Xplor was the highlight of our Cancun vacation, so we left best for last. Xplor is a natural adventure park opened in July 2009. The park is situated approximately 35 miles (56km) south of the Cancun airport and occupies an area of 59 hectares, of which 8 are underground. Xplor offers 4 thrilling activities: zip lines, amphibious vehicles, underground raft adventure, and stalactite river swim.
Early in the morning our minivan picked us up from the hotel and took us for about one hour drive to Xplor. On the way we watched an informational video about Xplor park inside the van and signed the liability waivers. During our ride we saw an interesting shop with a big bottle of Modelo Mexican beer upfront.
The entrance to Xplor greeted us with huge XPLOR letters under a suspension bridge. Xplor is the most exclusive park in the Rivera Maya and the only location in Mexico that offers all the best activities in one place.
Xplor is built inside and around a unique underground formation. 65 million years ago a massive asteroid struck the Yucatan peninsula, bringing an end to an era. Dinosaurs were extinguished which gave rise to new forms of life on our planet. As a result, even more amazing changes took place beneath the surface. The basin formed by the crater, was filled with water, which eroded the stone and formed caverns. Over millions of years, nature sculpted them into a miraculous underground landscape.
Consequentially, the combination of two processes – lower water levels and the infiltration of rain water – continues to form stalagmites and stalactites inside caves. It was nature itself that created these caves, even before the first proof of human life, and it is this same process that continues to shape Xplor’s underground scenery (from Xplor web site).
We entered the Xplor lobby, which is located inside the caverns, and it was already crowded.
The first thing we received upon entry were mandatory helmets and the keys to the lockers.
Most passages at Xplor are similar to the one in the picture below, but without the life jackets. 🙂
We started our adventure at Xplor with zip lining – the most popular activity there, which takes the most time in the park. Indeed, many visitors had the same idea, therefore the lines were the longest there. There are two circuits of 7 zip lines each, 2.2 miles in length total, that sail over the park as well as jaguar and crocodile enclosures! The 2 circuits are the Deer circuit and the Jaguar circuit.
We started with the Deer circuit, which has shorter zips and shorter towers, but includes a waterslide, and not one, but two, water landings. The Jaguar circuit has longer zip lines, taller towers, two suspension bridges and one zip line that goes through a waterfall. Both circuits have towers ranging in height from of eight meters to forty-five meters. Tree tops and the Caribbean Sea can be seen from both circuits. The zip lines at Xplor are checked three times a day everyday, so safety is assured.
The amphibious vehicle track can also be viewed and crosses under a number of the zip lines.
Another separate line is ridden in a large hammock and ends in a water landing.
Be aware of the crocodile! He is not real though. 🙂
Most of the zip lines end in a tower, from where we had to climb to the next one and zip from there. We also had to cross suspension bridges, while on the Jaguar circuit.
The most fun were the zip lines that ended in the waterfall of a cenote, especially on the hot day like this.
Dave’s landing in the cenote. There is no way not to get wet after a ride like this. 🙂
Here is the view of the waterfall after we landed and got out of the water.
The ride in the water slide ends in a cenote as well.
We finished both zip line circuits and happy and wet headed towards the station with the amphibious vehicles, which look like small jeeps. The driver must have a valid driver’s license from their home country stating that can legally operate a motor vehicle and the park attendants do verify this policy.
There were offered 2 separate trails for the amphibious vehicles, each about 3 miles (4.8 km) long. At first, we decided to try both, so we can drive one trail each, but after realizing that we didn’t have enough time left to do the other cool activities, we took only one trail. Dave drove for the most part, but after a while we switched places, so I could experience driving this cute jeep as well. The trail went through the jungle on winding roads filled with vegetation, suspension bridges and dark underground caves.
The amphibious vehicle is a four-wheel drive Gator vehicle. It’s the basic ATV that park rangers in any nature park use to get around. The reason the vehicle and track is called amphibious is because the track runs through segments of the underground cavern. Some excitement was added driving over the suspension bridge.
I enjoyed the view from the passenger seat, especially large, rough formations with backlighting for better viewing in the caves. Dave was complaining that it was awfully dark there. We didn’t realize right away, that he was still wearing his sunglasses IN THE CAVE. Duh!
After we parked the vehicle, we headed over to the underground raft section of the park. It was quite a long walk. The path wound through the underground cave system. Twists and turns were around every corner and it seemed to go on and on, but it was a very pretty walk. There were numerous cameras set up everywhere throughout the park.
Finally, we stumbled upon the raft area. Thankfully, there were only a few people in line. We were told we could take either double or single-seat rafts, and we could choose the short route about 300 yards, or long route about 600 yards. We chose a double raft and the long route. The depth of the water for this activity is minimal, so we didn’t have to wear provided life jackets. Here is the starting point of the raft journey.
Equipped with hand paddles we started our ride, maneuvering past rocks and admiring the grottoes and stalactites up-close as we rafted through the caves.
It was a beautiful ride, but a little cramped. People often bumped into each other, especially in narrow cave passages. I wouldn’t consider this ride as a very exciting one, but it was relaxing and we did enjoy the scenery. In this picture we are passing through the one of the gorgeous grottos.
The last activity was a swim in the stalactite river, which wasn’t far away from the raft section. We put on the mandatory life vests and slowly slid from the ramp to the water of the cave channels. That water was really refreshing! The entire swim route was about 430 yards which consisted of beautiful segments of stalactites. The depth of the crystal clear water ranged between four and a half to nine feet deep.
Numerous automatic cameras were set up throughout the swim. The only thing is that you never know when the flash will go off. It added an element of surprise, like in the picture below. 🙂
It was a great idea to wear water shoes. We definitely wouldn’t want to be in the river or walking through the park barefoot, and flip flops will fall off too easily.
The most exciting part occurred at the end of this journey, when we had to swim through a waterfall into a circular “room”. Water was cascading from all sides. The sensation of being surrounded by pounding water was really cool. We couldn’t stop laughing.
It was about time to get back to the hotel. We had quite a walk back to the main area of the park to get to our van. While walking we snapped one more picture of us by a camera mounted on a cave wall. There is a button on the top of a stalagmite, which I pressed in order to take the shot. It is prohibited to touch any formations in the caverns.
Here we stopped to purchase our digital photos and return the locker keys. All pictures with the yellow www.Xplor.travel logo on them were taken by the automatic cameras set up throughout the park and tracked by the chip mounted in each helmet.
Here is the central “heart” of Xplor — literally, a giant mosaic heart in the lobby. All of the activities can be accessed from this central spot, which is easy to find, as the closer you get to it, the more you’ll hear a loud beating noise, just like a thumping heart.
Overall, we had a wonderful time and I would absolutely recommend it to anyone visiting the Cancun area. We even skipped the meal, which was included in the admission ticket, so we wouldn’t miss the activities. It means that we definitely had fun at the park! 🙂 Here is a short video from Bookit.com just to get a gist of Xplor:
