All You Can Eat Food and Fun at Xel-Ha

Using Collectivos

Our first stop was the collectivo, which are shared shuttles that leave regularly and drop riders off at various locations along predetermined routes. This is an amazing way to get around as it's so cheap (around 50 pesos—$2.5—per person each way for this trip), quick, and easy to use. The collectivo we used, which has a final destination to Tulum, is found under the bridge at the intersection of Calle 6 Ntr and 50 Avenida Sur. You can't miss it.

Xel-ha

Xel-ha is a natural inlet and nature preserve that guests can snorkel in and has theme park vibes. There's a large water slide, a lazy river, opportunities to swim with manatees, rays, and dolphins, and water obstacle courses. Many of the things to do there are included in the $100 all-day price, including eating at any of the buffets.

Amazingly, the food was pretty good for being all-you-can-eat buffets, and we both enjoyed what we had, although I'm not quite sure what it was as there were very few signs describing or naming the various dishes. Nevertheless, neither of us had any problems. They had dessert and drinks as a part of the buffets (including alcoholic drinks—we had a couple beers each), which were also good. Accessing the food didn't take that long either, we waited no longer than 10 minutes to be seated and from there it was only a few moments to eat. Granted, it was raining a little bit, and this is during COVID times, so perhaps crowds were less than usual.

We ate twice at the buffets and had a lot of fun doing all of the activities around the park. It was a bit touristy, but it was nice to have everything in one place and not have to think too hard about what to do next, everything was really provided for you. We spent 5 hours there but could have done more easily if we had arrived sooner. So our overall analysis of Xel-ha is: Was it worth $100? Probably not. Was it still a really nice, fun, day? Yes.