Xcaret Tours
Xcaret Tours › Getting HereUpdated 2026-09-22

Getting to Xcaret

Hours, prices and access verified by the Xcaret Tours team — last checked 2026-09-22.

The park sits on one road, at one kilometre marker, and everything about arriving follows from that. You can drive to it and park free, take a bus down the highway, or let a tour Cancun Xcaret Park collect you from your hotel before seven in the morning. Which of the three you pick decides what time your day starts and, more to the point, what time it ends.

Where the park sits, to the kilometre

Xcaret is at km 282 of the Chetumal–Puerto Juárez federal highway, the coast road most people call Highway 307, in Colonia Rancho Xcaret just south of Playa del Carmen. The postcode is 77580 and the state is Quintana Roo. It is on the Riviera Maya, between Cancún to the north and Tulum to the south, with its own gate directly off the road.

The address
Carretera Chetumal–Puerto Juárez km 282 Int. B, Colonia Rancho Xcaret, Playa del Carmen 77580, Quintana Roo
The coordinates
20.5809° N, 87.1197° W — the itinerary stop every captured listing records
Park hours
Every day, 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.. The night ticket admits from 4:00 p.m.
The hour that matters
The underground rivers shut at 5:30 p.m., five hours before the gate does

Driving, and the free car park

If you hold an entry ticket and no transport, driving is the straightforward option. The operator publishes free parking at the gate, and that gate is on the highway rather than down a lane, so the turn is signposted and hard to miss. Fuel and a hire car are the only costs, and you leave when you want to rather than when a coach does.

That last point is the real argument for it. Every coach here departs at 10 p.m. after the show, and a car lets you go at six if the children have had enough.

By bus, and the free shuttle to the gate

Buses run the length of Highway 307 and the park is on it. Services leave from the Uxmal Avenue station in Cancún and the 5th Avenue station in Playa del Carmen. You are set down on the highway rather than at the turnstile, and the operator runs a free folkloric bus called the Despeinado every half hour, from 8:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., to carry you the last stretch to the entrance.

What the bus does not solve is the return. The show ends at closing, and the later you leave the thinner the service gets. Agree how you are getting back before you go in.

Distances, drive times and what a taxi costs

These are the operator's own figures, and they are honest about the gap between Cancún and the park. Playa del Carmen is fifteen minutes away; the airport is an hour; Tulum is three quarters of an hour in the other direction.

FromDistanceDriveWhich days start there
Cancún airport45 miles (74 km)About 1 hourThe coach days that start in Cancún
Playa del Carmen4 miles (6 km)About 15 minutesDays from Playa del Carmen and Puerto Morelos
Tulum35 miles (57 km)About 45 minutesNone: no captured fare starts here

For a taxi, the operator publishes a range rather than a fare, which tells you something about how the fares are set.

TaxiWhat the operator quotes
From Cancún$80 to $100 one way
From Playa del Carmen$15 one way, approximately

If you booked a tour: where you are collected

Every fare that includes transport names its own pickup arrangement, and no two are the same. These are the listings' own words, not a general rule, and the difference between "hotel pickup" and "a central meeting point" is the difference between waiting in a lobby and finding a car park at half past six in the morning.

Cancún hotels
The park operator's own coach day, and two of the Plus days, collect from hotels in Cancún
Cancún and Riviera Maya hotels
Two Plus days widen the area to the Riviera Maya as well
Cancún and Playa del Carmen hotels
One Plus day with the buffet covers both towns, starting at 6:30 a.m.
Playa del Carmen and Puerto Morelos
One Plus day with lunch; its own title says Playa del Carmen and its departure record says Puerto Morelos
A central meeting point
Several listings reserve the right to move you to one, and ask for your exact street address to decide
The gate, km 282
The entry ticket and the cenote day both start at the park itself, and neither carries you to it

Want the driving done for you?

The coach days collect you, park for you and bring you back after the show. Compare what each fare covers before you book one.

