Xcaret Trip Report
Xcaret Review and Photos: On December 20, we went to Xcaret which is just a few miles south of Playa del Carmen. As you can see, the butterflies loved Janean!
We had a fun day and saw a great cultural show - the "Xcaret Spectacular Mexico Night Show". Xcaret is just a short 60 peso cab ride from Playa del Carmen. The parrots loved Janean too!
The park is expensive - $69 adults and $35 kids just to get in. There are other options you can add like the $45 dinner with the show, $125 swim with dolphins, $40-$50 snuba and $20-$25 snorkel rental. The restaurants are expensive and the food is mediocre, but it was a fun day.
If you go, it is best to stay all day to get your money's worth. The park is usually crowded and attended by locals as well as tourists.
It is open from 8:30am - 10:00pm every day.
Xcaret used to be a lagoon hidden in the jungle, but developers changed that in 1992 by turning it into a Mayan theme park with eco attractions.
For water park activities, we have heard that Xel-Ha a little farther south is a better option.
Snorkeling is OK, but with so many visitors the coral isn't alive in the lagoon. Life vests and inner tubes are free.
Xcaret was originally a Mayan settlement and the park has excavated a dozen structures.
The aquarium is older and run down, but a walk through gets you to the sea turtle farm, which is really cool.
They hatch and release about 200 turtles per year. The turtles come back to lay eggs after 15 years. They are just now starting to see some of their original turtles return.
There is a small zoo with jaguars and other local animals.
We saw a spotted jaguar enjoying the warm sun.
And Daniel was able to find the black jaguar - or Ek Balam in Mayan. Just like the site we visited. You can barely see his green eyes.
Alissa even caught a "Jesus" lizard running away from her. This lizard can walk (or run) on water!
There is a mushroom and orchid farm in the botanical garden.
The butterfly aviary is cool and shady. And one butterfly in particular really loved mom!
Dylan found a friend too!
There is an underground river through Mayan scenery on a tiny boat.
There are also many underground passages and cool, shady caves to explore.
Activities. The kids snorkeled in the underground river. They were a little disappointed because the river was short, very crowded and pretty boring since there are no fish and the rock formations are artificial. But we all did enjoy the Papantla Flyers.
This is a Mayan tradition. The number of turns corresponds to the calendar.
The Papantla Flyers also performed on this rotating wheel. They were pretty amazing!
The highlight of Xcaret according to locals is the night show. We agree - especially for the first half of the show.
The show is in 2 parts with an intermission between.
The first act at the Gran Tlachco theater is pre-Columbian history of Mexico on up to the Spanish Conquest.
There is a Mayan ball game and the "ball of fire" act.
The first act takes the Mayan history up to the fall of local civilizations.
The visual display depicts the presumed Mayan activities up to the conquest. The costumes and correography are impressive.
The second half of the show features Mexico's regional music and dance. It is all in Spanish and it is a cultural extravaganza of regional songs and dance from around Mexico.
The 2nd part of the show is very patriotic for Mexican citizens – hence it’s popularity with the locals. It may not be as meaningful or emotionally inspiring to tourists, but it is still worth seeing. The theater is very large and is sheltered from the sun and rain. There are more than 200 performers in the show.
It was just a fun day at Xcaret!
