Wanting to go on a cruise shore excursion to the Tulum Mayan Ruins but aren’t sure what it’ll be like? Read this post for a complete step by step breakdown of how the day will go and tips and tricks!
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Tulum is located in Mexico about 130 km south of Cancun. It was a seaport that mostly traded jade and turquoise. This ruin site is one of the most visited.
If you’re looking for some amazing history and culture to experience with your own eyes, this is the shore excursion for you.
This post will go over the exact process of getting to the ruins, what the ruins site is like, food & drinks, shopping, tips and overall thoughts.
Read everything you need to know about going to the Mayan Ruins in Tulum.
This post is all about the Tulum Mayan ruins cruise shore excursion.
GETTING THERE
Getting to the Tulum Mayan ruins takes a couple of hours each way so you will have to be patient and okay with a little travel time.
Once you get off the ship you will make your way to a ferry that is going to take you from Cozumel to Playa Del Carmen. This ferry ride takes 45 minutes.
If you have been indulging in the drink package or get motion sick easily I would recommend bringing a couple of products so you don’t feel sick on this ride. The water can be choppy and it moves pretty fast.
After you arrive in Playa Del Carmen and get off of the ferry you will make your way to the bus that is going to take you to Tulum.
This can vary based on who you book with but my experience we lined up with our group with the guide at the front. He walked us about a mile or two through the city to get to the bus station. They gave us a chance to use the bathroom and also handed out a small lunch (that wasn’t very good) at this point.
The bus ride is about an hour to Tulum but can be longer if there are traffic issues. Our guide talked some about the ruins and gave us a few tips during this time. It’s also a good time to take a nap to or from in the air conditioning before you are in the heat.
Once we arrived at the Tulum Mayan ruins we made our way into one of the stores at the front for our guide to get everything together that we needed for this excursion. They gave us a headset if we wanted to listen to our guide talk about the ruins and also a sticker showing who’s group we were in.
After that is was a mile or two walk to get to the ruins from there. Overall, it is a lot of walking on this excursion so be prepared!
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RUINS
The Mayan ruins at this excursion were simply stunning!
I didn’t know what to expect when arriving to the site but it was MUCH larger than I expected it to be.
The ruins are on a huge field of land, spread out all over, giving you the option to see tons of different structures.
A lot of excursions will give you the option to stay with your guide or venture out on your own. We decided to explore the ruins by ourselves on our own pace but I also think staying with the guide would be a great experience.
They gave us headsets to be able to hear the guide talk about the history and culture. If you follow them around the site you will learn lots about the Tulum Mayan ruins. I will say staying with the guide will probably take longer than viewing them on your own but it is totally up to you how you want to spend your day!
Another great selling point of this tour is the fact that the ruins back up to the ocean. It is absolutely beautiful to see! We were unable to walk down to the ocean as the ruins are on a cliff, however it is still a gorgeous sight.
I will say most of the year it will be extremely hot at the ruins site so I would recommend a few products to make that day easier/better for you. I personally sweat like crazy and needed to hydrate as much as possible.
MUST HAVE PRODUCTS:
I cannot recommend enough taking some type of hydration product with you to the ruins. My personal favorite for years has always been Advocare’s Rehydrate but other popular options are Liquid IV and Gatorade Sticks.
You can always buy a few waters or other drinks on your way to the site or there but I would recommend bringing one on your own just in case you don’t have time. It’s really important to drink water while out in the sun on an excursion so many hours.
Sunscreen is really important to remember while on a shore excursion like this so you don’t ruin the rest of your vacation by being too sunburned. You might not be used to being closer to the equator which can result in higher UV rays.
Speaking of protecting yourself from the sun. I would recommend bring a hat to this excursion!
I love this visor because it is adjustable in the back. Fitting any hairstyle and won’t fly off your head from being too big.
EXTRA TIME
Extra time after you tour the ruins is going to vary based on how long the shore excursion is and how quickly you go through the ruins so this will vary for everyone.
If you have extra time though I have a few recommendations of what to do.
Shopping
The Tulum Mayan ruins have the most amount of shops I have seen at a ruins tour! There are tons of places for you to walk through and lots of street vendors to barter with!
You can get items such as ruin souvenirs, clothes, alcohol, candies/chocolates, Mexican vanilla, jewelry and so much more!
Depending on how much time you have after you view the ruins you might be able to look through all of the options before picking the perfect item you want to bring home with you!
Food & Drinks
After all of that travel time and walking around the huge field of ruins you are bound to be starving! There are lots of options for food and drink back at the beginning of the site intertwined with the shops.
You can stop at locally owned restaurants but they also have a couple conventional options like Subway or Starbucks.
I personally would recommend what our guide recommended to us and that is to dine back at the very front of the site near the parking lot called Mr. Frosty’s.
Our guide informed us there are lots of places not as good or some that will even charge you just to sit at the table to eat. Making your bill high and not worth it overall.
Prices will change but at the time when we went we got 4 tacos and a drink of our choice (including alcohol) for $12!
I live in San Antonio, TX so I definitely have been exposed to good tacos and these were GOOD tacos!
This ruins location also had tons of bars where you can relax and get a drink if you are interested in spending your extra time that way. As well as several alcohol tasting options at different stores.
OVERALL THOUGHTS & TIPS
Tips
#1- I would highly suggest booking this excursion with the cruise line. There is so much travel time and different forms of transportation, you never know what could happen that could delay your trip. Problems with the ferry, a car accident stopping your bus from getting back on time.
Whatever the case may be it is worth spending a little extra money booking with the cruise line to ensure that you don’t get left by the ship if you end up coming back from the excursion late.
#2- I would look at the list of products that I posted above and highly consider bringing at least the hydration products so you don’t overheat in the sun!
#3- We were given a small “lunch” that consisted of a sandwich that was pretty gross and a water bottle that was a great addition. If you are someone who needs to eat every couple hours I would bring a couple snacks with you in a small bag.
#4- Your time at this shore excursion is going to vary. Some companies will maximize the time there and others might try to keep it short. Be sure to do some research and ask others how long they spent at the ruins to see if you’ll have tons of time or if you’ll be rushed.
It can also be affected by travel time if something gets in your way so be flexible in case something gets in the way of you arriving on time.
#5- Wear some good walking shoes as you will be walking from the ferry to the bus quite a distance, about a mile or two to the ruins from the parking lot and then lots of walking around the ruins site.
Thoughts
Overall I think this is a fantasic excursion! It’s beautiful and you get to learn about different history and cultures.
The Tulum Mayan ruins are definitely a must see at least once in your life. Be sure to take some pictures of you can document the experience!
Prices will vary but I paid $112 for this excursion and considering all of the transportation that is taken care of for you, the knowledgable guide and what you get to see I think it is more than worth the cost.
Even if you are someone that doesn’t normally like history I still think you would enjoy this type of excursion.
This post was all about the Tulum Mayan ruins cruise shore excursion.
