Tulum Express
PRIVATE TOUR: Uncover the Tulum Mayan ruins with a certified guide, followed by free time to snag the perfect souvenirs!
- Exclusive Experience: Just you, your personal local guide, and driver!
- Private Transportation: Convenient pick-up from your hotel or rental.
- Escape the Crowds & Beat the Heat: Skip the lines & enjoy a relaxed, stress-free guided tour.
- Capture Perfect Photos: Be the first to arrive at the best spots for stunning shots.
- Set Your Own Pace: Stay longer or move on, the choice is entirely yours.
- All-Inclusive at the Best Price: Transport, guide, entrance fees, water.
Scroll down for detailed info, inclusions and itinerary.
Book your tour now and if your plans happen to change, you can cancel for free up to 24 hours prior to the tour!
- Description
- Price Includes
- General Info
- Itinerary
- What to Bring
- Reviews
Tulum Express Private Tour
Experience Tulum Mayan Ruins like a VIP !
Skip long lines, packed shuttles and crowded ruins. Our private Tulum Express tour give you the VIP treatment with direct access, private guide and more time at the ruins.
Go beyond the basics with an in-depth cultural and historical tour led by experts.mOur local guides offer fascinating insights into Mayan life, religion, architecture and more. Uncover stories that bring the ruins to life and give you a new appreciation for this ancient civilization. You’ll walk away feeling like you’ve uncovered a hidden treasure of Tulum’s history.
This Tulum express tour is perfect for those that want the informative feel for a guided tour, but the flexibility to move that their own pace. Throughout this self-paced guided tour, you will have the opportunity to visit all parts of the site, with stops at the Castillo, the temple of the paintings and several still-existing houses and palaces from Mayan history.
At the end of the visit, some free time will be offered to you to shop for souvenirs.
Your Tulum Express tour will start at your hotel where one of our guides will pick you up in private transportation. We recommend to start early in an effort to beat the crowds that generally surround these areas.
Other Tulum Private Tours You May Like
If you are looking to do more activities in one day, you can consult the following private tours:
Price includes
- Pick up and drop off at your hotel with private air-conditioned transportation (Booster car seat and baby car seat available on request)
- Experienced certified private guide
- Tulum ruins entrance fees (INAH + CONANP + JAGUAR) with pre-purchased tickets for direct entry
- Optional electric shuttle from the parking area to the ruins entrance (750 m / 0.5 mile), for guests who prefer not to walk
- Cool drinks in the van (water, soda)
Price excludes
- Ruins: In case you bring a go pro camera, a video camera or a phone with a selfie stick, there is a 60 pesos (around 3USD) per device charged at the entrance of each archeological site, to be paid in pesos (INAH tax) – Drones and Tripods for video/cameras are forbidden.
- Tips
General info
- Private Tour: Only you, the guide and the driver, nobody else!
- Duration: 3-5 hours (check the itinerary tab, as it depends on your pick-up location).
- Physicality: Easy
- Age: All ages
What to bring
- Resusable water bottle: at Tulum Ruins, it is forbidden to enter the ruins with plastic water bottles. If you wish to bring water for the visit, please bring your own reusable water bottle. We’ll have water in the van for you to fill or refill.
- Comfortable shoes for the ruins (We recommend tennis shoes)
- Hat and sunglasses
- Sunscreen
- Mosquito repellent
- Cash (for tour payment, tips, souvenirs…)
- Camera
You can bring personal belongings you require during the tour (phone,
camera, extra set of clothes…). While you are visiting or snorkeling you
can leave the things you don’t need in the van. Our driver will always
be in the van, so keeping your things safe!
99 reviews for Tulum Express
You must be logged in to post a review.
- Description
- Price Includes
- General Info
- Itinerary
- What to Bring
- Reviews
Tulum Express Private Tour
Experience Tulum Mayan Ruins like a VIP !
Skip long lines, packed shuttles and crowded ruins. Our private Tulum Express tour give you the VIP treatment with direct access, private guide and more time at the ruins.
