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Beneath the forest just south of Playa runs an underground river. With a helmet, wetsuit and headlamp you walk and swim a kilometre of half-flooded caverns, among curtains of stalactites, columns and crystal-clear pools that no open cenote can match.
The Yucatán has no rivers on the surface. Its water runs underground through thousands of kilometres of caves in the limestone, surfacing only in cenotes. Río Secreto lets you walk inside that system.
Discovered by a farmer chasing an iguana into a hole, the cave is now a protected reserve. The visit is a guided walk and swim through about a kilometre of dry and flooded cave, with helmets, wetsuits and headlamps provided. You wade and float through cool, clear chambers hung with stalactites and rising stalagmites, formations that took hundreds of thousands of years to grow and that open cenotes cannot show. At one point the guide asks everyone to switch off their lamps for a minute of total darkness and silence.
The reserve lies about 10 minutes south of Playa. Groups are kept small to protect the cave. Small groups, book ahead.
A typical half-day visit.
Shower off any sunscreen or repellent, then put on the wetsuit, helmet and lamp provided.
Walk a short jungle trail to the cave entrance, a collapsed opening in the limestone.
Walk through dry galleries hung with stalactites, columns and flowstone.
Wade and float through clear, cool water in half-flooded chambers, with a minute of total darkness in the middle.
Climb out into the forest and finish with a regional lunch at the reserve.
Book online or through your hotel a few days ahead; packages with hotel pick-up are available.
No sunscreen, repellent or cameras in the cave; the reserve's photographer takes pictures you can buy.
Most ages and fitness levels; you need not be a strong swimmer, as the water is mostly shallow and life jackets are provided.
Playa del Carmen practical notes →Wikimedia Commons photographs are used under their licences; Pexels photographs under the Pexels licence.
