Complete guide to Xel-Ha with kids

Xel-Ha (pronounced “shell-ha”) is a nature waterpark located along the Mexican Maya Rivera, just outside Tulum. Xel-Ha is one of 7 Xcaret theme parks along the Rivera. The park takes advantage of the gorgeous natural waterscape in the area, and offers a great day of snorkelling, swimming, tubing, and adrenaline activities including zip lining and the tallest waterslide in the area.

Xel-Ha is a great choice for families looking for fun water activities while vacationing in the Maya Rivera, and can easily be combined with a sightseeing tour to Tulum.

Xel-Ha fast facts

Location: 110 km outside Cancun, 10 km north of Tulum, approximately 50 km from Playa del Carmen

Admission: Xel-Ha is an ALL INCLUSIVE waterpark. Cost of entry includes all meals, snacks, beverages including alcohol, use of lockers and snorkel equipment.

• Adult tickets (as of 2023): 154 CAD
• Child tickets: 115 CAD
• Children > 4: free

You can frequently get 15%-25% tickets by booking online in advance, bundling your tickets with other Xcaret parks, or watching for special promos on the Xcaret website. You can also purchase tickets through your resort. Xcaret also offer packages that combine Xel-Ha with Tulum.

*If you stay at Xcaret’s own hotels: Hotel Xcaret and Hotel Xcaret Arte (adult only), you will have access to all Xcaret parks for free.

There are a few add-on activities you can purchase separately. We did not do any of these, and still feel like we had a very full day.

Transportation: We recommend private transfer from your hotel (we’ve used Happy Shuttle Cancun to get around the area and were very happy with them). You can also take a taxi or rent a car. Booking a package through your resort or tour company will typically include bus service.

Xcaret photo pass: all Xcaret parks have strategically placed cameras throughout the parks, where you can scan your bracelet to snap a photo. The cost depends on the number of people in your group and how many parks you visit. The cost for a family of 4 visiting 1 park is approximately 120 CAD. If you don’t have a good action or underwater camera, this pass is a good add on to ensure you get some great photos of your day.

Hours of operation: 8:30am – 6:00pm.

Time needed to visit: we recommended getting there right at opening to take advantage of a quieter park. While you can combine Xel-Ha with another attraction (such as Tulum), you will definitely not be able to do everything the park has to offer. We do recommend spending the entire day, taking your time working through all the attractions, and enjoying the all-inclusive food and drink.

Is Xel-Ha worth visiting?

Xel-Ha is perfect for families looking to inject a little bit more adventure and adrenaline into your beach resort vacation. It’s a very fun day, especially for kids, and surprisingly relaxing for parents as well, because you don’t have to worry about planning anything! The park makes fantastic use of its nature elements, with mangroves and jungles and cenotes – we’ve definitely never been to a water park like this one!

We would not recommend Xel-Ha if you don’t like crowds. We also don’t think it’s worth going with babies or toddlers, as they would not be able to do most of the activities in the park.

If you are traveling with babies, toddlers, or family members who are not quite as mobile or adventurous, consider Xcaret! by Mexico instead. The flagship Xcaret park offers more culture and heritage experiences, and may be a better alternative. (Be sure to check our our Complete guide to Xcaret Park!)

Xel-Ha also runs a number of animal encounters, particularly through their dolphin program. There are also stingray and manatee encounters. In the spirit of animal welfare, we encourage all travellers to reconsider activities that involve handling of animals for human entertainment.

What to bring to Xel-Ha

Because Xel-Ha is an all inclusive park, you don’t have to bring much!

• Daypack/backpack – there are lockers all over the park and around all water activities. You can store your daypack for the day, or before a specific activity. If you’re doing the river trail, staff will give you large bags with locks to store your belongings, and bring them to meet you at the end of the river.

• Swimsuit – we recommend a rash guard or a one-piece with ample coverage, as you will be spending all day in the sun. It’s also helpful for activities such as zip lining where you don’t have to worry about tops or bottoms coming off.

• Water shoes – most people we saw spent the entire day in water shoes. There can be a lot of walking, but not enough that we would recommend bringing a second pair of shoes.