Go beyond the basics with an in-depth cultural and historical tour led by experts.mOur local guides offer fascinating insights into Mayan life, religion, architecture and more. Uncover stories that bring the ruins to life and give you a new appreciation for this ancient civilization. You’ll walk away feeling like you’ve uncovered a hidden treasure of Tulum’s history.
This Tulum express tour is perfect for those that want the informative feel for a guided tour, but the flexibility to move that their own pace. Throughout this self-paced guided tour, you will have the opportunity to visit all parts of the site, with stops at the Castillo, the temple of the paintings and several still-existing houses and palaces from Mayan history.
At the end of the visit, some free time will be offered to you to shop for souvenirs.
Your Tulum Express tour will start at your hotel where one of our guides will pick you up in private transportation. We recommend to start early in an effort to beat the crowds that generally surround these areas.
Other Tulum Private Tours You May Like
If you are looking to do more activities in one day, you can consult the following private tours:
Price includes
- Pick up and drop off at your hotel with private air-conditioned transportation (Booster car seat and baby car seat available on request)
- Experienced certified private guide
- Tulum ruins entrance fees (INAH + CONANP + JAGUAR) with pre-purchased tickets for direct entry
- Optional electric shuttle from the parking area to the ruins entrance (750 m / 0.5 mile), for guests who prefer not to walk
- Cool drinks in the van (water, soda)
Price excludes
- Ruins: In case you bring a go pro camera, a video camera or a phone with a selfie stick, there is a 60 pesos (around 3USD) per device charged at the entrance of each archeological site, to be paid in pesos (INAH tax) – Drones and Tripods for video/cameras are forbidden.
- Tips
General info
- Private Tour: Only you, the guide and the driver, nobody else!
- Duration: 3-5 hours (check the itinerary tab, as it depends on your pick-up location).
- Physicality: Easy
- Age: All ages
What to bring
- Resusable water bottle: at Tulum Ruins, it is forbidden to enter the ruins with plastic water bottles. If you wish to bring water for the visit, please bring your own reusable water bottle. We’ll have water in the van for you to fill or refill.
- Comfortable shoes for the ruins (We recommend tennis shoes)
- Hat and sunglasses
- Sunscreen
- Mosquito repellent
- Cash (for tour payment, tips, souvenirs…)
- Camera
You can bring personal belongings you require during the tour (phone,
camera, extra set of clothes…). While you are visiting or snorkeling you
can leave the things you don’t need in the van. Our driver will always
be in the van, so keeping your things safe!
99 reviews for Tulum Express
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Arturo was an absolutely fantastic guide and made our experience in Tulum one we’ll genuinely remember.
What we appreciated most was how personal the entire experience felt. It was just our family, so we never felt rushed or like we were being moved through a typical crowded tour. Arturo took the time to talk with us, answer our questions, share his knowledge about the area, and make sure everyone was having a good time.
Beyond being a great guide, he was simply a really down-to-earth, kind, and genuine person. By the end of the experience, it felt much more like we had spent the day exploring Tulum with someone we knew rather than just being taken around on a tour.
If you’re booking with Absolute Adventure, I couldn’t recommend Arturo enough. He made an already beautiful experience that much better, and he absolutely deserves the recognition. We’re very grateful we got to have him as our guide!
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A great, no-stress way to explore Tulum!Fantastic experience. Yes, it’s a bit pricey, but the knowledge, detail, friendliness and professionalism was well worth it. Our guide, Eddy, and our driver, Enrique, made it a memorable experience. We truly “beat the crowds” as there was only one other couple at the park when we first arrived – by the time we left 90 minutes later, we could see it was going to be a busy, crowded day.
The experience was no-stress – Eddy and Enrique were at our hotel 5+ minutes early, we didn’t have to worry about traffic, they had our park passes set to go and knew exactly what they were doing.
Plus we learned more about the Mayan culture in that short trip than what we had on our bus tour to Chichen Itza plus a day at Xcaret the two prior day. Highly recommended!A great, no-stress way to explore Tulum!
