Tulum CenotesSac Actun and Xunaan Ha, Privately
This Sac Actun tour is the one listing here that reaches inside the longest surveyed underground river system on earth - a cave you cannot enter alone at any price, because its sections are sold with a guide only. The private day pairs it with the open sinkhole at Cenote Xunaan Ha and a Maya lunch, with entrance tickets, gear and the meal in the price and a start time you choose. Compare it against every Tulum cenotes tour.
About This Cenote Tour
5 hours
$207 per person, checked September 2026
4.9 from 21 reviews
Private group, your party only
Cenote Xunaan Ha and the Sac Actun system
Drinks at the restaurant are paid by the customer
Listing at a Glance
The same fields on every tour page here, read from the operator's live listing in September 2026. Prices and availability are set by the operator and confirmed at checkout.
- Tour name Private Tour of Two Cenotes and Sac Actun
- Operator Local Travel Mexico
- Booking platform GetYourGuide
- Product ID 849903
- Starting price $207
- Price note Entrance tickets, gear and lunch are all inside the price
- Price last checked September 2026
- Rating 4.9
- Review count 21
- Review source GetYourGuide verified bookings
- Listed duration 5 hours
- Cenotes visited Cenote Xunaan Ha and the Sac Actun system
- Type of cenote Open sinkhole and a cave system on the world's longest surveyed underground river
- Time in the water An hour at Xunaan Ha, 90 minutes at Sac Actun
- Entry fees included Yes - entrance tickets, gear rental and lunch are stated as included
- Paid on the day Drinks at the restaurant are paid by the customer
- Transport Private car, pickup from Tulum, Playa del Carmen, Puerto Aventuras or Puerto Morelos
- Hotel pickup Yes
- Pickup areas Tulum, Playa del Carmen, Puerto Aventuras, Puerto Morelos
- Pickup window You choose the pickup time; Tulum, Playa del Carmen, Puerto Aventuras or Puerto Morelos
- Expected return About five hours after the time you set
- Group size Private group, your party only
- Guide Yes - a certified guide leads the Sac Actun section, which is guided access only
- Guide languages English, Spanish, French
- Gear Gear rental included
- Life jacket None stated
- Lunch Yes
- Drinks Drinks and snacks on board; restaurant drinks are extra
- Cancellation 24 hours before the activity
- Reserve now, pay later Yes
- Minimum age None stated
- Difficulty Easy to moderate - walking on wet limestone and swimming with a guide inside the cave
- Accessibility None stated
- Not suitable for Travellers uneasy in enclosed spaces
- Weather You choose your own start time, which is the point of the private format
Check Dates and Availability
Live availability and current pricing for this listing, straight from the booking platform.
Quick answer The cave system you cannot pay a gate to swim alone - private car, your own start time
Two stops on a private day: an open sinkhole, Cenote Xunaan Ha, first for contrast, then a guided section of Sac Actun — the longest surveyed underground river system on earth, and not a cenote you can buy a ticket for and wander into. Entrance tickets, gear rental and a Mexican and Maya lunch are stated as included; you set the pickup time and the car collects from Tulum, Playa del Carmen, Puerto Aventuras or Puerto Morelos.
Key takeaways
- Sac Actun's cave sections are guided access only - no gate ticket covers them
- Private car and a start time you choose, five hours in total
- Entrance tickets, gear rental and lunch included; only restaurant drinks are extra
- An hour at open-sky Xunaan Ha first, then 90 minutes in the cave system
- Prefer the famous open cenotes at half the price? Compare the Triple Adventure
Cave Cenotes on Video
Sac Actun's neighbours appear here, which gives a fair sense of what a guided cave swim looks like from the water.
Why Sac Actun Is Sold Differently
Guided access only, and why
The cave sections of Sac Actun are not sold as free-swim entry by anybody. The same applies inside Parque Dos Ojos, where the park's own booking catalogue offers Misterio Maya and Cenote Monos as guided tours at MX$1,200 and states plainly that they are not available as free-swim cenotes. In an overhead environment, with no daylight in places and a line to follow, the guide is the safety system rather than the commentary.
