5 Cenotes to Visit by Bike from Valladolid, Mexico

There are many beautiful cenotes near Valladolid, a colourful town in the Yucatan state of Mexico. During our stay, our favourite activity was to hire bikes and cycle to a few of these cenotes. In this guide we’ve summarised our experience of cycling around Valladolid, including where to rent bikes, which cenotes are easily accessible on two-wheels and many safety tips to be aware of.

If you’d like to see our adventure of visiting cenotes by bike then make sure to watch our dedicated Valladolid video, which also includes additional things to do around town. If you’re interested in more Mexico content, check out the Mexico Playlist on our YouTube Channel.

Hiring a Bike in Valladolid

If you’d like to visit some cenotes from Valladolid we suggest hiring a bike. Cycling will give you a lot of freedom, as you can get to most of the main cenotes with them and spend as long as you want there. It’s also generally more affordable and definitely more environmentally friendly than hiring a car.

We rented our bikes from VALLARENT Scooters, Cars, Bikes and Tours in Valladolid (their old name was Ko’ox Balak’) as they had many good reviews online. They also have scooters and cars too.

An added bonus of getting around by bike is that many bike rentals give you a few vouchers to use at some of the cenotes. For example, we got a drink voucher for Cenote Oxmán, and a free locker and life jacket one for Cenote Xkeken.

Just a heads up. Sometimes the bikes may not be in the best shape. Helmets also don’t tend to come with these bikes. For this reason, just be extra cautious, especially when you have to cycle in traffic.

Note. Usually, you’ll need to leave your ID at the rental shop until you return with the bike. Thankfully, we didn’t need to leave both of our IDs with them; one was sufficient. Some cenotes will also ask you to leave an ID when renting a lifejacket or locker. We just left our driver’s licences but consider having your National ID with you too if you’re going on a solo adventure. We would’ve been reluctant to leave our passports behind!

Safety Tips for Cycling around Valladolid

Below we’ve provided a few tips for having the safest possible experience:

1. Test your bike before you ride off and have a pump with you just in case.
2. Always lock your bike whenever you leave it unattended. Even if it’s only for a short time.
3. It’s obvious, but never leave any of your belongings behind.
4. When renting a bike, ask what the best roads to take are to the cenotes you want to visit. Google Maps would’ve taken us via a private road, but the rental company advised us about it before we set off.
5. When available, always use the dedicated cycle lane. There’s a cycle path along Highway 180, but there weren’t really any around town.
6. Be careful when cycling on the road as cars won’t slow down at all and speed right past you.
7. It’s pretty flat to cycle everywhere but there are a few ups and downs. Jon’s bike struggled a little with those, as he couldn’t change gear.
8. Always be aware of your surroundings and follow traffic rules. You’re only a guest in Mexico.
9. You’ll be sweating a lot, so have and drink enough water to stay hydrated.
10. Don’t forget to enjoy the ride and the freedom it gives you. (As well as the slight breeze)!

Of course, anything can happen, which is why you should never travel without travel insurance. There are many different companies out there offering different levels of coverage depending on your needs. We personally use SafetyWing which offers coverage at a much more affordable price than most other insurances.

Best Cenotes to Visit from Valladolid by Bike

Please note that many popular cenotes, such as Cenote Suytun, are probably too far outside of Valladolid to cycle to. For those, we suggest either hiring a scooter, a car, or opt to visit them with a tour. This day tour visits Cenotes Nool Ha, Suytun and Chukum.

Below we’ve listed the cenotes that you can realistically visit by bike from the city. We only had time to visit four cenotes located to the west of Valladolid, plus one in the centre of town.

Cenote Zaci

Right in the centre of Valladolid is Cenote Zaci, making it easily the most accessible cenote you can visit, not just in town but probably on the whole of the Yucatan Peninsula. You actually don’t even need a bike to reach Zaci, especially if you’re staying close to the main square.

Zaci is a semi-open cenote with stalactites, small waterfalls and plenty of greenery. Although it won’t be the most beautiful cenote you’ll visit, it should still be on your Valladolid itinerary.

Note. Due to its convenient location, it can get very crowded, especially in the high season. We read that in order to control the crowds they may give you an hour to enjoy the cenote. Luckily, we didn’t have any time restrictions in the low season and it wasn’t too crowded either.

Entry fee is 60MXN pesos per person. A life jacket is mandatory due to the deep nature of the cenote, but doesn’t cost extra. There are toilet and changing facilities to use for 5MXN pesos.

Cenote Oxmán

Cenote Oxman is located about 6 km to the southwest of the Plaza Principal (Main Square) in Valladolid. This cenote sits on the grounds of a historic property called Hacienda San Lorenzo Oxman.

