Chichen Itza Classic Tour

Posted By : Tracey_J
The tour did not start off on the right foot for us. Unfortunately there was a lot of confusion about our pick up time. I originally booked with a start time of 7:30am, which we wanted and preferred. Then we were contacted by the tour operator that our pick up time would be 9:15am. However, we kept getting emails with BOTH pick-up times and that was confusing. So my husband chatted with Viator on their Whats App the night before and that Viator representative said there must have been a mistake and to be at the pick up spot at 7:30am. We were there and 7:30am came and went. Then the time changed from 9:15am to 9:30am. We were picked up by a Van that then transported us to our bus. We did the upgraded Breakfast box, but the bread was stale and it was a ham sandwich so we did not eat it. Also, we were told that we wouldn't be picked up at the Main Lobby, that we needed to make our way to the front gate. We were at an ocean front resort and the gate is a long way away. I was surprised that they didn't come to get us at the lobby. I will say Thankfully they did drop us off at the lobby. The highlights of the tour was the tour guide Victor, he and his group did do a great job of educating us and they were friendly. There was a lot of talking on the bus but if you want to sleep I recommend using your headphones, earbuds. If you like knowing the history then you will love the info. The Saamal Cenote was beautiful and I would have preferred to have eaten there. I was not pleased with the buffet that we ate at though. The main event of seeing Chichen Itza was wonderful and we enjoyed seeing all of the historical ruins. I would recommend to my friends and family to book a shorter tour or to rent a car and go there themselves. Now that we know what we know that is what we will do next time. I was happy that we did get the unlimited beverages though as we drank a ton of water and they did provide us with that as well as offering beer, soda and even some tequila at the end of the night.
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Posted On : 2024-07-22 22:59:13

Posted By : Luz_D
WIe were picked up then dropped off at a store to make a long line then wait for another bus. We thought we started our trip but then made about 4-5 more stops to pick up additional people. It was allot of driving that did not only include the drive to the locations. Not very organized. The locations were beautiful and one of our tour guides was very knowledgeable
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Posted On : 2024-07-16 21:56:35

Posted By : josh_f
This tour is a complete rip-off and waste of most of a day. We only had 2 hours at Chichen Itza because we wasted 2 hours in a shanty town hearing BS about local culture and obsidian, eating a marginal buffet and standing around in a horrible gift shop. The stop in Valladolid was also a waste of time b/c we circled the square 2 times before we got off, then had less than 20 minutes to do anything before right back on the bus.
We got picked up at 7:05a and then wasted over an hour sitting in a Starbucks waiting for everyone else....we didn't get on the road until close to 9am. Also a huge waste of my time on vacation.
Chichen Itza is amazing and we had a great guide there. The Cenote was fun. It would be nice if you could find a Chichen Itza trip that maximized the time there and didn't waste half the day on other stops that offer no value whatsoever.
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Posted On : 2024-07-06 12:54:27

Posted By : ayalgx
Our guide was very knowledgeable and made it very interesting. Our only negative was the length of the trip which took 14 hours.
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Posted On : 2024-04-24 19:56:47

Posted By : 417guenters
Good value for money. We waited 30 minutes without any information that that the pick-up service is delayed. The registration process was not at the bus, we had to walk through a shopping center. The bus journey and support team was capable and supportive
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Posted On : 2024-03-18 10:14:15

Posted By : Mariluz C
The tour is good, the journeys are very long, the food is horrible, not even lunch, the time is very limited to carry out the activities.
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Posted On : 2024-01-22 18:36:00

Posted By : Amel_A
Victor our tour guide on the bus was amazing, he deserves 100 stars! But overall the process was long and required lots of driving and waiting. The initial time I thought it would take was much longer and the stops were very touristy. We didn't get to stop in the town either. Overall, was not impressed based on the price.
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Posted On : 2024-01-03 11:29:37

Posted By : DANNY_W
Tour was good. Loved the time given at the pyramids and the information provided.

