We lived in the Cancun downtown area. A 20-minute walk lead us to the nearest pickup point where bus arrived at around 6:30 am. While entering the bus, we were served 'boxed lunch' picture attached. It consisted of a juice box, a small chocolate wafer, and a tiny packet of Cheetos Puffs. Mary from Amigo Tours our guide for the tour till Tulum very helpfully explained that this boxed lunch is just a snack and that they refrained from providing proper lunch to save us from an upset stomach. She said this while rubbing her belly and with an expression of immense pain. It made me wonder what were they planning on serving for lunch! Anyway, with the snack in our hands and sleep in our eyes, we started our journey to Tulum. No introduction to the tour or any information on our schedule for the day was provided. We ended up sleeping for about an hour. Mary woke us up with some 20 sentences in Spanish followed by a single sentence in English. I begin to think that English is a very efficient language. This happened throughout the tour. Her English was so bad that it was extremely difficult to get any information from her. Sometimes she wouldn't even attempt to translate. We reached Tulum. She shouted some instructions on where to assemble after two hours. The guided tour was better. Mary had old photographs and documents of the ruins. I liked that she kept it interesting. She wouldn't understand the follow-up questions in English but in general, the guided tour part was ok. Tulum ruins are picturesque. The beach is a little muddy though.
After the ruins, we were transported to a collectivo van. The driver didnt speak English, and we had no guide. Among the three passengers, one was bilingual. He acted as the translator. The cenote was great. Lockers, life vests, snorkeling equipment, etc. were available for rent.
Our final stop for the day was at Playa del Carmen. Unfortunately it started raining when we reached. We had our lunch there and spent some time at the beach. From there we were transported to Cancun.
Pros:
You dont have to think about the transportation
Okayish guided tour of the ruins
Cons:
Boxed lunch was terrible
The tour guide wasnt great
Cenote and Playa del Carmen part could have been worse without the co-passenger who spoke English
Tips:
Pack some food
Poke the tour guide to repeat the instructions in English and make sure you are on the same page
Spend more time at the cenote than at Playa del Carmen
Check if the van driver speaks some English
