If you do one thing on your trip to Cancun, you absolutely MUST go to on an Edventure Tour. A friend recommended the tour to me when she went, and I am passing the great advice along.

Edventure Tours offers so much: ziplining though Mayan ruins, snorkeling in Dos Ojos (the largest cenote in the world), snorkeling with sea turtles, hiking through Mayan ruins and much more! Best of all, you get to decide what activities to participate in and who you go with, so you truly customize your own adventure. The cost is VERY reasonable considering the quality of activities and the knowledgeable staff. From the time you arrive to the time you're dropped off, you will feel completely at ease with the friendly staff, which will have pointed out every possible excursion, point of interest and general information along the way. They also take pictures of you and your group throughout the day (including underwater scenes!) so if you choose you can purchase a copy at a very reasonable price.

A small deposit for Edventure Tours is required, but it is through PayPal, so you won't wonder whether your money is actually going to your excursion. The rest of the cost is paid on-site. Plus, the owner personally follows-up with you to confirm payment and inquire about your preferred date and activities, so you know exactly what you're getting prior to your trip. He also lets you know what you should bring (i.e., sunscreen, towels) so that you're prepared.

Edventure Tours was definitely the most exciting part of my vacation; why not make it yours?

Ed, Bonnie & Hector were so nice, and gave us such an amazing experience! We snorkeled cenotes, zip lined through the jungle, fed a spider monkey bananas, swam with sea turtles and stingrays, and enjoyed some of the most beautiful scenery in Mexico - this is why you come to the Riviera Maya, right?!?!

This team is professional, yet very friendly and laid back. Doing the full day's worth of activities requires stamina, but is worth it. You will not be disappointed!

Our experience with Edventure Tours was different than the average commercial tour we're used to but still a positive experience.

Our driver was a friendly, funny, helpful guy who put us at ease. He took us to the Edventure HQ in Tulum where we picked up our snorkeling gear for the day and met with our tour guide.

Our tour guide, Hector, was very knowledgeable - a great resource for people who want to know what bars/clubs/restaurants are worth visiting in the area. He was also fluent in English and so communication was never an issue.

We had emailed Bonnie and Ed (owners) before arriving in Mexico to let them know that we were only interested in 3 activities of all that was offered: the cenote, the turtle bay and the lagoon snorkeling. Since our party was just my husband and I, I wasn't sure how they were going to arrange our request. I was concerned about having to participate in other activities that we weren't interested in or wait a long time and watch people do activities that we weren't interested in but that wasn't the case.

There was a bit of waiting involved as we were joined with only one other couple. They were picked up earlier and had a chance to visit the Tulum ruins while we were en route to the Edventure HQ. We were taken to a clean water pond to swim and hangout while the other couple did the zipline so all in all it wasn't bad - the wait time was really minimal.

Despite the many activities crammed into one day, we found that there was just enough time at each site. I would recommend all 3 sites that we visited. We didn't expect to see any turtles at the turtle bay but we did! They were absolutely maginificent! Hector pointed them out and we probably wouldn't have spotted them if he hadn't. He offered to take our photos at the right photo opportunities. He was clearly an experienced guide.

A few caveats that you should consider if you are considering this Tour company:

If you don't have a large group and therefore your own group for the day, you will have to be flexible to the needs of the others in your group.

Keep in mind there may not be a schedule past the pick up time. It was a bit nerve wracking for me to not have a clear cut schedule but the trade off is that we got to dictate the schedule. The tour was personal and flexible to our interests.

All in all, I would recommend this to others provided they understand the unique nature of this tour.

I can’t say enough about our wonderful day with Edventures! We thoroughly enjoyed our entire week in Mexico, but without a doubt our Edventures day was the highlight, and when we look back on our trip in years to come, I’m sure those are the memories that will stick with us, much more than the time we spent on the beach and by the pool!

We initially weren’t too sure whether Edventures would be right for us because our kids are very young – our son just turned 5 and our daughter is almost 3 – and it seemed like the reviews we saw were mostly families with older children. I emailed the company and Bonnie wrote right back to tell me that yes, they could accommodate our kids; she explained that they have the right equipment for both kids (including a carseat!) and suggested that we arrange a private tour so that we could take everything at our own pace, take turns doing the activities if one of us needed to stay with our daughter, etc. So we went ahead and booked it, and it was one of the best decisions we made in planning our vacation! They did indeed accommodate our kids wonderfully. We chose to do everything except the sea turtles, and it was perfect - a full day, to be sure, and we were all tired by the end, but it was not too much for any of us, including our 2-year-old.

Our day was superb. We started by visiting the ruins at Tulum; I was very eager to see a real Mayan archeological site, since we weren't going to make it to Chichen Itza or Coba on this trip, but it was very hot and crowded and of course the kids didn’t care for it too much (although my son now says he really liked it). My husband and I would have gotten more out of it if we’d gone with one of the official guides, but we knew that wasn't going to fly with our kids, so we went in, read a few interpretive signs, snapped some photos, and left.

That was when the real fun began! Eddie, the owner, was our guide, and he was amazing – he is excellent with kids and just a wonderful, laid-back guy to spend the day with! We went ziplining first, which we had never done and weren’t too sure we would enjoy, but we all loved it; we flew over a beautiful little lake in the middle of the jungle. My son was hitched to my husband, and my daughter was hitched to me, so we could all ride very safely and comfortably. My son declared it was “the awesomist thing I’ve ever done!” Eddie and the rest of his guides take groups to the site in the morning, before the tour buses pile in. Next we – or rather my husband, since the rest of us didn’t try it – went cliff jumping into another beautiful little pond. (My son jumped off the dock, while we girls just swam.) We then fed an adorable spider monkey on our way to the Dos Ojos cenote. Here’s where we started to realize how lucky we were to have Eddie as our guide: he got us all set up to snorkel (we had never done it before, but we all caught on quickly, including our 5-year-old, who is a good swimmer for his age) and then he put our daughter in a little float and swam with her, keeping her happy and entertained while the rest of us snorkeled and marveled at the cenote. Our daughter, who doesn’t normally open up easily to strangers, was happy as could be, chatting and laughing as she floated along with Eddie, and the rest of us could relax and enjoy ourselves. We then had a delicious lunch on the beach in Akumal – the best food we had on our entire trip – and then snorkeled in the lagoon, where we saw tons of beautiful fish while Eddie again kept our little one happy.

One thing to note is that when we arrived at the hotel, the rep for our travel company tried to tell us he had never heard of Edventures, didn’t recommend we go with them since our insurance was through his company, and said we should take his company’s tours instead (of course, he gets a commission for selling us his tours). The other group from our hotel heard the same story from the same tour company rep on the same day, so we know it was all part of the sales pitch – our Edventures driver said all the companies do the same thing.

I would very highly recommend Edventures to anyone who wants to get a taste of what the Riviera Maya has to offer outside of the resorts. Book your tour today – you will not be disappointed!