• Action camera or waterproof case for your phone – Even if you purchase the photo package, it’s good to have some sort of waterproof camera to capture all your fun adventures (eg. zip lining or cliff jumping), or the cool fish and underwater creatures you see while snorkelling.

• Reef-safe sunscreen – we had heard that the staff do a bag check to make sure the sunscreen you have brought is safe for the environment (typically a barrier sunscreen like zinc oxide). If not, they will exchange it for a packet of approved sunscreen. However, we didn’t experience this – although it’s still recommended to bring reef-safe sunscreen to protect the ecosystem!

• Natural bug repellent – helpful for some areas of the park like the river trail or the jungle walk.

• Cash for tipping – a rough guideline we suggest: $1 USD per drink, $5 per meal for a family

• Change of clothes – change out of your wet swimwear before you head home.

Notes for your packing list

• *Optional: snorkelling gear. Xel-Ha provides snorkelling gear, including flippers, but it is the full face-mask kind which our kids had trouble using. The park does have single-use traditional snorkels (no mask) available as well. If snorkelling is important to you, we recommend you bring your own. You can easily store it in a locker when you’re not using it.

• Life jackets are provided everywhere around the park and required for all water activities (minus the slide).

Planning your day at Xel-Ha with kids

Xel-Ha isn’t all that big, but it can get very crowded during the day. It’s quieter for maybe the first hour after opening, but stays crowded until closing, when most people leave en mass.

If your kids want to ride the water-slide at the scenic lighthouse, we recommend doing this first thing in the morning to avoid any line-ups. The waterslide opens at 9am, so you will have enough time to enter the park and make your way over right on time. Don’t bother storing your bags along the way, as there are lockers right at the entrance of the slide.

(Xel-Ha restaurants)

After the waterslide, we recommend breakfast. With so many visitors and meals being all-inclusive, there are frequently long lines for the restaurants. There are 3 main restaurants at Xel-Ha: Xula Vista restaurant (international buffet fare), La Cocina Del Pueblo (traditional Mexican fare), and La Terraza (still a buffet but more fast food options). There is also a grill (Jardin Corona), but we didn’t even make it out this way.

Technically, Xula Vista is the only listed breakfast buffet option. It opens at 9:30, but by the time we arrived after the waterslide (just after 9:30), the restaurant was already at capacity and there was a line up. If you don’t plan to ride the waterslide, we recommend getting in line early for this restaurant. We found that La Cocina Del Pueblo was *also* serving breakfast, and servers were actually walking visitors over from Xula Vista. We found it opened at 10, and minutes later there was also a line forming. If doing the waterslide, we recommend eating here for breakfast (it’s closer to the slide, anyway). The fare is more traditionally Mexican, but there are enough options for even the picky eaters.

After breakfast, we recommend hitting up the river trail, and making stops along the cliff jumping and water obstacle courses, as they get more crowded as the day goes on.

All restaurants open for lunch from 11:30 onwards (until closing). From what we could see, Xula Vista is busy the entire time, whereas there was not much of a line-up for the other restaurants. We ate at La Terraza, because the kids did not want to wait in line.

(Drinks are always readily available, as there are a number of stalls around the park for both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks.)

We recommend taking it easier in the afternoon with activities that don’t require lining up. You can do some snorkelling, take a walk through the jungle and cool off in the cenotes, or relax while the kids enjoy the children’s area.

Guide to Xel-Ha attractions (with tried and tested kid ratings)

Scenic lighthouse/waterslide – rating: 8/10

The Xel-Ha Scenic lighthouse is 30m tall and boasts great views of the surrounding park, nature, and ocean. The spiral waterslide was the longest one the kids have been on to date! If you don’t want to ride the waterslide you can just climb up to the observation tower and then walk back down.

There are 4 slides, and we were told they were all the same, although there are reports perhaps the white ones are faster. The kids enjoyed this one, but didn’t find it as much of an adrenaline rush as they expected.

A staff is on hand at the entrance to make sure you store all your gear in the lockers, including bags, cameras, and shoes. No cameras are allowed on the slide, unless you are only visiting the observation deck.

River trail – rating: 8/10

The river trail takes you through a very unique part of Xel-Ha’s nature-scape. To get to the beginning of the river, you can either walk, borrow a bike, or take a train. We chose to take the train (about a 5 minute train ride), as we had just eaten breakfast, and couldn’t be bothered to sort out correctly sized bikes and helmets for the kids.

