Learn about modern Mayan culture and traditions, cycle between rural villages on quiet roads and forest trails and hike the junle reserve of Punta Laguna looking for wild monkeys. Visit the home of a Mayan family and their organic vegetable garden and sample delicious home made local delicacies, such as tortillas and salsas. Then spend the afternoon hiking in a wonderful jungle nature reserve, home to wild monkeys & tropical birds, canoeing on a pristine lake and enjoy a thrilling zip-line over the water.
Posted By : Kristy O
Iber was an amazing guide and very knowledgeable. We really enjoyed the visit to the Mayan home and the lunch they provided on our bike tour!
Rating :
Posted On : 2022-05-23 20:45:30 
Posted By : Nomad781391
Iber our tour guide catered everything around our 8 & 9 year olds. Hunting for monkeys, zip lining, canoeing, 7 km bike ride, swimming in a cenote and a delicious lunch with the Mayans. Iber always made sure kids were safe and having a good time.
Rating :
Posted On : 2021-12-28 16:51:15
Posted By : amanda2007
You will not be disappointed. This tour was so much fun and we did so much! Iber was our guide and he was so informative and patient. We got picked up from our hotel, then headed over to our starting point. We did a 2-3mile bike ride through jungle back roads. We arrived to a cenote cared for by a small family. Iber had water, fruit, and cookies for us. Was such a welcomed snack. We were the only ones at the cenote, which we appreciated for tranquility sake. Then, we headed over to visit a Mayan family and got to see how they raise their crops. They were so kind to open their home to us. We had a delicious Mayan lunch! After lunch, we went to Punta Laguna for a walk and monkey observation. We got blessed by Mayan shaman, did a small zip line, and canoed back to our starting point. Was a full day of activities. We HIGHLY recommend this tour and IBER was amazing! So enthusiastic about the wild life and nature this place has to offer.
Rating :
Posted On : 2021-01-05 22:19:11
Posted By : Jennymmk
Alex our tour guide was great. It was a total surprise to see that we had a private tour with him. It was a very educational experience with lots of information about local plants, cenotes formation, local customs you name it! We were blessed and offered a prayer by the local shaman as we entered one area. If you are looking for a local educational experience with a swim in a private cenote a traditional tasty dinner made by a local Maya family that was very welcoming. It was a blast seeing all the kids come out to wave at us from the local family's as we biked by thier pueblo home's. Alex our tour guide made the experience thanks for everything!
Rating :
Posted On : 2020-12-28 13:59:43
Posted By : 574RichardD
This is a review of two bikes tours we took. The first was the Mayan tour lead by Frank and the second the cenote tour lead by Iber.
The Mayan tour starts with hotel pick up and a drive North. Once out of the pick up, we first cycled to a small Mayan community cenote. We elected not to swim there, in part not to remove our mosquito repellant. But it was a very quiet cenote, we were the only visitors, and we saw some turtles. From there we went to lunch at a Mayan plantation. I was a little worried that this might be like a Disney recreation of rural Mayan life, but came away convinced that it was the real thing. Foods were from their garden and milled/prepared on site. Our Mayan hosts were very gracious and also gave us a tour of their garden. Then we went to the spider monkey preserve where we had the good fortune of seeing and hearing a howler monkey. We took a short canoe ride to a zip line and then back to the truck for the ride to Tulum. The only negatives were that my wife's bicycle rear derailleur had some shifting issues and separately from this she had a spill that caused some forearm pain. Because of this we were offered the option of doing the cenotes in a car.
We took the car option, first went to the Grand Cenote. The key is to arrive early before the crowds. We were provided with mask and a light, both of which were useful to visualize the cenote life, stalagmites and stalagtites. We also visited two other less developed cenotes, including the Crystal cenote. These were more like ponds. Following the first cenote, we had a stop for some tacos, either chicken or veggie, with lemonade.
Both of our guides were excellent and knowledgeable. I would recommend the Mayan tour over the cenote tour because it is more unique and would be hard to replicate by yourself, but either one is very enjoyable.
Rating :
Posted On : 2020-11-12 17:24:10
Posted By : bridgettem372
This was by far the coolest part of my trip. We met in the downtown of Tulum where there was so much culture and so many sites to see! Frank, my host had everything readily available... car, water, bikes, mosquito repellent, snacks, etc. He was friendly, patient and kind.
We drove to the location and began cycling! We went through beautiful trails, saw tons of beautiful butterflies, spider monkeys, and various other animals. Most importantly, we saw the Mayan people and how they live! So much culture. We ate with a local family and helped prepared tortillas from scratch! The food was AMAZING! Got to relax on hammocks, hopped in a beautiful cenote that very few people in Tulum knew about because the area was remote (awesome!), and even hiked through the jungle to go zip lining. I WOULD DEFINITELY RECOMMEND THIS TOUR IF YOU ENJOYING GETTING DOWN AND DIRTY ON YOUR BIKE!! It’s worth it!
