Reviving this old thread. Currently on trip #2 to the Yucatan. Best way to save money for Xcaret is to reserve early and take advantage of discounts. I booked the day before directly through Xcaret website and used promo code Wifibus20 get 15% discount on April 3, 2024. The code seems to work on all parks and admission types. We got the basic admission NOT get the Xcaret Plus because the cost did not justify the added benefits (1 buffet, no locker fees, no snorkeling rental fees).
A few tips to save you money and give you a better experience:
- Parking is free for everyone.
- They offer an amazing exchange rate for USD, CAD, and EUR when paying cash in the park. At the time of this message, $1 USD = 16.50 MXN Pesos officially. At the park, when paying cash you get $1 USD = 19.25 MXN Pesos, so it's less expensive to make purchases in the park with your US cash, than using US credit card or paying in Mexican Pesos. Unfortunately, it's only for making purchases and not for currency exchange.
- They don't check your bags on entry, so bring your own food and drinks to save money. Food inside the park is expensive. There is a Walmart, local shopping centers, and multiple grocery stores in Playa Del Carmen.
- Bring your own towels to save on renting/buying towels there.
- When you use the rivers, each person gets a huge lock-and-key duffle bag to store their belongings. Very safe. The duffle bags are transported by the staff from the start of the river to the end of the river activity. Use this as a free locker. We had them hold our stuff for two hours while doing multiple rivers.
- The car parking is just outside the XCaret. Very close. We ended up keeping our dry clothes in the car and exited for 20 minutes to get changed in the parking lot vs. hauling our dry clothes all day.
- Finish your wet activities first, so you can comfortably change back into your dry clothes and sneakers for the rest of the day. Many of the activities are dry (i.e. the big show, horse show, butterfly zone, puma/jaguar zone, aviary zone, Mayan architecture etc.) and require a ton of walking.
- The kids and wife didn't want to snorkel, but expect to pay $10.99 to rent inside the park or rent/buy in town to save some money.
- The big show starts at 7pm. I had low expectations and we all enjoyed it (2 adults and 2 kids). It's a beautiful production highlighting the history of Mexico.