Note. Google will most likely send you directly south from Valladolid along a small road to get there. However, according to our bike hire company parts of that road are private, so they recommended following Highway 180 and then turning off onto Lib. Sur de Valladolid. There’s a bike lane you can follow along Highway 180. Lib. Sur de Valladolid won’t have a bike lane, but it’s wide and quiet, so is comfortable to cycle on.

The entry area to Cenote Oxman is very beautiful and colourful. They even have a normal swimming pool with some picnic tables around it, so you can definitely spend a few hours (or even the whole day) there if you wish. They had a restaurant, changing rooms, showers, lockers, and toilets.

The cenote itself is really beautiful too, with crystal clear blue water and vines hanging down from the ceiling. It has a rope swing if you’d like to jump in this way, but there were also stairs down to the refreshing water. There are schools of fish swimming around and the orangey light as the sun enters the cenote makes it really magical. If you have a drink voucher we definitely recommend using it. You can relax next to the pool for a bit whilst you sip on a refreshing cocktail.

Top Tip. You can take pictures from the platforms without wearing your lifejacket. However, you cannot enter the water without one. There’s a security guard and they will yell at you if you try to break the rules. You’ll also have to shower before you enter the cenote to avoid contaminating the water.

Entry fee is 200MXN pesos per person. Life jackets, changing rooms and toilets are available at no extra charge. However, if you want a locker (which we recommend) you have to put down a 50MXN pesos deposit which you’ll get back when you return your key. We only had a drink voucher for this cenote, but some entry fees also include a meal.

Cenote Saamal

Cenote Saamal is located just off Highway 180, about 5 km west of the town centre. It’s a semi-open cylindrical cenote with crystal clear water. A cool feature of this cenote is the waterfall cascading down from the rim. The water here was nice but you could see chemicals floating on the surface, and it didn’t feel quite as magical as Oxman. 

Cenote Saamal is similar to Cenote Oxman in terms of general facilities such as changing rooms, showers and toilets. However, it had way more restaurants and gift shops, selling tequila and other typical products. They even had some Maya rituals taking place, so it felt more touristy in general. In our opinion, it lacked a picnic area for those of us that didn’t want to eat at the restaurants.

Entry fee is 200MXN pesos per person. We didn’t get a voucher for this one.

Cenote Xkeken

Further down the road from Saamal are two more cenotes you can visit: Cenote Xkeken and Cenote Samula. They’re only a few hundred metres from each other and are part of the same cenote complex called Dzitnup.

There’s a big car park and a dedicated cycle rack to lock your bikes. After paying the entry fee, we walked through the souvenir shop section where they were selling all sorts of items such as dream catchers, clothes and other knick-knacks.

Cenote Xkeken is an underground cenote so we had to go down some stairs to reach it. It was quite similar to the cenote we visited near Coba Ruins with turquoise water and dramatic stalactite formations. The only difference was the small hole in the ceiling, where a beam of sunlight could filter through if you happen to be there at the right time of day. We weren’t lucky enough to witness this at Cenote Xkeken. The water is obviously a lot colder than the open cenotes!

There’s a joint entry fee of 226MXN pesos per person, which we had to pay at the main entrance near the car park. With our voucher we could also get free life jackets and lockers. We had to leave one ID there until we returned our jackets.

Cenote Samula

Only a short walk away is the other underground cenote: Samula. The main difference between Samula and Xkeken is that there aren’t any crazy stalactite formations in Samula, but there are some long tree roots hanging down from the top. It also felt way more spacious once inside, as the ceiling was way higher than in Xkeken. Samula’s opening was also a bit larger and we were lucky enough to witness the sunrays shining through.

Whilst Samula felt a bit busier compared with Xkeken, witnessing the sunlight coming through the hole here definitely enhanced our experience.

There’s a joint entry fee of 226MXN pesos per person, which we had to pay at the main entrance near the car park. With our voucher we also got free life jackets and lockers. We had to leave one ID here until we returned our jackets.

What to Pack for Visiting Cenotes from Valladolid

• Swimsuit.
• Slides / Flip-flops.
• Towel.
• Plenty of water and some snacks.
• Sun protection (hat, sunglasses, sun-cream). Please note that it’s mandatory to shower before entering the cenotes to wash any creams off your skin.
• GoPro or other waterproof camera.
• Cash. Many places only accept cash. We use our Wise card which allow us to withdraw local currency at a much lower fee.

Final Thoughts on Visiting the Cenotes from Valladolid by Bike

Visiting the cenotes from Valladolid by bike was one of our favourite day trips during our stay. It was good to be a little active, knowing that we’d have a refreshing swim in these natural sinkholes to look forward to between rides.

Have you ever been to Valladolid? If so, how many cenotes did you manage to visit during your time there? If not, which cenotes would you add to your itinerary? Let us know in the comments below.