So when this listing costs more than a park ticket, it is not selling you convenience. It is selling the only lawful way in.
What the system actually is
Sac Actun runs for hundreds of kilometres of surveyed passage beneath the jungle between Tulum and Playa del Carmen, connected to the Dos Ojos system, and it is the reason the peninsula has almost no surface rivers - the water is all underneath. You swim a small, lit, guided part of it: stalactites overhead, still water, and a quiet that catches most people off guard.
Ninety minutes there, which sounds short and is not.
Xunaan Ha first
The day opens at Cenote Xunaan Ha, an open sinkhole thick with vegetation, for an hour of swimming, snorkelling and photographs. Putting it first is deliberate: sunlight, then cave. Doing it the other way round makes the second stop an anticlimax.
Gear rental is included for both, and the guide carries what the cave section needs.
The private format, and what it costs you
At $207 this is the most expensive listing compared on this site, and what the money buys is control: your own vehicle, your own start time, four pickup points along the coast, and no waiting for eleven other people to finish lunch. The operator's own line is that you are on holiday and the schedule adapts to you.
Lunch is a Mexican and Maya meal with options, drinks on board are included, and only what you order at the restaurant is added. Guides work in English, Spanish and French.
Who it is wrong for
Anyone uneasy in enclosed spaces should book an open-cenote day instead - the Casa Tortuga pass, Gran Cenote or the Triple Adventure - because the cave is the entire point of this one. Divers should note that this is a swim-and-snorkel trip, not a dive: cavern diving at Dos Ojos is a separate listing.
Tour Itinerary, Hour by Hour
From the operator's published itinerary, though the times move: you choose your own start on a private booking.
-
Your hour
Pickup by car
Collection from Tulum, Playa del Carmen, Puerto Aventuras or Puerto Morelos, at a time you set.
-
+30 min
Cenote Xunaan Ha, an hour
An open sinkhole thick with vegetation - swimming, snorkelling and photographs in daylight first.
-
+1 h 50
Sac Actun, 90 minutes
Twenty minutes on, then the guided swim inside the cave system, gear included.
-
+3 h 30
Lunch
Mexican and Maya cooking at a restaurant on the way back; drinks you order there are the only thing not in the price.
-
+5 h
Drop-off
Back where you started, about five hours after the time you chose.
Where It Is
The system runs beneath the jungle between Tulum and Playa del Carmen and connects to Dos Ojos; you swim a guided section of it.
Sac Actun Private Tour: Questions Before You Book
Can you visit Sac Actun without a guide?
No. The cave sections are sold with a guide only, and no gate ticket covers unaccompanied swimming there - the same rule the Dos Ojos park applies to its Misterio Maya and Monos caverns, which it sells as guided tours rather than free-swim entry.
What is included in the price?
The listing states everything: entrance tickets, lunch, drinks on board and gear rental. Drinks ordered at the restaurant are paid by the customer.
Where does it pick up from?
Tulum, Playa del Carmen, Puerto Aventuras or Puerto Morelos, at a time you choose - it is a private tour and the schedule is built round you.
How long is the swim inside the cave?
About 90 minutes at Sac Actun, following an hour at the open Cenote Xunaan Ha, with the whole day running roughly five hours including lunch.
What is Sac Actun known for?
Sac Actun is known for being the longest surveyed underground river system on earth - hundreds of kilometres of flooded passage under the jungle between Tulum and Playa del Carmen, connected to the neighbouring Dos Ojos system. It is also known for what it is not: a cenote you can pay at a gate and swim alone. Its cave sections are sold with a guide only, which is why this private day exists and why it costs more than an open-cenote ticket.
What Travellers Said
It was definitely worth the money, had a private guide for the experience. Got to the locations nice and early and beat the crowds. Our guide was amazing, super friendly and knowledgeable.
Verified reviews for this listing, quoted in excerpt with their original dates.
Page last reviewed September 2026. Price, rating and review count read from the listing on September 2026. Prices, availability and terms are set by the operator and confirmed at checkout.
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