See the Xcaret toursCompare every tour

Pickup windows, and what an early start costs you

Days from Cancún collect between 6:30 and 7:00 in the morning to reach the gate near opening, and run 12 to 14 hours door to door. Days from Playa del Carmen collect around 8:30 and run 11 to 12. One traveller on a combination day described being dropped at the park an hour and a half to two hours after it opened, which on a park this size is a real loss.

Confirm the time in writing. More than one listing asks you to contact the operator at least 24 hours before to confirm the exact pickup time and point, and travellers who skipped that step are the ones who found no coach waiting.

Getting back after the show

Departure from the park is at 10 p.m., after the evening performance ends. The drop-offs then run as a circuit, so your hotel may be the first stop or the last. One traveller staying in Cancún described a long string of stops before theirs and got in very late.

If you have an early flight or a young child, this is the thing to weigh. The entry ticket with your own car is the only version of this day that lets you decide when it finishes.

Four musicians in wide hats and braided suits, lit from behind on a dark stage
Four musicians in wide hats and braided suits, lit from behind on a dark stage

Taxis: one warning worth repeating

Agree the return fare before you need it. A traveller who visited on the entry ticket wrote that a taxi from the park demanded double the quoted cost, that park staff would not intervene, and that they nearly ended up stranded with children. Their advice was to book and agree the price with your hotel in advance, and it is sound — the published quote is a range, not a fare. The simpler way out is an Xcaret tour that includes the drive both ways.

The alternative is simpler. Either take a fare that includes the drive both ways, or drive yourself and use the free car park.

Asked about getting there

Where is Xcaret?
At km 282 of Highway 307, the coast road between Cancún and Tulum, just south of Playa del Carmen in the state of Quintana Roo. The full address is Carretera Chetumal–Puerto Juárez km 282, Colonia Rancho Xcaret, Playa del Carmen 77580. There is one gate, and every tour and every ticket uses it.
How far is the park from Cancún?
Far enough that the coaches leave early: pickups from Cancún hotels run between 6:30 and 7:00 in the morning to reach the gate near opening. Those days are listed at 12 to 14 hours door to door, because the drive is bracketed by a hotel circuit at each end. You will be back late, after the show.
How far is the park from Playa del Carmen?
It is the nearest town, and the difference shows in the pickup time: days from Playa del Carmen collect around 8:30 in the morning against 6:30 or 7:00 from Cancún, and run 11 to 12 hours rather than 12 to 14. If you are staying in Playa, you gain roughly two hours of your day.
Is there parking, and is it free?
Yes, and the listings that mention it call it free. That matters if you are driving yourself on the entry ticket, since the gate sits directly on Highway 307 with its own car park. Nothing about parking is stated in the coach fares, because they set you down at the entrance.
Can I get there by bus?
The ADO coach network runs the length of Highway 307 and the park sits on it, so arriving under your own steam is realistic if you hold an entry ticket. What no bus solves is the return: the evening show ends at closing, which is long after the last useful departure in either direction. Plan the way back before you plan the way out.
Where do the tour buses pick up if I am in an apartment?
Operators collect from hotels on their own list and assign a meeting point to everyone else, and several reserve the right to do that even for addresses that are on the list. One listing's published meeting point named a tour office that had already moved. Confirm the point and the time the day before, in writing.
Do the tours include hotel pickup?
Most do, and their listings name the pickup as part of the fare. Two sell transport as a separate option you tick at booking, and the entry ticket excludes it outright. The card for each tour says which of the three it is, because it is the single biggest difference between the prices.
What time do the coaches get back?
Departure from the park is at 10 p.m., after the show, and the drop-offs run in a circuit from there. One traveller staying in Cancún described a long string of hotel stops before theirs. If an early start the next morning matters, that is the fact to plan around.

Where these facts come from

The address, the distances, the drive times, the taxi range, the free parking, the bus stations and the Despeinado shuttle are Grupo Xcaret's own, checked 22 September 2026. Pickup areas, start times, durations and the 10 p.m. departure are each listing's own fields as captured on 2026-09-22. Where a traveller is quoted, the words come from a review on one of them.

Drive yourself, or book the coach as well

Next: see how the park is laid out, read what the three admissions buy, or compare every fare on Xcaret Tours.