Welcome back again for more of our Mexico vacation. I think I have one more post after this one. I had to write a whole post about Xel Ha because it’s such a fun place to go. Xel Ha is an ecological park in Mexico – part flora/fauna and part active fun! 
Alan and I have been married for almost 25 years. Fun fact – we went to Xel Ha on our honeymoon! Things sure have changed at this place since then! Back then this park was pretty much a place to snorkel and look at fish. It’s so much more now!
One new thing at the park is this 130 ft observation tower. Notice anything about the tower? Yep, it’s a waterslide around the outside!! It was a heck of a lot of stairs to walk!
The slide was OK. Wasn’t worth another hike up the stairs though! Kinda slow going around to start, and then at the bottom it went really fast and dumped you into a pool. The weirdest thing? It was a salt water slide!!
There was a fun rope to swing and jump off of…
Another new feature is this rope “challenge” park. Ropes and bare feet are not the most comfortable! I tried to channel my inner American Ninja Warrior skills, but sadly I have none. Despite having some decently shaped arm muscles, I really lack upper body strength!
The kids did a great job tackling the ropes!
This walking rope was hilarious because everyone swings the rope back and forth purposely trying to knock people off – and the distance between the top rope and bottom rope rapidly got too far apart for short people like me… so I didn’t last long on it!
Of course there were cliffs to jump off! That’s Zack going down. See that rope ladder on the side? That was one way to get up there. HOLY CRAP, it was sooooo hard to climb up that ladder! I had to have a celebration when I reached the top!
There is also a smaller kids area… which my kids are (sadly) rapidly getting too big for.
The park is made up of a large center area full of fish for snorkeling. It has a mix of fresh cool water (from the lagoon area) and water coming in from ocean (salty warm water). You have the option of riding on an innertube through the mangroves or snorkeling through it. Of course we chose snorkeling! Just like the cenotes, it’s very clear, cool water.
In addition to a few other fun things to do and see (manatees!), they had zip lines. Love me a good zip line ride!!
If you are planning on going to Mexico sometime, I definitely recommend making sure a trip to Xel Ha is on your agenda. The ticket price also include buffet food and drinks, because people like to eat a lot on vacation. Seriously, this trip packed a few pounds on me!! It’s all good 🙂 🙂
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Q: Have you ever revisted a place years after your first visit and been amazed at the changes?
Q: Are you mindful of your diet on vacation?
I’m pretty lenient and like to enjoy all that my vacation has to offer (eat all the food!!).
Q: Do you watch American Ninja Warrior?
Love that show!
It’s amazing how huge Xel-ha has gotten over the past 25 years! Too bad we didn’t keep a brochure from the first time we went there. Would be interesting to see how much has changed.
Awww so cute you guys got to go back to a place you went on your honeymoon!!! 🙂 Do mostly tourists go to this park? I love seeing the blue water.
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There was a surprising amount of Mexican people there too, but the majority was probably tourists. I suppose it’s like us going to Cedar Point. I saw XelHa offered discounts to “locals”.
Xel-Ha was awesome! We didn’t get a chance to do everything we wanted because Abby was stuck on the zip lines for so long, but we had fun regardless. Did you see any Barracudas by the floating bridge?? They look intimidating even in the water at a distance!!
We didn’t see Barracudas at Xel Ha, but we did see some scuba diving AND at the hotel beach last year! They are so badass looking. Love them!