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Thank you Arturo, for a wonderful experience at Tulum Ruins. We learned a lot, and you were able to answer all of questions – no easy feat!!
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Wonderful tour of Tulum with Arturo and Hugo! Highly recommend!
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ROUND TOUR. We chose this operator due to the good reviews they had, and we were not mistaken. We chose a private tour, and both our guide Josh and our driver made sure we had a perfect day.
Josh introduced us to the entire history of Tulum and answered all our questions while always being attentive to our needs. Hugo made us feel very safe on the road and was always guarding our belongings.ROUND TOUR. -
Elegimos este operador debido a las buenas reseñas leidas y no nos confundimos. Hicimos un tour privado con Josh de guia y Hugo de conductor. Josh siempre atento a nuestra necesidades y introduciendonos en la historia de Tulum.
Hugo hizo que nos sintieramos totalmente seguros en la carretera y siempre atento a nuestras pertenecias.
Totalmente recomendable !! -
Are guide, Luis, and driver, Yosmar, gave us a great tour of Tulum!
-
Awesome Tulum TourHad a fantastic tour with Arturo. His passion for the Mayan culture and history radiates from him. We did a private tour, I’ll never do a group tour again. I can’t recommend Absolute Adventure Mexico. Wonderful experience!!
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Small group, early tour is the way to see Tulum ruinsWhile in Playa del Carmen, we purposely looked for tours that would include pick up from our hotel. For Tulum, we wanted an early small group tour and this hit the mark.
We were picked up at 7am. It’s early when you are on vacation but the crowds as well as the heat, builds as the day goes on. It was close to an hour drive in an air conditioned van large enough for the 8 in our group. They provided chilled water bottles.
On the drive, our guide Luis gave us some history of the area and it’s people. The private tour included admission into the park so we sent right in. The immediate area had a small museum of the animals and people that had inhabited Tulum as well as a gift/museum type store. We stopped at both after touring the ruins.
There are tram cars that run you to the actual ruins. We walked around them while hearing more about who lived there and architectural details. Then we rode back to the museum.
After getting in the van, we made a quick stop at a tourist area to grab souvenirs and hydration drinks. We were back to the hotel by about 11:30.
It was a great tour with the right amount of time to see everything important. Very happy we went early with a small group. -
Juan was an excellent guide
-
Chichen Itza TourArturo was a great guide. He was very informative and efficient. We able to show up early, beat the crowd, get great pictures, learn as much as we wanted, and he had a great attitude.
You must be logged in to post a review.
FAQ Tulum Ruins Private Tour
You’ll have a dedicated guide and vehicle all to yourselves—no crowds, no waiting, just a smooth and personalized experience.
It typically lasts between 3 to 5 hours, depending on your hotel location and how much time you’d like to spend at each site.
Yes, round-trip transportation is included from Cancun, Puerto Morelos, Playa del Carmen, Puerto Aventuras, Akumal and Tulum. We’ll pick you up right from your hotel, resort, or Airbnb for a stress-free start to your day.
Please note: we don’t offer pick up from Cancun Playa Mujeres hotels unless your group has 6 or more adults.
Yes, you’re welcome to choose your preferred pick-up time when booking.
That said, we recommend an early morning start to help you beat the crowds, skip the traffic, and enjoy cooler temperatures—it really makes a difference!
We take a shuttle from the parking lot to the main ruins entrance, so you won’t need to walk far to get to the site.
The guided visit lasts about 45 minutes and we go at a comfortable pace, with breaks if needed.
Just a heads-up—there aren’t many spots to sit. If you have any limitations with walking or taking steps, keep in mind that a few are required to get in and out of the site and to reach the cliff area.
No, unfortunately, we cannot. The beach located within the Tulum ruins has been closed since 2020 and remains inaccessible to visitors.
Additionally, this tour does not include any stops at the Tulum beach area, the hotel zone, or Tulum town center.
