Our family recently stayed in Valladolid, Mexico, and were looking to check out some different cenotes. If you aren’t familiar with cenotes, they are beautiful water-filled sinkholes that make for wonderful places to relax and swim. I love checking out different cenotes, and it is a perfect way to spend a hot day.

From the center square in Vallodolid, Hacidenda Cenote Oxman is only about a 10-minute drive (if you don’t get lost!). We drove to the cenote in our rental car.

We used Google Maps to navigate, and we had seen somewhere about Google Maps being wrong. Seriously – it WAS WRONG. Google maps tooks us to an old entrance to the cenote, which has long been closed.

Google Maps put us on a dirt road that went to a garbage dump, and so within the first couple minutes we knew we were on the wrong road.

This was clearly the wrong entrance to the cenote!

There were humungous potholes and vultures in the road eating trash.

We stopped to ask someone along the way, and were re-routed back to the main road where there is clearly a sign for the Cenote!

So, had we simply gone on Highway 180 a little bit further, there would have been no confusion.

The entrance road to the cenote is fairly short.

We were happy to see that there is ample parking here, and we even got a nice spot on the shade. That’s our rental car on the right. [We highly recommend Avant Car Rental in Cancun, as we have rented from them several times].

Cenote Oxman is located on the property of an old hacienda and former agave plantation from the 1700’s.

We paid at the main building, where there are different admission prices depending on if you want to just swim at the cenote, or if you would like lunch included, etc.

The atmosphere here is very nice and relaxing, and beautiful.

We then walked to the top of the cenote, where there is a restaurant, showers, lockers, bathrooms, changing rooms, a pool, and more. Everything seemed nice and clean, organized, and everything we needed.

We were able to view the cenote from above, before heading down.

I liked the convenience of the amenities right at the top of the cenote.

As is customary with most cenotes, we had to shower beforehand (as sunscreen and bug spray are not permitted, and the showers are to reduce pollutants in the water). There is an outdoor shower right next to the stairs to the cenote.

There are several flights of stairs down to the cenote. I read somewhere that there are 73 stairs, but I don’t know if that is accurate.

This is a large cenote with a large opening in the ceiling to let in light.

One of our favorite things about the Hacienda Oxman Cenote was the rope swing!

The cenote wasn’t very busy when we went in the morning, and I would recommend going there probably first thing in the morning, before it gets crowded. Places often fill up with tourist buses in the afternoon, and I have heard this one gets tourists that stop by after visiting Chichen Itza.

After the kids were done swimming, we headed back up to the top of the cenote. It started raining, so we took cover under one of the palapas by the pool. We liked that there were so many covered areas, and the bug nets were also a bonus. There are also other covered buildings which I believe had hammocks and other seating in them.

The staff brought over a menu. It has prices listed on it, but we had paid for a lunch package discount with our entrance fee.

The food was quite good there! I am a vegetarian, so I had the calabactias rellenas (stuffed zucchini) and they were so delicious.

Everyone enjoyed their food. This was the cheese quesadilla meal.

I like that there is everything you need here, from the cenote to food, a pool to relax in, lockers, and so on.

Pros: rope swing, bathrooms, lockers, dressing rooms, showers, restaurant (with good food and drinks!), pool, covered cabanas, everything was clean, the property was nice, plenty of parking, close to Valladolid, should be easy to find if you stay on the main road, the cenote was nice to swim in.

Cons: nothing!

Check out our other Mexico blog posts

Check out my Tips for Visiting Cenotes