Everything you need to know about our excursion to the Ruins in Tulum on our family vacation to the Mayan Riviera

A family-friendly excursion while on vacation in Mexico.

We debated and deliberated and finally decided to book an excursion while we were on vacation in the Mayan Riviera. A big reason why I wanted to go to Mexico was to be able to travel off the resort and see and experience more culture and history. But the excursions aren’t cheap and I wasn’t sure how the kids would handle one.

we picked an express excursion to the Mayan Ruins in Tulum our family vacation to the mayan riviera #familyvacation #traveltips #familytravel

Our family visit to the Mayan Ruins in Tulum in Mexico exceeded my expectations

There are lots of things you can do that all sound amazing: reef snorkeling, exploring cenotes (freshwater underground caves), swimming with sea turtles. There are eco-archaeological theme parks like Xcaret and Xel-ha, packed with activities themselves.

The pyramids of Chichen Intza (classified as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World) were high on my list but at three hours away, I didn’t consider taking the girls. We’ll save that one for next time.

The best bang for our buck (costing about $250) would have been a full-day tour of two different ruins, Tulum and Coba, exploring a sea cave, enjoying an authentic lunch, and a visit to the heart of Playa del Carmen. Sounds fun but that was a lot to expect out of the kids, and we’d be off the resort for 12 hours.

There were a million and one other options and combinations of activities. One that caught our eye was an express tour travelling to one set of ruins, of an ancient Mayan port city. A fairly educational excursion that I didn’t think my kids would really care about. Six to seven hours spent off resort with no food included. Under the hot sun. No shade. That was a terrifying thought. But the travel rep at the resort was super helpful, suggested we grab some food from the buffet to bring with us as snacks, and assured us it would be a great time.

We decided even if the kids weren’t at their best it was something we really wanted to do. Having come all that way we wanted more cultural experience. I mentally prepared myself for the prospect of handling cranky, bored kids, and away we went to Tulum. I kept my expectations low. It cost $200.

We packed snacks, sunscreen, water, hats, and bathing suits into a backpack. We were picked up in the lobby at 7:45 a.m. We chose an early excursion to beat the crowds and the heat of midday. The drive there was a huge highlight for the kids because they got to drive in a shuttle van without their carseats, wearing their big kid belts. Serious highlight for them, anxiety-inducing for me. They were happy to take in the scenes out the window and both of them - and myself - fell asleep. The Ruins in Tulum are just over an hour from the resort zone in Cancun. It actually took longer to get there as we stopped to pick up more people for the tour at resorts along the way.

Our tour guide was awesome. We pulled up to a bustling local marketplace, applied our sunscreen, used the washrooms, and set off on a fairly long walk down a road through mangroves. The guide captivated the girls’ attention. He told everyone to stick with the group, and joked that those in the back are the ones that get eaten by alligators. Genius. Anna booked it the entire walk and stuck close to the guide, a few rows of people ahead of us even. We stopped several times to talk about different trees and birds and learned quite a lot of information, and all about ancient Mayan civilization.

All this before we even entered the Tulum Ruins ecological site! Once we did, we continued the guided tour and learned about the different well-preserved structures and buildings. More bonus points to the guide, who talked about the remains of skeletons found curled up in the fetal position on the other side of a wall. The girls were mega-curious, their interest piqued. We had well over an hour to explore on our own, including some time down on the beach. The girls were fantastic. I credit their behaviour to the ring pops we brought on the excursion, that kept them content, followed by the Smarties. They also truly enjoyed checking out the Ruins, the lookouts off the cliff edge, and climbing the big rocks on the ocean’s edge.

The girls, age 6 & 2 , enjoyed our time at the Mayan ruins in Tulum on our family vacation #familytravel #traveltips #traveladvice

There was no shade, it was hot, and I don’t think they complained once. We hiked back up to that busy marketplace, played with a monkey, met back up with our group and tour guide (who handed out cold bottles of water), and boarded the shuttle van back home.

I’m very glad we didn’t try to fit in anything else on our excursion. That surely would have been pushing our luck. This trip felt like just enough. We all napped on the way back and arrived at the resort around 2 p.m. We cooled off with a quick swim, and had a late lunch by the pool.