Clothing & Footwear: We recommend wearing comfortable shoes for exploring the ruins—tennis shoes are ideal. Light, breathable clothing is also suggested due to the warm weather.
Reusable Water Bottle: Please note that plastic water bottles are not allowed inside the Tulum Ruins. If you'd like to bring water with you, make sure to bring a reusable water bottle. We'll have water available in the van for you to fill or refill before the visit.
You can safely leave your belongings in the van—our driver stays with it the entire time while you're out enjoying the activities.
You can cancel free of charge or reschedule (subject to availability) up to 24 hours before your tour.
We’re a small team and often fully booked 1–2 weeks in advance, so we recommend booking early to secure your spot.
Bonus: if you book at least 2 months in advance (60 days), you’ll qualify for our early bird discount*!
For full details, check out our booking policy page.
Tyler –
Arturo was an absolutely fantastic guide and made our experience in Tulum one we’ll genuinely remember.
What we appreciated most was how personal the entire experience felt. It was just our family, so we never felt rushed or like we were being moved through a typical crowded tour. Arturo took the time to talk with us, answer our questions, share his knowledge about the area, and make sure everyone was having a good time.
Beyond being a great guide, he was simply a really down-to-earth, kind, and genuine person. By the end of the experience, it felt much more like we had spent the day exploring Tulum with someone we knew rather than just being taken around on a tour.
If you’re booking with Absolute Adventure, I couldn’t recommend Arturo enough. He made an already beautiful experience that much better, and he absolutely deserves the recognition. We’re very grateful we got to have him as our guide!
Jonereno –
A great, no-stress way to explore Tulum!Fantastic experience. Yes, it’s a bit pricey, but the knowledge, detail, friendliness and professionalism was well worth it. Our guide, Eddy, and our driver, Enrique, made it a memorable experience. We truly “beat the crowds” as there was only one other couple at the park when we first arrived – by the time we left 90 minutes later, we could see it was going to be a busy, crowded day.
The experience was no-stress – Eddy and Enrique were at our hotel 5+ minutes early, we didn’t have to worry about traffic, they had our park passes set to go and knew exactly what they were doing.
Plus we learned more about the Mayan culture in that short trip than what we had on our bus tour to Chichen Itza plus a day at Xcaret the two prior day. Highly recommended!A great, no-stress way to explore Tulum!
Lauren Kay –
Thank you Arturo, for a wonderful experience at Tulum Ruins. We learned a lot, and you were able to answer all of questions – no easy feat!!
Eric Kirkpatrick –
Wonderful tour of Tulum with Arturo and Hugo! Highly recommend!
J.David –
ROUND TOUR. We chose this operator due to the good reviews they had, and we were not mistaken. We chose a private tour, and both our guide Josh and our driver made sure we had a perfect day.
Josh introduced us to the entire history of Tulum and answered all our questions while always being attentive to our needs. Hugo made us feel very safe on the road and was always guarding our belongings.ROUND TOUR.
J.David DAM –
Elegimos este operador debido a las buenas reseñas leidas y no nos confundimos. Hicimos un tour privado con Josh de guia y Hugo de conductor. Josh siempre atento a nuestra necesidades y introduciendonos en la historia de Tulum.
Hugo hizo que nos sintieramos totalmente seguros en la carretera y siempre atento a nuestras pertenecias.
Totalmente recomendable !!
David –
Are guide, Luis, and driver, Yosmar, gave us a great tour of Tulum!
Guide10399280106 –
Awesome Tulum TourHad a fantastic tour with Arturo. His passion for the Mayan culture and history radiates from him. We did a private tour, I’ll never do a group tour again. I can’t recommend Absolute Adventure Mexico. Wonderful experience!!
ruthk191 –
Small group, early tour is the way to see Tulum ruinsWhile in Playa del Carmen, we purposely looked for tours that would include pick up from our hotel. For Tulum, we wanted an early small group tour and this hit the mark.
We were picked up at 7am. It’s early when you are on vacation but the crowds as well as the heat, builds as the day goes on. It was close to an hour drive in an air conditioned van large enough for the 8 in our group. They provided chilled water bottles.