You can either to take a tube (comes in singles and doubles) or snorkel down the river. Almost everyone we saw took a tube. There are plenty of places to snorkel further downriver, and there is more to appreciate above the water as you float through the mangrove forests. You can float all the way down to the Xel-Ha inlet (I would say about 30 mins), but most people choose to make stops at the attractions along the way.

This was fun, but extremely crowded even at 10:30 in the morning (we went right after breakfast). We were practically tube against tube going through the mangrove forest. If you choose to tube all the way to the inlet, the last section actually takes quite a bit of paddling. In fact, Big S abandoned ship and swam the last leg.

Cliff of Courage – rating: 7/10

This is the first stop along the river trail. I was extremely surprised when Lil S wanted to do this, and then convinced Big S to do it too! There are two cliffs available for jumping, both approx 5m tall. I can’t tell if the kids actually enjoyed this, and Big S complained afterward hitting the water was painful, but they were both very proud to have done it!

Trepachanga – rating: N/A for younger kids

This second stop along the river trail is a ropes obstacle course above the river. Although indicated for the entire family, we found Lil S couldn’t reach any of it and Big S (average 8 year-old height) couldn’t reach most of it either. Daniel did the tight-rope walking portion though, and said it was a work out!

Zip-lining – rating: 10/10

The kids loved this one! There are 3 “courses” (6 zip-lines in total) that all end with you landing in the water. You can choose to use handlebars or sit in a harness. The line-ups weren’t too long (this would have been just before lunch), and we did several rounds of it.

Snorkelling in the Xel-ha inlet – rating: 5/10

We were a little disappointed by this, as we expected to see more fish and underwater creatures at Xel-Ha. There are definitely fish, but not many more than what we saw at our resort beach. There seem to be several sting-rays that hang around in the area, which we saw several times both in the water and from the beach, which was neat. Overall, I would not make snorkelling a big part of your time at Xel-ha, especially if you plan to snorkel elsewhere in Mexico.

Lil S had a very hard time with her full-face mask – it may be worth bringing your own, especially for the kids.

Children’s world – rating: 10/10

The kids *love* playgrounds everywhere they go, and the Xcaret parks have it figured out just perfectly. Xel-Ha’s kids area has a small river ending in a splashing area, playground equipment like swings and see-saws, and a large tree-top trekking course. The highlight for our kids was the small water-slide that dumped them in the river for a lily-pad shaped mini-obstacle course.

This is also a perfect time for the adults to relax in one of the beach chairs and enjoy a beverage or two!

Floating bridge – rating: 9/10

The Floating bridge connects the “main” part of Xel-Ha to the jungle/forest area, and separates the inlet from the wilder ocean side. This was a highlight for the kids – the bridge really does sway and they loved trying to keep their balance, and hung around the bridge for quite a long time looking for fish.

We noticed some adults, however, having a very hard time crossing the floating bridge. (There is another way to get to the forest side if you follow the path along the river.)

The “jungle side” – 7/10

On the jungle side of Xel-Ha, you’ll find a walking trail, gardens, cenotes, caves, and a small rope-swing. It’s much quieter and “natural” here than on the main side of the park. It’s worth a walk to get away from the crowds, and it’s fun exploring the “jungle”. There are some cenotes that do not allow swimming, but it’s still a peaceful and beautiful walk. There is a small cave for swimming and a short stretch of underground river. We did not do this, as we had plenty of underground swimming at Xcaret Park.

One of the cenotes has a small rope swing, and the kids enjoyed swinging into the water. The rope is a little bit small for adults.

With all the activities and not actually very much time to do everything, when you factor in mealtimes, we did not feel the need to book any additional activities. Optional activities include Snuba, Zip-biking through the forest, and several animal encounters.

Lastly, don’t forget to relax and enjoy the day! There are plenty of hammocks and beach chairs for lounging and enjoying a drink. You can swim almost everywhere whenever you feel like it. There are fun rope bridges and sandy beaches for the kids. There are also plenty of animals to spot, such as trained parrots routinely flying overhead.

Have questions about Xel-Ha? Drop us a message!