I'm used to tour groups giving a sales pitch, but this was particularly long and brutal. 45 minute speech selling modern day Obsidian stones (read: snake oil) when rubbed on your head will cure your insomnia and headaches. Then on the bus there was a second sales pitch for liquor.

The hard and persistent sales pitches really detracted from a the tour.
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Posted On : 2023-12-09 14:14:02

Posted By : Albert_d
We spent the day with Julio (tour guide) and Andres (driver), and they took great care of us. Everybody had a great time, and I would definitely recommend this tour (even with its flaws), because it’s a safe, reliable and easy way to see these sites. However, the tour isn’t exactly as advertised, since yes, we left a little after 7 a.m., but we didn’t get to Chichen Itza until about 12:30 p.m. Before we got there, we had to “check in” for the tour at the back of a gift shop in a mall, and then hang out outside of that gift shop for about 20-30 minutes until they called our tour’s name. Our first stop? Another souvenir shop about 20 minutes outside of Chichen Itza. They disguised this particular selling stop as our “lunch,” but really, you’ve got to endure an entire presentation of alleged Mayan rituals (really, it was a way to sell you stones and other stuff you don’t really need), and about another 20 minutes of hanging out in the souvenir shop with your tour guide’s name on your shirt (clearly, these folks make a commission from all these sales), before they’ll even call your lunch group into the dining area. No complaints about the buffet-style food, though, as it was all delicious. After this stop, we finally headed toward the star of the tour — the ancient Mayan city of Chichen Itza — and how do the locals respect these sacred temples? By turning its outer rim into an area where you can purchase everything from luchador masks to animal-noise-making blow toys to probably anything and everything else. All the selling of things was a little overblown the entire tour, but we did eventually get to all the advertised sites, and they were all amazingly beautiful locales. We had two hours in Chichen Itza (one hour guided, one hour not guided), then one hour at the perfectly-temperatured and absolutely picturesque Cenote Saamal (Selva Maya) in Merida (you will need to purchase a life jacket and possibly a locker if you plan on swimming in the Cenote), and lastly, 30 minutes in the main park at Valladolid (just enough time to catch a portion of the show going on around the fountain and to grab yourself some Mexican street food — in our case, elote). By the time we got home, it was about 9 or 10 at night, but we did get dropped off back at our hotel, which was ideal because we were exhausted by then. LOL! All in all, I’d say the sites were astonishingly beautiful, the tour itself was interesting at times but focused waaay too much on math, the food was good, the driving was safe, but the sales hustle was definitely real and overdone. And for what it’s worth, our tour guide Julio seemed nice. Do with this info what you will, but I just wanted everybody to know what they were signing up for — you’ll be away for an entire day on a tour that could’ve really been done in three and a half hours plus driving and eating time, so bring your pesos, but don’t bring your drones, tripods, selfie sticks or children’s toys since none of those will be allowed in the ancient ruins. Have fun!
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Posted On : 2023-11-29 06:02:40

Posted By : Jason_C
We have taken half a dozen tours with viator, and this, by far was the worst one. Started with being herded like cattle into a shopping area for bracelets. Waited 30 min to get herded again into different buses. 20 min unto our drive, we randomly stopped on the side of the road for 45 min, with no explanation, except, we are waiting. A dozen people got on there. Then we were taken to a buffet lunch, which was completely bland. They randomly took our photo,again, no explanation. We finally got to chichen itza, and that was the best part of this tour. Unfortunately, the beauty and awe inspired ruins were ruled by the countless illegal vendors. We were then taken to a cenote where you had to rent life jackets and lockers. It took 30 min to get down the line to swim, and you were in there for no more that 5 to 10 min. Finally, Valladolid. Wich was a 30 min useless stop. 6 PM, dark, police presence everywhere. On the bus, the AC only worked on the front half of the bus. We were gone from 7 AM, to 9PM. The only worthwhile part was the 2 hours in chichen itza. The bis ride back was so bad, a few people went and were throwing up in the bus bathroom, including my daughter.

I think there should be an option on Viator for ONLY chichen itza. The other two stops were completely and utterly useless and a waste of time.
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Posted On : 2023-11-23 12:54:11