20 Best Things to Do at Hotel Xcaret (Tested After 4 Trips)

I've now stayed at Hotel Xcaret four times — twice at México, twice at Arte — across two Christmases, one shoulder-season May, and one rainy October. By trip three I had a working list of things I'd do again, things I regretted booking, and a few sleepers that nobody on the property tells you about.

This is that list, ranked. Not by what's most popular or what the concierge sells hardest — by what I'd actually book again with my own money tomorrow.

Quick note on how I ranked these: I weighted three things equally — how unique it is (can you do this anywhere else in Mexico?), how often I'd repeat it (one-and-done or every trip?), and how much value the All-Fun-Inclusive bracelet adds (some of these are essentially "free" with the package, some are big extra add-ons). Items higher on the list scored well on at least two of the three.

The top tier — non-negotiable, do these first

1. Underground Rivers (Río Maya)

If you do one thing at Xcaret park, do this. The underground river system is three separate routes — Río Maya, Río Manatí, and Río Azul — that wind through partially-collapsed cenote chambers for about 45–60 minutes per route. You wear a life vest, you float, and the limestone ceilings change from open jungle canopy to pitch-black caves where bats live in the rafters.

Río Maya is the longest and the one I'd pick if you only do one. Go early — like, walk in at park opening and head straight there. The water is glass-still in the first 30 minutes and the cenote sinkholes have that vertical shaft of sunlight that you've seen on Instagram. By 11 AM it's a queue and the magic is gone. Full route breakdown is in the underground rivers guide.

Wear a dark swimsuit (the limestone tints light fabric), leave your phone in the locker unless you brought a real waterproof case, and accept that you'll get cold around minute 40. There's free hot tea at the exit.

2. Snorkeling at Caleta cove

The protected snorkel cove on the south side of the park is a sheltered inlet with a sandy bottom on one side and a rocky reef wall on the other. It's calm enough that nervous swimmers can do it, but the visibility on a good day is 40+ feet and you'll see parrotfish, sergeant majors, the occasional ray, and a handful of barracuda hanging in the deeper section.

Free gear is included — they sterilize and re-issue masks and snorkels at the rental hut by the cove. The fins they give you are flat-out terrible; if you snorkel a lot, bring your own. Full review of the cove and what to expect is in the snorkeling beach review.

Best time: 10–11 AM, after the sun has warmed the water but before midday glare kills the visibility. Wear a rashguard — the sun in that cove is brutal and there's no shade once you're in.

3. Xcaret México Espectacular evening show

This is the production that makes the whole park make sense. It's a 90-minute, 300-performer cultural revue inside the Gran Tlachco amphitheater that walks through Mexican history from pre-Columbian Maya through the Conquest to modern regional dance traditions. There are flaming pelota courts, ten white horses, mariachi, a full orchestra, and a closing tableau with the entire cast on stage.

Most park-day tickets include this — you just stay after sunset. Get there 45 minutes early to claim seats in the front-left section, rows 8–12. That's the sweet spot for both the stage view and photographing the dancers without shooting up their noses. The Espectacular show guide has my full seat strategy.

Eat before or after, not during — the in-amphitheater buffet is rushed and the show is more enjoyable on an empty stomach since you're sitting still for 90 minutes after.

4. Cocina de Mexicana dinner

Hotel Xcaret has a lot of restaurants and most are fine. Cocina de Mexicana is the one that's genuinely great. It's in a high-ceilinged room at Hotel Xcaret México and the menu is upscale-casual Mexican — chile en nogada in season, tlayudas, a tasting of moles, properly aged carne asada. The All-Fun-Inclusive bracelet covers it.

Book it for your second night, not your first. Your first night you'll be exhausted from travel and you want a buffet. Cocina deserves a clear head. My honest review is in the Cocina de Mexicana review.

Order the tasting of moles if it's available. It's three small dishes, three different regional moles (Oaxacan negro, Pueblan, a green mole from Veracruz), and it teaches you more about Mexican cooking in 20 minutes than any other meal on the property.

5. Ferry day trip to Cozumel

Cozumel is a 45-minute ferry from Playa del Carmen, and Playa del Carmen is a 25-minute ride from the hotel. The All-Fun-Inclusive package includes the ferry and most park entries on the island. The diving and snorkeling on Cozumel's reefs is a tier above anything inside Xcaret park — proper drift dives along Palancar reef, sea turtles, eagle rays, the works.

Do this on day three or four when you've recovered from travel and are ready for an early start. Catch the 9 AM ferry, snorkel until 2 PM, eat lunch in San Miguel, ferry back by 5. Logistics in the Cozumel ferry guide.

If you're a confident swimmer, book a snorkel boat through the hotel concierge rather than walking up to a vendor at the dock. The hotel-routed operators run smaller boats and go to better sites.