On the drive, our guide Luis gave us some history of the area and it’s people. The private tour included admission into the park so we sent right in. The immediate area had a small museum of the animals and people that had inhabited Tulum as well as a gift/museum type store. We stopped at both after touring the ruins.
There are tram cars that run you to the actual ruins. We walked around them while hearing more about who lived there and architectural details. Then we rode back to the museum.
After getting in the van, we made a quick stop at a tourist area to grab souvenirs and hydration drinks. We were back to the hotel by about 11:30.
It was a great tour with the right amount of time to see everything important. Very happy we went early with a small group.
Patrick –
Juan was an excellent guide
Navigate44274514736 –
Chichen Itza TourArturo was a great guide. He was very informative and efficient. We able to show up early, beat the crowd, get great pictures, learn as much as we wanted, and he had a great attitude.
Rose –
Private Express Tour of Tulum was just what we wanted.
I highly recommend Absolute Adventure’s Private Express Tour of Tulum. Cristina, our tour guide, was very knowledgeable and fun to be with. We learned a lot about Tulum and had a beautiful day exploring the ruins.
We were looking for a tour where we could see Tulum but be back at a reasonable time to enjoy our afternoon at our hotel. We left our hotel at 7:30 am and were back by 1:30 pm. While it says express, we never felt rushed and felt it was just the right amount of time.
Shannah –
Great guides!
Cristina was a wonderful tour guide and José was a great driver! Highly recommend them!
Kim –
Great private tour of Tulum with Joshua. Thank you!
Grace –
We took two private tours with Absolute Adventure Mexico – the Tulum Express tour and Chichen Itza tour. Our guide, Arturo, was very knowledgeable, patient with us and our five month old baby, and interesting to talk to. Both of the drivers were professional and the transportation was comfortable. We highly recommend this tour company, especially if you are travelling with children.
Anita –
We had a private tour with Absolute Adventure and were so happy we did. We took a short trip to visit the Tulum ruins and Joshua and Ivan were our guide and driver. Not only were they very punctual and attentive and friendly, they provided amazing service. As we were walking around the ruins, Joshua took extra time to explain so many different points on the ruins. He used his iPad to show us images of what the ruins used to look like. He is not only knowledgeable about the ruins, the history and culture but also the wildlife around the area. We saw many other tour groups and they were not getting the same level of service and information we were. I would highly recommend using Absolute Adventure Private Tours The group sizes are small. The vans are incredibly comfortable. The service is outstanding.
Allison –
10/10 Experience with Josh & Yosmar
We had an excellent experience on the Tulum Express Early Tour—starting early truly made all the difference and allowed us to beat the crowds and enjoy the ruins in a much more relaxed way. Everything was well organized and ran smoothly from start to finish.
Our tour guide Josh was outstanding—extremely knowledgeable, engaging, and genuinely kind. He explained the history and significance of Tulum in a clear and interesting way, and was always happy to answer questions.
A big shout-out as well to our driver Yosmar, who was very friendly and professional. The ride was comfortable, safe, and punctual, which made the whole experience even better.
Highly recommend this tour, especially if you want to visit Tulum ruins without the crowds and with a fantastic guide and driver!
Dean –
AMAZING!!!! Josh was a 11/10 tour guide. Extremely knowledgeable and great to work and chat with, same with yosmar!
fairpointe –
Perfect large family trip to Tulum
Perfect experience for our group of 11. The first ones in Tulum and back for lunch and pool time. Eddie was the best tour guide. He was very knowledgeable with a great sense of humor. I would book with them again.
Aly –
Absolute Private Tour with Josh
We had a fantastic private tour with Josh from Absolute. He was on time, super friendly, and very knowledgeable. Our group of 8 felt well taken care of, and he even shared great tips about local merchants. Pick-up was at 6:40am and we were back by 11:30am—perfect express tour! Highly recommend Josh and Absolute Private Tour.