Rating :
Posted On : 2020-08-14 20:41:29
Posted By : samosass
Great experience ... Just loved our visit at the Mayan village, it was so interesting and such a lovely place. Iber did a great job translating all the information we were given about their life and the bees. We got to see the monkeys and the Cenote we had all to ourselves!
Rating :
Posted On : 2020-02-27 19:42:30
Posted By : GregNormanP
My wife and I booked the Mayan Backroads Tour for a day during our honeymoon in Tulum and absolutely loved it! We were fortunate enough to have been the only two booked for that particular trip for that day, so we basically got a private tour. We were picked up right on time at our hotel by a super nice guy (who's name I'm not sure how to spell unfortunately) and driven out to the monkey sanctuary (about an hour) where we met our bike tour guide Octavio. What a fantastic guide he was! Such a positive person who genuinely enjoyed what he was doing. He was extremely knowledgeable about the land and environment and very passionate about the Mayan people and culture. His passion really showed and was contagious as my wife and I sucked in all the information he was giving us. We visited a beautiful secluded cenote, had lunch with small Mayan community (such kind and generous people) and ended back at the money sanctuary for some wildlife viewing, canoeing, and a zip line. As a cyclist, I also enjoyed my time on the bike (would have enjoyed more time there as well) and my wife also enjoyed the biking, even though she doesn't fancy herself a cyclist. Fun for all! I can't recommend the tour enough - really such an intimate experience, and something we would not have gotten out of our trip had we not booked. We hope to be back in the future! A+!
Rating :
Posted On : 2019-04-23 12:00:11
Posted By : KL1739
Everything about this tour was fantastic. Our guide (Pluma) and driver (Iber) were early picking us up from our hotel (beach side Tulum) but waited patiently while we finished up. Then, during the drive to our first activity, Pluma explained everything about the day, introduced himself and Iber, talked about the history and culture of the area in a way that was funny, relevant, informed, sensitive to the culture and environment and totally entertaining. The bike ride (with helmets and water bottles) was along quiet, paved roads with a few gentle hills and the van followed behind us for safety the whole time. When we got to the denote, we were the only visitors. What an amazing experience - it was so quiet and peaceful, with deep clear water and lots of fish, turtles, birds, bats, etc. We then biked over to a Mayan family's house for lunch. The host family was gracious and welcoming and the food was delicious and filling. Then, on to another bike ride to Punta Laguna, where we had a short canoe trip across to the lagoon for ziplining. After canoeing back across the lagoon, we were incredibly lucky to spot a family of spider monkeys in the trees and watch a baby being groomed by its mother. Lots of fresh snacks, and fruit and cold lemonade were offered by Pluma and Iber all day. We were returned by air-conditioned van to our hotel on time at the end of a wonderful day. Truly the highlight of our trip! Hatch June Boutique (forgive the bad Mayan spelling) for a great day!
Rating :
Posted On : 2019-02-20 19:00:06
Posted By : Ted G
The "Mayan Backroads Bike Tour" was excellent on all levels. Registration at the TBT office in the center of town was easy. The van, which included our bikes, arrived at our hotel at 8:00 as promised and we were warmly welcomed by Ursula, our tour guide. She was well informed on the Yucatan natural world and Mayan culture, answering all our questions, and many we didn't ask, throughout the day. After a drive to the interior, we biked for perhaps an hour to our first destination, a cenote (one of the many water-filled sinkholes that dot the limestone landscape of the Yucatan) for rest, a snack, discussion of local flora and fauna, and an enjoyable swim. [Our party consisted of two couples, one in their 30s and my wife and I in our 70s; we in our 70s were happy to ride some of the way in the van.] The next stop was a Mayan village, including discussions with native Mayans on a range of topics including agriculture, housing, beekeeping, cooking, family life, and traditional medicine. This was followed by an opportunity to make our own tortillas and enjoy a traditional Mayan meal. After lunch we went by van to the Punta Laguna Nature Reserve, where we: experienced a traditional purification ceremony; walked among the trees that were filled with spider monkeys; canoed across the lake; took a zip line run across the tree tops and over the lake; and paddled some more on the lake. We returned to Tulum at about 5:00. It was a full and memorable day. Ursula, our driver, the residents of the village and others who helped along the way all were outstanding. Highly recommended.
Rating :
Posted On : 2019-01-25 14:06:33
