Cenote Chaak Tun, Playa del Carmen: Caves, Fee, Getting There

The caves at Chaak Tun

Chaak Tun is a cave cenote, not an open pool. Por Esto (January 2021) describes large caves with stalactites and stalagmites over a natural freshwater pool where you can swim and snorkel. Its November 2020 piece adds the detail most visitors remember: a hole in the cave roof where light reaches down into the water, and a tree that grew in that patch of light. The same article says there is another cenote within the park. Because you are under rock, expect dimmer light than at an open cenote like Cenote Azul; water in the region's cenotes stays around 24 to 25 °C (75 to 77 °F) year-round, and our page on whether cenotes are cold has the measured figures.

Chaak Tun entrance fee and hours

Chaak Tun has an official website, chaaktun.com.mx, but it showed only a bot-check page when we tried it in October 2026, and the travel guides we found disagree on both price and hours. Rather than print a number we could not confirm, our advice is to pay at the gate and ask what the entry includes. Bring cash pesos (MXN). For the cenote fees we could source, see how much it costs to go to a cenote. Like most cenotes, Chaak Tun asks you to enter without sunscreen or repellent; Por Esto (March 2026) says most Quintana Roo cenotes ban them and many require a shower first.

How to get to Chaak Tun

Chaak Tun is reached from Playa del Carmen along Avenida Juárez, the main street running inland from the centre, to km 4 (AAA gives the address as Ave. Benito Juárez km 4, Ejidal). From the federal highway it is about five minutes.

• From Playa del Carmen — About 15 minutes by car or taxi along Avenida Juárez (Por Esto).
• From Cancún by ADO bus — Cancún to Playa del Carmen is about 68 km; the ADO costs about 60 pesos and takes about 1 hour 15 minutes (rivieramaya.mx). Then a taxi inland.
• From Cancún by colectivo — About 40 pesos, leaving in front of the Cancún ADO station when full and arriving at Calle 2 with Avenida 20 in Playa del Carmen (rivieramaya.mx).

Tours and other cave cenotes near Playa del Carmen

None of the six cenote tours we compare in detail stops at Chaak Tun. If you want a guided cave with transport from Cancún, the nearest comparable trip is Rio Secreto, an underground river just south of Playa del Carmen at km 283.5 of the highway. The company's own site sells the Classic tour from $89 without transport and $119 with a round trip from Cancún or the Riviera Maya; it includes a guide, wetsuit, helmet with lamp, life jacket and a buffet, and the minimum age is four. On GetYourGuide the same tour is 4.6 on 201 reviews of this tour, with pickup and free cancellation up to 24 hours before. See the underground river and cave tour, or compare every option in cenote tours from Cancún.

Chaak Tun or another cenote near Playa?

Choose Chaak Tun if you are staying in Playa del Carmen and want a cave without a long drive. Choose the km 266 group (Cenote Azul, Cristalino, Jardín del Edén) if you want open water, jumping and fees from 120 pesos, about 25 km south. For the full list, see our guide to cenotes near Playa del Carmen.