The reef is ten minutes off the pier. The island takes a week.
Which boat actually reaches the El Cielo sandbar. What a beach club pass costs on a day with four ships in. Whether the Jeep loop beats a second morning in the water. Reviews of every tour you can book on Cozumel.
Four Cozumel days worth blocking out before you land.
Shallow water, a lounger, a jungle track and a reef morning. What each one costs and what the people who booked it say.
01The shallow dayFrom Cozumel: Starfish, Stingrays and the Turtle SanctuaryStarfish, stingrays and the turtle bay, in water you can stand up in. The one that works with small children on the boat.
02The lounger dayMr. Sanchos Beach Club All-Inclusive Day PassFood, drinks and a calm west-shore beach for a flat price. Worth booking ahead when the piers are full.
03The jungle dayJade Caverns Private Jeep Tour with Lunch and SnorkelingA private Jeep to the Jade Cavern, lunch, and a snorkel stop on the way back to town.
04The reef morningCozumel Snorkeling Tour: Palancar, Columbia and El Cielo ReefsPalancar, Columbia and El Cielo in one run. Three reefs, three completely different bottoms.
Six ways to spend a day on Cozumel.
The barrier reef down the west side, the beach clubs strung along it, a jungle road to the ruins and the cavern, the wall dives, and the taco lanes in San Miguel. Pick the kind of day first, then the boat.
Four ways to get onto the Cozumel reef, and what each one costs.
The barrier reef runs the whole leeward side of the island in water clear enough to read the bottom from the boat. Snorkel it, drift over the wall on a tank, watch it through glass, or wade a sandbar with the starfish.
★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · Cozumel Snorkeling Tour: Palancar, Columbia and El Cielo Reefs
Reef snorkellingPalancar and Columbia by boat, two or three stops.
The El Cielo sandbarWaist-deep water, starfish, and a long anchored lunch.
Scuba and wall divesDrift diving on the barrier reef, tanks included.
Through the glassThe reef without getting wet. Good with grandparents aboard.
All 53 days in the water →
Cozumel runs on two clocks: the ship’s and yours.
Every island tour →
Off a cruise you have one tide and an all-aboard time, so the good bookings are the ones that leave from a pier and come back early. Staying on the island, the same money buys a slower day and the roads after four, when the tour buses have gone.
Short, close, back on time
A glass-bottom run or a reef snorkel out of the downtown marina puts you in the water twenty minutes after leaving the gangway, with the pier in sight the whole time.
The loop, the lighthouse, the lagoon
The island is about sixty kilometres round. A full day gets you the windward beaches, the lighthouse at the southern point and a long lunch, without rushing any of it.
San Miguel after the ships leave
By six the piers are empty and downtown belongs to the island again. Taco counters, a mezcal or two, and the waterfront square where families come out to sit.
The Cozumel days out more people book than any other.
Every tour we have reviewed on Cozumel →Beach clubs, reef boats and jungle runs, in the order the island actually books them, with the price each one starts at.
1
Mr. Sanchos Beach Club All-Inclusive Day Pass
Spend up to nine hours at Mr. Sanchos Beach Club in Cozumel with buffet meals, unlimited mixed drinks, a reserved beach area, pool bars, lockers, and an ocean kayak. Arrive any time after 8 a.m. by taxi from the cruise piers. Extra-cost options include the aquatic park, massages, parasailing, and photos.
From · $79
Read our review →
2
Cozumel: Paradise Beach Club All-Inclusive Day Pass
from $81
3
ATV 4×4+Snorkeling+Beach Club+ Lunch+Sabores de Cozumel
from $89
4
Cozumel Snorkeling Tour: Palancar, Columbia and El Cielo Reefs
5
From Cozumel: 3 Reefs Boat Tour with Drinks and Snorkeling
from $57
6
The Cozumel Turtle Sanctuary Snorkel Tour
from $65
7
Submarine Atlantis Cozumel Adventure by Day & Sunset
from $120
8
Private Jeep Excursion in Cozumel with Lunch and Snorkeling
from $74
The other half of Cozumel is a dirt road with a cavern at the end.
Behind the hotels the island is scrub jungle, limestone and a track that comes out on the windward beaches. Most of these days pair the drive with the Jade Cavern, a Maya village stop or a swim before lunch.
A Cozumel beach club is a whole day bought at the gate.
One price covers a lounger on the calm side, the buffet, the bar and usually a kayak. The west-shore clubs sit on flat water all morning, which is why every cruise day fills them by ten and the passes sell out before the last ship ties up.
El Cielo is a sandbar, and half of Cozumel is trying to reach it.
A shallow bank off the south-west shore where the water goes waist deep and pale, the starfish sit on the sand and the boats raft up for lunch. Catamarans get there slowly with a bar aboard; a small boat gets there first.
