With a certified guide for part of it and free time for the rest.
A swim at Cenote Ik Kil
The entry fee, a life jacket and a locker are all in the fare.
Lunch at Hacienda Xaybeh
Included, and served in a courtyard rather than a coach stop.
Two hours in Izamal
The yellow town, painted end to end, and the convent above it.
Round-trip transport from the centro
Check in on Calle 58 at 07:00; the van does the driving both ways.
Twelve hours, four stops and 240 kilometres
This is the standard way to see Chichén Itzá from Mérida, and it
is the most-booked one because it does three things in a day that most people would
otherwise spend three days on. It is also the honest one about money: the site
admission is not in this fare, and that is the single most common surprise on a
Yucatán day trip.
You check in at the Viajes Colibrí office on Calle 58, at the corner of 57 by
Parque Santa Lucía, at 07:00. Staff take names in order and that order is the order
you board, so arriving at 07:10 is not the same as arriving at 07:00. From there it is
about two hours east on the road to Valladolid.
Chichén Itzá gets two hours. That is enough for El Castillo, the ball
court, the Temple of the Warriors and the Sacred Cenote at a walking pace, with a guide
for the first part and free time afterwards. It is not enough to do all of that slowly,
which is the trade this day makes in order to fit the other two stops in.
Cenote Ik Kil follows — the round, open cenote with vines dropping forty metres
to the water, and the one everybody has seen a photograph of. Its entry fee is
included here, along with a life jacket and a locker. Lunch is at Hacienda Xaybeh, and the
day finishes with two hours in Izamal, a town painted almost entirely yellow with a
sixteenth-century convent built on a Maya platform in the middle of it.
Hour by hour, from Calle 58 and back
07:00 check-in on Calle 58
Drive east to Chichén Itzá
Two hours at Chichén Itzá
Swim at Cenote Ik Kil
Lunch at Hacienda Xaybeh
Two hours in Izamal
Back to central Mérida
07:00, check in on Calle 58 — The Viajes Colibrí office by Parque Santa Lucía. Names are taken in arrival order.
Two hours east — The road to Valladolid, with a stop on the way out of the city.
Chichén Itzá, 2 hours — Guided first, then free. Pay the admission at the gate, in cash.
Cenote Ik Kil, 1 hour 30 — Changing rooms, lockers and life jackets. Swimsuit on underneath is easier.
Lunch at Hacienda Xaybeh — Included in the fare. Cochinita pibil is usually on it.
Izamal, 2 hours — The yellow town and the Convento de San Antonio de Padua.
Back to central Mérida — Roughly two hours, arriving in the evening.
Who this suits, and who should book the small-group version
This suits a first visit to the Yucatán on a normal budget. At around eighty
dollars it is the cheapest way to reach Chichén Itzá from the city, and the
cenote and Izamal make it a full day rather than a long drive to one ruin. It suits
anybody without a car, and anybody who would rather not drive two hours each way in the
heat.
It is not the trip for you if you want Chichén Itzá quiet. A 07:00
check-in puts you at the gate mid-morning, by which time the coaches from Cancún
have arrived. If that matters more than the price does, the small-group day that leaves at
05:30 is the one to take: it is first through the gate, it caps at ten, and it swaps
Izamal's convent for a private cenote and a family lunch.
It is also a long day with a lot of van in it. Reviewers who found twelve hours too
much generally did not expect the third stop. If you want less driving,
the Homún
cenote day is an hour out rather than two, and
day tours from Merida lists everything in between.
What the fare covers, and the fee it does not
In the fare
Lunch
Round-trip transport from Mérida
Certified guide
Entry to Cenote Ik Kil
Life jacket
Lockers at the cenote
Cool box in the van
Not in the fare
Chichén Itzá admission for foreign visitors
Chichén Itzá admission for Mexican nationals and residents
Where you meet, and how the check-in works
Viajes Colibrí Yucatán, Calle 58 no. 487, at the corner of
57, Parque Santa Lucía, Centro. Go inside the office and give your name to
the staff on duty rather than waiting on the street: the order in which names are taken is
the order in which the vans are boarded.
Check-in is 07:00 and the operator allows about ten minutes' grace. Parque Santa
Lucía is four blocks north of the Plaza Grande, so almost every hotel in the centro
is within a fifteen-minute walk. If you are staying up on Paseo de Montejo, order a car
the night before rather than at 06:45.
Know before you go
The Chichén Itzá admission is not in the fare and is cash only at the gate. Budget about 700 pesos a head as a foreign visitor, or 310 as a Mexican national or resident, and draw it in the city the day before.
Bring official identification if you are Mexican. The national rate is only available on production of it at the window.
Bring a swimsuit and a towel separately. Cenote Ik Kil has bathrooms and showers, but you will not want to change into wet clothes for the drive home.
Have a proper breakfast before you leave. Lunch is not served until the middle of the day and the first stop is two hours out.
Wear light clothing, a hat and sunglasses. There is very little shade at Chichén Itzá and the walk between structures is on open grass.
The walk between structures is on open ground with almost no shade. This day suits people who are comfortable on their feet for two hours; a private day covers the same ground at your own pace.
The day runs to a maximum of 19 travellers. Book two to five days ahead outside the peak weeks; earlier between December and March.
What travellers said about the twelve-hour day
★★★★★
Our guide Inel told us enough about Chichén Itzá that we got far more from it than we would have alone, then left us free time to wander. The cenote was the best part of the day. We were too hot to enjoy Izamal properly by the end.
Denise L. · Couple · July 2026
★★★★★
Annel guided and Diego drove, and both were excellent. Chichén Itzá, a very good cenote and the town of Izamal in one day is a lot, and it worked.
Ryan B. · Solo traveller · June 2026
★★☆☆☆
The food was not good and the guide knew less about the site than I expected. The whistling in the van, from seven in the morning until we got back, is the thing everyone in our group remembers.
No. You pay it yourself at the gate, in cash: about 700 pesos as a foreign visitor, 310 as a Mexican national or resident. It comes in two payments at two windows, one to INAH and one to the state of Yucatán.
How long do I actually get at the site?
Two hours, guided for part of it and free for the rest. That covers El Castillo, the ball court, the Temple of the Warriors and the Sacred Cenote at a steady walk. If you want longer, a private day gives you three or four hours instead.
What happens if Chichén Itzá is closed?
Operators reroute rather than cancel. Travellers on this day in May 2026 were taken to Ek Balam instead when the site shut. It is uncommon, and it is the reason the free-cancellation window matters.
Is Cenote Ik Kil included?
Yes. The entrance ticket, a life jacket and a locker are all in the fare, which is not true of every Chichén Itzá day. Wear your swimsuit under your clothes and bring a towel.
Can I get to the site before the crowds on this one?
Not really. A 07:00 check-in puts the van at the gate mid-morning. For an empty site you want the 05:30 pickup on a smaller group day's operator or a private car, and that is a different trade: more money, fewer stops, no queue.
Is lunch any good?
It is included and it is served at a hacienda rather than a roadside stop. Reviews on it are mixed — some describe it as the highlight and one calls it poor — and the choice on the day is limited rather than wide.
Other days out of the city
If this is not quite your day, these two cover Mérida differently. Merida Walking Food Tour: Three hours, eight tastings, two markets, and everything you drink included. 4 Cenotes Tour in Homún all inclusive from Merida: Three Homún cenotes with every entrance fee and lunch already paid.
The full list of All Merida Mexico Tours is on the homepage.