The high-value second tier — book if you have time

6. Spa Muluk hammam ritual

Spa Muluk at Hotel Xcaret Arte does a Moroccan-inspired hammam ritual that runs about 90 minutes. You get steamed, scrubbed with black soap and a kessa mitt, washed down with rose water, and then either a 30-minute massage or a clay wrap. It's the single best spa treatment I've had in Mexico and it costs less than equivalent treatments at Cancún resorts.

Book it for the morning of a rest day. You don't want to do anything physically demanding for a few hours after — the scrub is gentle but your skin is freshly raw. Full review in the Spa Muluk review.

The hydrotherapy circuit is included if you book any treatment over 60 minutes — that's two hot pools, two cold plunges, a steam room, and a sauna laid out in a circuit. Do the circuit before your treatment, not after.

7. Las Bellotas wine cellar tasting

Las Bellotas is a cave-like wine room at Hotel Xcaret México with a serious Mexican and Spanish list. They run a guided tasting most evenings — usually four wines plus a flight of cured meats and Manchego. It's an upcharge over the All-Fun-Inclusive but a small one.

Mexican wine is wildly underrated. The Valle de Guadalupe stuff coming out of Baja right now would beat most Napa wines in a blind tasting twice the price. Use this tasting to find a producer you like and then ask the sommelier where to buy that producer in the US. Full notes in the Las Bellotas review.

Reserve in advance — the room only seats about twelve and weeks book out, especially during high season.

8. Xenotes optional tour

Xenotes is a separate Grupo Xcaret experience — half-day cenote tour where you visit four different cenote types (open, semi-open, ancient, cave) and rappel, zipline, and snorkel each. It runs out of a different location north of Playa del Carmen and the All-Fun-Inclusive package covers it.

The cave cenote is the highlight. You enter through a narrow vertical drop on a rope-assisted descent and end up in an enormous chamber lit only by a few lamp shafts. The water is glass-clear and 75 degrees year-round.

Book the morning slot, not the afternoon. The cenotes are private to the tour group during morning sessions and start filling with day-tripping groups in the afternoon. Full comparison in the Xenotes vs Xcaret post.

9. Sunset at Casa Tortuga rooftop

The rooftop at Hotel Xcaret México has an infinity pool that drops off toward the Caribbean and a bar at the back end. Sunset there, drink in hand, with the jungle stretched out behind you and the ocean in front, is the single best non-activity moment at the property.

Get there by 5:30 in winter, 6:30 in summer. The cabanas on the south end are first-come and free with any room key. Order a clarified margarita from the bar — the bartender Roberto makes the best one I've had on property.

Stay through blue hour. The deck lights kick on about 25 minutes after sunset and the whole rooftop turns into a different scene — warm, intimate, almost no kids.

10. Mayan Village artisan workshop

Tucked into the back of Xcaret park is a recreated Maya village with working artisans — weavers, potters, a chocolate maker, a cacao roaster. Most of the workshops are free with park entry and you can spend 90 minutes wandering between them, picking up demonstrations, and watching real craft happen.

The chocolate maker does a 20-minute demo at the top of every odd hour where she grinds cacao to paste, mixes in chile and cinnamon, and serves it as drinking chocolate. The pottery workshop will let you throw a piece if you ask politely and there's no line.

Go in the late afternoon (3–5 PM) when the heat has peaked and the village empties out. The light through the thatched roofs is also gorgeous in that window.

The third tier — book if specifically interested

11. HA' tasting menu (if budget)

HA' is a Carlos Gaytán tasting menu restaurant inside Hotel Xcaret México — Michelin-pedigree chef, 14-course menu, paired wines available. It's a real splurge (well over $200/person with pairings) and it's not covered by the All-Fun-Inclusive bracelet.

It's worth it if you care about food at that level. Gaytán's cooking blends classical French technique with Mexican ingredients in ways I haven't seen anywhere else — a smoked huitlacoche course, a duck dish with mole that's better than most three-star restaurants in Paris. Full review in the HA' tasting menu review.

Book it 30+ days out. It's a small room and they only do two seatings. If you can't get in, ask about the chef's surprise tasting at La Cantera (the smaller adjacent space) — covered in a later trick below.

12. Xichén ruins day tour

Xichén is the Grupo Xcaret day tour to Chichén Itzá. They run a comfortable bus, give you a real archaeologist guide, stop at a cenote for swimming, and feed you a buffet lunch in Valladolid on the way back. It's a long day — leave at 8, back at 9 PM — but the All-Fun-Inclusive covers it.

Worth it once. Chichén Itzá is the most famous Maya site in the world for a reason — the pyramid is enormous and the acoustics in the ball court still produce a perfect echo. I wouldn't repeat the tour, but I'm glad I did it once.

If you'd rather do Coba (smaller, less crowded, you can climb less-restored structures), see the Coba day trip post. Coba isn't on the standard tour menu — you'd book separately.

13. Dolphin program (with ethics caveat)

Xcaret has a captive-dolphin program where you can swim with, be pulled by, and "interact with" trained dolphins. It's professionally run and the animals are well-treated by the standards of captive marine mammal facilities, but it's still captivity and the science is increasingly clear that this isn't great for the dolphins.