Every El Cielo trip →
What a day on Cozumel actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by price. The reef is the cheapest thing on the island and the boat you take it on is what moves the number.
Reef snorkel runs, glass-bottom boats, park entry and the shorter town walks.
Beach club passes, El Cielo catamarans, Jeep and ATV days with lunch thrown in.
Private boats, chartered Jeeps and the all-inclusive days built for a group.
Three things that happen off this coast and nowhere else.
Warm water and taco stands exist all over the Caribbean. A drift wall you fly along without kicking, a sandbar you stand up on a mile offshore, and a cavern under the scrub do not.
Drift diving Palancar
The current runs north along the reef here, so a dive on the Palancar wall is mostly a matter of floating. Divers drop in, get picked up wherever they surface, and spend the hour looking sideways into coral heads the size of buildings rather than swimming at them. It is the reason people come back to Cozumel with their own regulators.
- 1Discover Scuba Diving in Cozumel Paradise Reef★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 686 reviews
- 2SeaTrek Underwater Helmet Diving Experience in Downtown Cozumel★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 214 reviews
- 3Cozumel Scuba Dive at Chankanaab★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 153 reviews
The El Cielo sandbar
A mile off the south-west shore the bottom rises into a pale shallow bank, and boats tie up in water you can stand in. Starfish sit on the sand where the guides ask you to leave them, lunch comes out on the deck, and the horizon is the only thing above eye level all afternoon.
- 1Cozumel Snorkeling Tour: Palancar, Columbia and El Cielo Reefs★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 1,462 reviews
- 2Lagoon 39ft Private Catamaran 5hr – El Cielo Full Experience★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 600 reviews
- 3El Cielo, Palancar Snorkel & Beach Party Experience★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 535 reviews
The Jade Cavern
The island is limestone with a jungle on top, which means water hollows it out from underneath. The Jade Cavern is the piece of that most tours reach: a lit chamber and green water down a track that only a Jeep, an ATV or a buggy is going to get you along.
- 1Jade Caverns Private Jeep Tour with Lunch and Snorkeling★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 525 reviews
- 2Jade Caverns and Mayan Village Cozumel ATV TOUR★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 507 reviews
- 3ATV Adventure to Jade Cavern with transfer★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 376 reviews
Four Cozumel bookings that will not wait for you.
Most of the island can be arranged over breakfast. These four run on park gates, boat manifests and cruise-day demand that has nothing to do with when you get around to it.
- 01El Cielo, Palancar Snorkel & Beach Party ExperienceThe sandbar boats leave in the morning while the water is still flat, and each one carries a set number of people. Afternoon departures are a different, choppier trip.
- 02Private Buggy Tour and Punta Sur Park: All-InclusiveThe park has fixed opening hours and the gate shuts in the afternoon. Arrive late and the lighthouse and the lagoon are a drive-past.
- 03Discover Scuba Diving in Cozumel Paradise ReefBoat dives run to a manifest and a medical form, and instructors take a fixed number of first-timers per morning. Same-day is the exception, not the rule.
- 04Cozumel: Paradise Beach Club All-Inclusive Day PassPasses are capped, and on a four-ship day the calm-shore clubs sell out before the last gangway is down.
A north wind can close the Cozumel water for a day.
Between autumn and spring a norte comes down the channel, the ferry gets rough and boat trips get cancelled at the dock. It is not a lost day. The lee side, the caverns and the kitchens all carry on, and the town is at its best when the sea is not an option.
Cozumel keeps its wild end behind a park gate.
Chankanaab has reef, gardens and a lagoon a few minutes from town. Punta Sur, at the southern tip, is crocodile lagoon, empty beach and a lighthouse you can climb. Both run on park hours, so they are morning plans, not afternoon ones.
- 1The Cozumel Turtle Sanctuary Snorkel Tourfrom $65
- 24 Hour Cozumel Turtle Sanctuary Experience on a Luxury Catamaránfrom $77
- 3From Cozumel: Starfish, Stingrays and the Turtle Sanctuaryfrom $52
By kind of day: water, sand, track or table
By name: the reefs, parks and places people ask for
Reef first, sandbar second, and the jungle road when your shoulders have had enough.
Jade CavernThe newest Cozumel reviews.
More new Cozumel reviews →
Private Jeep Tour: Punta Sur, Mayan Park & Snorkel Adventure
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Otoch Mayan Experience Tour: Cultural & Historical Adventure
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Cozumel Buggy Island Tour, Otoch Mayan Experience & Clear Boat
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Power Snorkel by Sea Scooter & Flavored Tequila tasting
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Cozumel ATVs, El Cedral Ruins, Cenote Jade, and Tequila
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15-minute Private Parasailing Experience in Cozumel
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