Xcaret Park Entry Ticket with the Night Show: Which Admission $113 Buys

★★★★☆ 4.4 (2,668 traveller ratings)

Basic entry at this priceStarts at the park gateLunch only on the Plus ticketYou arrange the drive

The ticket on its own, for anyone who can reach Km 282 without a coach. You choose one of three admissions at checkout, and the figure above is the cheapest of them. Nothing here collects you and nothing hurries you out: you arrive when you like and stay to the last curtain.

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

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Three admissions behind one gate, and no bus to be on

What $113 buys you at the entrance

It buys you in, and it buys you the water. Life jackets and inner tubes come with the fare, so the underground rivers, the bays, the beaches and the natural pools cost you nothing more once you are through the turnstile. Lounge chairs, hammocks and the shaded rest areas are yours too, and so is the downloadable park map.

What it does not buy is a meal. At this grade the food and the drinks are on you, and so is the snorkel gear, which rents at $10.99 against a $25 deposit that comes back. Bring a card and some cash, because the park asks for both in different places: Katrina H. found the towel counter would take a card for the rental and only cash for the deposit. The full list of what the operator rents, and for how much, sits on the things to do page.

Basic, Plus or night: what changes, and what does not

All three admissions open the same gate. What separates them is lunch, lockers and the hour you walk in. Xcaret Plus adds a buffet, one beer, unlimited soft drinks while you eat, and the Plus Area with its own changing rooms, restrooms and lockers. That last part matters more than it sounds: Brent H. stayed until closing on the cheaper grade and carried a bag all day, because the all-day lockers belong to the Plus side and the others shut at 5 p.m.

The night ticket is a different shape again. You are in from 4 p.m., and the rivers close at 5:30 p.m., the aviary and the butterfly pavilion at 6:30 p.m. and the coral reef aquarium at 6:45 p.m. You get the horse show, the flying men of Papantla, the pre-Hispanic dances, the jungle trail and the evening performance. If the water is the reason you are going, that is the wrong ticket. The three grades are set out side by side on the visitor guide.

Getting yourself to Km 282

Nothing in this fare moves you. The park sits at kilometre 282 of the Chetumal to Puerto Juárez highway, just south of Playa del Carmen, and you arrive by hire car, taxi, colectivo or hotel shuttle. Vincent M. drove down from Cancún and clocked it at an hour and a quarter. Parking at the gate is free.

The ride home is the part people get wrong. April Josephine B. was asked for double the fare by a taxi at the gate and nearly ended up stranded with children, so agree the return with your hotel before you set off. Distances, routes and the colectivo option are on the page on getting here. If you would rather not think about any of it, the coach day out of Cancún does the driving for $185.

How a day on this ticket tends to run

1. Arrive early. Suzanne R. came by taxi at opening and had the place quiet until the coaches landed.
2. Swap the ticket. Your mobile ticket becomes a wristband at the window; bring photo identification.
3. Take the water first. Float the rivers and swim the bays while the light is good and the queues are short.
4. Break in the middle. Eat, or pay for the buffet if your grade carries it, and sit out the worst of the heat.
5. Follow the tiles. Coloured tiles set into the paths lead between the aviary, the aquarium and the trails.
6. Be out of the water by 5:30. Floating stops then, whatever time your ticket started.
7. Take a seat for the evening. The performance closes the day, and the park empties at 10 p.m.

Who this suits: anyone with their own wheels and their own plan

What the fare covers, and what it leaves you to pay

Where you go in, and what you show

There is one entrance, on the highway side of the park at kilometre 282. Your ticket arrives on your phone, and you exchange it at the ticket window for the wristband you wear all day. Suzanne R. was asked for photo identification at that window, so carry it with you rather than leaving it in the room, and a photograph of a passport has been enough for some travellers where the document itself was not.

Arrive at opening if you can. The park takes bookings from 8:30 a.m., the coach groups from Cancún land nearer the middle of the day, and the first couple of hours are the quietest the place gets. The gate is drawn, with the parking and the car route in, on the park map.

Know before you go

• The river floor is sharp. Richard T. advises water shoes or crocs; sliders and flip-flops are turned away.
• Bring a towel or rent one. A towel rents for $3.99 against a $10 deposit, and the deposit is wanted in cash.
• Lockers are not in this fare. One rents at $5.99 with a $10 deposit, or comes with the dearer grade.
• The evening gets warm. Richard T. suggests taking a fan to the show; the seating is covered but open-sided.
• It runs in all weather. The day is not cancelled for rain, so pack a change of clothes rather than a plan B.
• Some bodies are ruled out. The operator advises against it after back trouble, during pregnancy, or within six months of an operation.

What ticket holders say once they are through the gate

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