This is an area on the other, more easily accessible side of the Sian Ka'an Biosphere. Once you get the the Laguna beach area, there will be guides offering boat rides/experiences. At first, I thought they were trying to scam, but then talked a bit more to them and decided "what the heck!" I must say, it's 100% worth the 600 pesos/person for the boat ride/canal float experience. As of today's exchange rate, that would be about $32 a person and worth every last peso. The lagoons are absolutely stunning and the canal that you float down is peaceful and crystal clear. The guides are fairly quiet but EXTREMELY knowledgeable if you ask them any questions. There are a few ruins around that you can get out and look at as well as they will tell you the history of the canals. Very interesting and informative. The thing my husband and I talk about and remember most of our Tulum trip is this experience. Good thing to know ahead of time however is the loooooong walk on the boardwalk back to the boat. Make sure you have a good pair of Keen sandals or something that are comfortable to walk about a half mile or so. read more

I'm not entirely sure why this isn't included in the other Sian Ka'an Yelp page. Even though it is huge area and there are different entry points, calling this Lagun area a separate thing all together is kind of weird. Anwyay, the Muyil entrance for the Sian Ka'an Biosphere is much easier to drive to if you have a rental car. Many reviews we read suggested we avoid driving ourselves to the Punta Allen area because it isn't a very well maintained road and is therefore better for drivers who are used to the road. It is also a much further drive to the Puerto Allen entrance. The main difference between the two entrance points is what you will see and experience at each. At the Punta Allen location, you will see more salt water marine life. Dolphins, turtles, crocodiles, etc. It is more of a wildlife experience. At the Muyil entrance, you will be on gorgeous fresh water lagunas most of the time. The lagunas stretch out as far as the eye can see and consist of crystal clear water that reflects the sky in a beautiful way. Vibrant greens and blues that gently dance in the sun. There are boat captains that will take you from the first laguna to the second laguna and then plow through what looks like a wall of plant life where you are suddenly in canals. Some canals were dug out by the Mayans and at least one of them is a natural canal. Once you get to the final canal you are informed that it is about 20km long and leads to a salt water laguna (which is officially part of the Punta Allen side of the reserve). You are instructed to put your lifejacket on like a diaper and then you get to float down the brackish water filled canal. The water is crystal clear and sometimes you might see a sea turtle. You will definitely see fish and a lizard or two. I hate water. It scares me. Deep water or water with dark edges terrifies me. But I always push myself to do things that are water related because I always look back and am happy I did it... even if I was anxious as hell in the moment. This was one of those times. The water level varies from about 7 feet to 4 feet deep and is crystal clear BUT you are kind of trapped in the canal. On either side of you there are just walls of mangroves with no real "earth" to stand on. You could hang onto a mangrove if you had an emergency but it isn't like you could really escape the water completely and walk back to the boats. This is my nightmare. If you have similar anxieties, definitely think about that. I held onto my friends the entire time we were floating but I still had trouble with it. It was sooooo pretty and technically peaceful though. I'm glad I got to experience it with my friends. We arrived later in the day so we were in the canal completely by ourselves. Our guide said he was going to go with us but after floating for 10 minutes we still hadn't seen him. This added to my anxiety. Towards the end of the float (apprx 1.5 km) he caught up to us. After exiting the canal, we walked for about another kilometer on a wooden boardwalk through the marsh. Ironically, my friends found this part to be the scary part as they imagined falling off the boardwalk and getting bit by something. Haha. The boat ride back was made even more exciting as our guide knew no one else was coming through so he sped through a canal at full speed. Not super safe but it was exhilarating. When we got to the lagunas we could see the rain in the distance and the water had started to look darker without the bright, sunny sky reflecting on it. The other pictures that are on this page don't do this place justice. It looks like the poster used a yellow toned filter. When we were there is was very blue and green. Definitely worth doing and I would highly recommend this entrance and experience to everyone. The boat captains have a set price of $600 mxn per person. It is non-negotiable and they will all give you the same price. Because of this, we didn't tip. The guide mostly just drove the boat and plopped us in the water. He gave a little bit of the history of the lagunas but it seemed to be a very typical boat ride. It felt weird not tipping but since negotiating wasn't part of the process we figured it wasn't necessary. Had we negotiated down to $500 mxn we likely would have tipped $100mxn. So I guess it balances out. read more