I won't tell you not to do it — that's your call — but I will tell you to read the dolphin program review first. There's a wild dolphin snorkel option in Cozumel that gives you the magic with none of the ethical baggage.

If you do book it, book the smallest-group, longest-duration option. The 90-minute "trainer for a day" experience is a meaningfully better animal welfare situation than the 20-minute splash-and-photo program.

14. Sea Trek underwater walk

Sea Trek is the underwater helmet walk along the floor of the inlet outside the snorkel cove. You wear a heavy plexiglass helmet that pumps in air from the surface, descend a ladder to about 12 feet, and walk along a roped path while reef fish circle. It's surreal in a way that snorkeling isn't because you're standing upright on the bottom.

Book it on a calm-water day. Surge makes the helmet jostle and the whole experience less pleasant. Full breakdown in the Sea Trek review.

If you wear glasses, this is your friend — Sea Trek doesn't require swim goggles or contacts. Your glasses sit dry inside the helmet.

15. Wedding ceremony at La Perla beach

Even if you're not getting married, the La Perla beach archway is worth a 20-minute walk to see at sunset. Permanent stone arch on a small private beach, framed perfectly between two coconut palms, with the Caribbean as a backdrop. You'll see a wedding setup most evenings.

If you ARE getting married, this is the most photographed venue on the property and for good reason — see the wedding venues guide for full breakdown of all options.

For a non-bride visit, the best time is late afternoon (4–5 PM) when the wedding crews are still setting up and you can see the full draped arch without the actual ceremony in progress.

16. Día de Muertos viewing (if October)

If you happen to be at Xcaret in late October or early November, the Festival of Life and Death (Festival de la Vida y la Muerte) takes over the entire park for four days. There are altars from every Mexican state, performances, food, processions — it's the most authentic Día de Muertos celebration outside of Oaxaca.

The Festival is included with park entry for the All-Fun-Inclusive crowd but the park gets crowded. Plan to be there for evenings specifically. Full take in the Día de Muertos festival post.

If you can only attend one night, do the Saturday closing — that's when the major procession runs through the park at twilight.

The fourth tier — fine, but skippable for most

17. Buffet breakfast at Embajadores

Embajadores is the main buffet at Hotel Xcaret México and breakfast is the meal it actually does well. Fresh-pressed juices, a chilaquiles station that makes them to order, decent pastries, and an enormous fruit selection. Lunch and dinner buffets are skippable; breakfast is fine.

Get there before 9 AM or after 10:30 to avoid the queue at the omelette station. Skip the made-to-order chilaquiles line if it's longer than 8 people — it moves slowly. Detailed take in the Embajadores buffet review.

18. Photo workshop at Hotel Xcaret Arte

Hotel Xcaret Arte runs free workshops every afternoon — painting, photography, ceramics, weaving. The photography workshop is a one-hour walk-along with a local photographer who shows you how to shoot the property. Useful if you're new to your camera, less useful if you're experienced.

Book through the Arte concierge same-day, not in advance. They're capped at 8 people but rarely full. See the Arte houses workshops guide for the full schedule across all disciplines.

19. Voladores de Papantla performance

The Voladores are the famous "flyers" — four men who climb a 30-meter pole, attach themselves by ropes, and slowly spiral down upside-down while a fifth plays a flute on top. It's a UNESCO-listed indigenous tradition and Xcaret has a permanent pole near the park entrance.

Performances run twice a day, around 11:30 AM and 4:30 PM. Each one is about 15 minutes. Worth seeing once — you don't need to go back. Position yourself slightly off the pole base looking up; that's the angle that captures the spiral best.

20. Pool day at Casa Tortuga rooftop

I put this last on the list not because it's bad but because you don't need to "book" it. The Casa Tortuga rooftop is your default rest day — infinity pool, swim-up bar, no kids in the adults-only end, food service from a smaller menu. After three days of activities, you'll be grateful for it.

Best around 11 AM to 2 PM if you want sun, or 4–6 PM for the cabana shade and sunset light. Full pool layout in the pools guide.

What I'd do differently

If I had to plan a perfect 5-day itinerary now, knowing what I know after four trips, it would look like this: arrive midday, light dinner at Cocina de Mexicana on night one. Day two, underground rivers at park opening, snorkel cove at 11, lunch in the park, Espectacular show after sunset. Day three, Cozumel ferry. Day four, Spa Muluk in the morning, Las Bellotas tasting in the evening. Day five, Xenotes morning, Casa Tortuga rooftop afternoon.

That's the version I'd hand to a friend. It hits the top eight things on this list and leaves room for the unstructured drift that's actually how the best vacations go. For more on planning your own version, the destination hub collects every guide I've written about the property.

The single thing I'd tell my first-trip self: book five nights, not three. Three nights is barely enough for the underground rivers, one show, and a single ferry day. By night four you finally relax. Most of the magic of Xcaret is in the unhurried hours — the second tequila, the slow walk back from the show, the morning when you wake up with no plan and end up at the rooftop pool.