellent chocolate treats and body products (lotions, soaps, etc) so we were very happy with the recommendation to stop there. I'd love to see more of the town but the family was tired by this point and ready to get back to our resort. Over all the whole tour was excellent and was by far a favorite on our trip.
Rating :
Posted On : 2023-06-13 12:24:49

Posted By : keithc101197
With a private tour the guide can make or break the experience and Ana knocked it out of the park. She's an open water swimmer and educator so she and my wife hit it off straight away. As our Boys said (ages 15 & 20) she talked a lot without being intrusive. She was very informative and had a lot of graphics and insights to share in the van as we traveled and was completely hands on when we arrived at each locale.
Ek Balam allows visitors to climb all over the buildings and we enjoyed the stunning views from both the Acropolis and the Oval Palace. We've visited each one of the iconic pyramids in the area now as we return to Cancun for vacation annually and this was by far our best tour experience of them all. The climb to the top of both structures is fairly straight forward and not taxing for someone who is relatively active. Ana was the first guide we've had who made the extra effort to climb with us and share insights along the way as well as take some great pictures for us.
We also enjoyed our time at the Cenote Saamal where our Boys got to jump from the 15 foot platform and we all cooled off after being at the hot archeological site. The buffet lunch there was both delicious and plentiful with lots of authentic dishes and choices. Ana went with us to the shops as well and pointed out a tequila that is only available in the Yucatan and is similar to Baileys Irish Cream. She made sure we got a fair price as well. The Selva Maya photographer took pictures of our family and for $30 US we were given about a dozen digital copies via email and got to choose our favorite two to have printed on the spot.
Lastly, Valladolid we had been to once before but that time we'd been left to wander the park area on our own. This time Ana took us to a fun sign of the city by the convent and then into city hall where she thoroughly explained the meaning behind each of the murals displayed there as well as offering us the opportunity to explore some of the shops.
We thoroughly enjoyed this experience and will look to use this tour company again. Gracias Ana!
Rating :
Posted On : 2022-01-05 17:58:30

Posted By : shyGwen
We had a wonderful tour with a tremendous amount of historical and cultural information from Alex. Our driver was Fernando and he made the almost 2 hour drive easy and comfortable. Thanks to them both.
Rating :
Posted On : 2020-02-11 15:03:03

Posted By : Karen H
We hired a private car with drivers to take us to Ek Balam, Cenote Maya and Valladolid. The trip was five stars from start to finish. The drivers were polite in the extreme and gave us a safe, comfortable ride. Upon arriving at Ek Balam, they introduced us to our English-speaking guide whose name I wish I could remember because he was amazing. A native Mayan speaker, he spoke both English and Spanish fluently. He was an expert on the archaeological site, providing in-depth explanations of what we were seeing, including the Mayan hieroglyphs. It was truly impressive. This is a lesser known site but all the more special because of the quality of the tour and the fact that it was not overrun with tour groups. We proceeded to the colonial city of Valladolid for a little walking and shopping and then to Cenote Maya. We opted not to swim but enjoyed photographing the site. The lunch buffet that was included in our tour was superb. The drivers told us the food was excellent and they did not exaggerate. I could tell they were really looking forward to the meal. Frankly, it was some of the best food we had during our week-long stay in the area. Loved this tour. Highly recommend.
Rating :
Posted On : 2020-01-02 17:19:28