Self-Drive Yucatan Community Adventure

Arrival to the Cancun airport and pick up of your rental car. A representative will meet you upon arrival to assist you with the rental paperwork, provide you with your travel notebook and answer any questions you may have. Then you will head to Puerto Morelos to check in to your hotel and rest (25 min by car).

• Meals: None

• Support: Cell phone

• Transportation: Rental Car

• Accommodation: Overnight at Hotel Posada El Moro or similar

This morning you will head to the Ek Balam archaeological site (Drive of 2h 25 min, entrance fee and guide not included). After you visit the site, which we recommend, you will go to the entrance to the cenote where you will pick up your bike rental and ride around the area exploring all its corners. Rounding the sacbe (the white road) you will reach a beautiful cenote where you can cool off after your bike ride. In the afternoon, you will move to the village (5 minutes) where you will take a walking community tour, in which you will visit three homes to see the day by day of Mayan families and witness how they make tortillas by hand, as well as knit hammocks (with a local Spanish-speaking guide). Finally, you will participate in an embroidery workshop. Overnight in an ecotourism cabin.

• Support: Cell phone

• Transport: Rental Car

• Meals Included: Breakfast & Dinner

• Activities Included: Bike Rental & Cenote Entrance Fee

• Accommodation: Overnight in Ecotourism Cabin in the Mayan Village of Ek Balam.

In the morning, depart for Muná. Upon arrival to the Mirador de Muna, your host will have everything ready for you to participate in a jícara-engraving workshop. Jícara is a natural fruit of the Yucatán peninsula and was used by their ancestors for food and water storage. You will see many crafts that can be made with natural fruits and will tour their lovely garden and learn about medicinal plants. Later, move to Mun-Ha (15 minutes away), where you will have a lovely regional lunch with them. Mun-Ha is a cooperative made up of indigenous and peasants of the area that have a beautiful rural tourism project that combines the conservation of nature and their traditional Mayan culture. The Muná viewpoint is part of this cooperative. This is where you will stay tonight.

Afternoon off to rest or visit the wonderful archaeological site of Uxmal (entrance and guide not included – 18 min away). The name Uxmal means ‘thrice-built’ in Mayan. Uxmal was one of the largest cities of the Yucatán peninsula on the Ruta Puuc (Puuc Route), and at its height was home to approximately 20,000 Mayans. Back to Mun-Ha to rest in your cabin.

• Support: Cell phone

• Transport: Rental Car

• Meals Included: Breakfast & Lunch

• Activities Included: Jícara Workshop and short tour to see garden and medicinal plants.

• Accommodation: Overnight in cabins at the Mayan Cooperative: Mun-Ha.

After breakfast drive to the next Mayan community: Chunhuhub (approximately 3 hour drive). Here you will visit a beautiful ecotourism center that perfectly preserves Mayan customs and traditions. You’ll learn about the extraction of henequén fiber, fiber that is recognized in the world of textiles and afterwards, you will see an authentic, traditional Mayan house, where, apart from learning how the ancient Mayans lived, you will learn about the meaning of the traditional house (with a local Spanish-speaking guide). Overnight in beautiful cabins.

• Support: Cell phone

• Transport: Rental Car

• Meals Included: Breakfast & Dinner

• Activities included: Mayan House and henequen fiber extraction. 

• Accommodation: Overnight in ecotourism cabins (with private bath) at a Mayan cooperative

After breakfast depart for the Bacalar lagoon of seven colors (approximately 1h 35min drive). The rest of your day is free to enjoy this area as you please. You can walk around the lagoon or take the kayaks out (from hotel or “beach” club, depending on hotel chosen). Night in a charming hotel in Bacalar.

• Support: Cell phone

• Transport: Rental Car

• Meals Included: Breakfast

• Accommodation: Room with fan in Hotel Rancho Encantado or similar

Day off today to enjoy this paradise!!

• Support: Cell phone

• Transport: Rental Car

• Meals Included: Breakfast

• Accommodation: Room with fan in Hotel Rancho Encantado or similar

Today, you will visit the community of Nuevo Durango. En route to Nuevo Durango, a 4 hour drive approximately, you can take a first stop in the village of Felipe Carrillo Puerto (1h 20min from Bacalar), an authentic place full of charm. You could also choose to stop in the ancient Mayan city of Tulum (1h from Felipe CP), with the Caribbean Sea as its background and take a dip in the warm, turquoise water and enjoy one of its beaches.

Arrival in Nuevo Durango. Nuevo Durango is a small town that converted to ecotourism and organic food production. It is a traditional Mayan village that has retained a strong cultural identity, in both language and retaining their customs. A nature conservation project gave them the means to create an ecotourism cooperative. Here you will have the opportunity to know and feel the beauty and tranquility of a life in balance with the environment. You’ll also find a small museum of insects. Above all do not miss the sunset, when thousands of swallows flutter in and out of an old well that also acts as a refuge for them. You will discover a cave and enjoy a moment of quietness and freshness in very special environment, accompanied by a local Spanish-speaking guide of the cooperative. Dinner with the community and overnight at a cabin in Nuevo Durango.

• Support: Cell phone

• Transport: Rental Car

• Meals Included: Breakfast & Dinner

• Activities included: visit to a small cave.

• Accommodation: Community Cabins with private bathroom.

After breakfast, you will head to the community of Nuevo Xcan (15 min) for a swim in a subterranean river and a cenote called Ta’akbil-Ja. To avoid causing damage to the ecosystem, do not wear sunscreen, creams or lotions of any kind in the water! Here, you will experience a homestay with a local family (this is a new project and still rather unknown). This community (composed of 245 people) has created a community school and are guardians of 22,000 hectares of natural reserve. Walk around the community to explore and free evening. Dinner with the community and rest.

• Support: Cell phone

• Transport: Rental Car

• Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

• Activities Included: ritual, subterranean river and cenote.

• Accommodation: Homestay with shared bathroom with one other room.

Today you’ll say goodbye to this charming community and return to the airport (1h 15min). A representative will meet you at the car rental to collect the support cell phone and assist you with returning the car

Meals: None

INCLUDED:

• Accommodations will be as listed in the itinerary or similar in double occupancy rooms.

• Tours and activities mentioned as “included” in the itinerary.

• Taxes included for all hotels & tourist services

• Cell phone for assistance from our team (first charge of additional minutes is included)

• Travel notebook

• Transportation: 1-4 passengers: Intermediate size Pontiac G3 or similar (taxes, unlimited kilometers, basic insurance, one driver)

• Breakfast included every day except on your arrival day.

• Lunch and dinner are listed on the itinerary

NOT INCLUDED:

• Hospitalization / repatriation insurance.

• Car Rental additional services: comprehensive insurance or additional driver option, GPS, etc.

• Fuel.

• Lunch & Dinners not mentioned as included.

• Entrance fees to archaeological sites and parks, as well as site tour guides, except when specified as included.

• Tips (at restaurants and for guides).

• Alcoholic drinks.

• Additional hotel services (laundry, telephone, internet, etc)

• Optional activities and other visits.

• Any excursion, transportation or service not mentioned above.

• Food: Around $5 to $10 to cover each meal not included (+ tips 10% of the bill) + $2 to $3 for each snack

• Souvenirs: from $5 USD to $20.

• Petrol consumption: 13-14 km / litre = petrol around 17 pesos (0.90 USD) per litre.

• Archaeological sites: from $4 to $13. Guided tours at archaeological sites: from $20 to $38 USD for the whole group.