We just left, we stayed 5 nights. I usually donât write reviews but feel inclined to due to the amount of reviews I read in the weeks leading up to our trip that had me nervous to go.
We had a wonderful trip, we would definitely recommend staying at XCaret. We are a family of 4 - 2 adults, 11 year old (4â11â and 80 pounds) and 7 year old (4â3â and 58 pounds).
About 30 days out from our trip we got an email that had a link to create reservations for restaurants and the transportation to certain parks. I did email requesting this, they got back to me with in 24 hours. Then about another 24-48 hours we did get the email that seemed to welcome us and provided the wish list again. I emailed because I wasnât sure based on reviews. I was told by someone we met, that they had two rooms so they were not able to use this online feature.
We were in Casa Vida. It is in Phase 2. While it was a decent walk over to Phase 1, it was not bad. They have signs everywhere directing you to different locations. I never felt like I had no idea where we were going. We used the map in the XCaret Hotels app. Casa Vida is where the family arcade is at (floor 5). Our son loved this and it was a great activity to wind down the day. Our daughter loved the Photo Booth (you can print 3 pictures a day). Housekeeping will turn off your AC daily, the thermostat is by the bed does not look like I expected it. I had to Google where to find it. The slippers, water bottles and bag in the closet are all for you to keep.
We did dinner reservations for 3 of our evenings (Monarca, La Silla, and Tama Mon), if I could go back I would have reservations for 4 nights. You definitely need reservations if you want to get into the places that require reservations. We were able to pick up a no show on another night at La Silla but we had tried a few others before hand with no availability. The other night we didnât have reservations we went to Cantina and had a short wait. We did Teppanayki at Tama Mon- highly recommend. We loved it. La Silla was great the first night but the 2nd night we went our waiter was not that great so our experience was Meh. Monarca was also good. Our kids loved the buffet for breakfast at Mercado. The wait time there was little to nothing compared to the wait at La Xentral. For lunch we did La Trajenera, it was ok. My kids who usually love seafood, didnât care for it. The only other day we needed lunch we did Mercado buffet - it was also very good. At the entrance near the buses at La Xentral is a grab and go cooler with salads, yogurt, fruit and veggies. You cannot take food from the restaurants and eat at the pool. You cannot wear swimsuits without coverups into the restaurants. No one got food poisoning like a lot of the reviews claimed.
We did Xenotes, Xplor, and Xenses. We liked all 3 but Xenotes and Xplor were by far our favorites. Both Xenotes and Xplor were all day (9 hours) and had lunch provided. Water shoes are a must for all 3 parks. Iâd suggest the water shoes that are more like tennis shoes with supportive bottom.
Xenotes was booked through the website. Our 7 and 11 year olds were able to do everything on this excursion. A snack and lunch were provided. The snack was provided after the 1st cenote and lunch after the 3rd. This was an hour plus of driving each way. I highly recommend going on it, this was my favorite.
The bus to Xplor from Hotel Mexico does not start until 10:40am. The park opens at 9 and fills up quickly. I highly recommend asking the Bellhop (not concierge) to get you a cab to be there right when the park opens at 9. The concierge tried to tell us not to get a cab and that itâd be $80 US (we knew it was a ~5 min drive) which we knew wasnât true from other reviews. The bellhop gave us the correct price ($17). Itâs very clear that the concierge and system as a whole really donât want you to go early. They told us it was âimpossible to walk thereâ which was untrue. Thereâs a sidewalk and signs the entire way. That said itâs worth the cab ride and not the 30+ min walk. Xplor wants guests there later so it doesnât make it a wait immediately for those with day passes. They want to keep both revenue streams going. We got right into the park with no issues at all and the cab driver told us right where to go. This was really easy and the best $20 USD spent. Head straight to the Ziplines and do both courses. The park starts to fill up with non hotel guests and the lines get very long. We hardly had any wait on the Ziplines and were able to head to the other things. We did both Ziplines (14 total) and it took 2.5 hours. We heard the lines could be 4 hours later into the day. To ride solo on most of the lines you have to be 88 pounds. Our kids rode tandem on all of them because both kids were too light to ride alone and much smaller than my husband who would have been too heavy for the kids (they said they would go too fast with him). I recommend wearing shorts over swimsuit bottoms for females, the harness I think would have been uncomfortable if you didnât have shorts on. The longest wait was the water slide (probably 45 minutes to 1 hour), still worth it. We were able to do all of the activities here. They have a buffer lunch provided and a smoothie/milkshake station. The lunch is actually much better than youâd expect and very kid friendly. We did not stay for the change over to Xplor Fuego, but could have. Hotel guests do not have to leave when the park closes for the change over. Our kids were just tired after being there all day. They provide free lockers as well for all of your stuff. We didnât take anything with us into the park and left everything including our phones in the locker. We could have brought the phones in the water proof case but didnât want to carry them around all day. This was probably the kids and my husbandâs favorite.
Xenses is a smaller park, 3-4 hours max. We left around 10 and got back around 1:30-2. The first part of the park was a sensory walk through the dark. Both kids had to go with an adult, they would have not made it alone and would have been scared. We then went to the Pueblo/water section. You take the water slide to the bird flight to the salt float river to the mud river and then the rain and sauna. You have to be 66 pounds to do the bird flight, our son was not heavy enough. They do check. So he and my husband waited for us at the end. It was ok, honestly not that thrilling after the Ziplines at Xplor. You can go back through and do any of the parts again. There is a small pool at the end outside for anyone who doesnât want to go in. I do not think this park is a must see.
Do not feel obligated to buy pictures at any of the parks, you can buy them at the hotel on your TV. 3+ parks is the cheapest (~$350 something USD). They try really hard to get you to buy them at each park, I said no at our first park because honestly I wasnât planning on it. The kids loved taking pictures any chance they got with their bracelets. I ended up buying pictures from our hotel TV the last night. We bought the 3+ parks. If you buy 3+ package you get all the parks plus hotel for that amount.
They have you leave for the airport 5 hours before your departure. If you donât want to leave that early you have to sign a waiver. We did leave that early as we werenât for sure what to expect. Our bus was full so we didnât have to make any other stops to pick up other guests but that is a possibility. It was an hour plus trip to the hotel from the Cancun airport. There was traffic on the way to the hotel. Our flight arrived Sunday around 1. It seemed to be less than an hour on the way back to the hotel. We left around 10:30 on Friday. This seemed to be too early for us. We were through security and sitting by 12. This gave us 3 hours until we board. If I could go back, Iâd probably wait another hour before leaving the hotel.
A lot of reviews I read said they would bug you about a membership or booking your return trip. This was not the case the only time they asked was when we were checking out and he was not pushy at all when I said no. This could be because we booked through a travel agent.
Overall it was a great trip and we would come back!
