We did the half day private tour to see monkeys near Tulum with Eli, and it was perfection! He's a delightful and fascinating person and made every minute enjoyable. We saw Mexican spider monkeys and black howlers, which was incredible, and also gorgeous butterflies and leaf cutter ants, and the forest walk was easy (even with terrible knees!). If you love nature and want to spend a delightful afternoon with an excellent guide, you will not be disappointed! Thank you, Eli! read more

See all

My wife and I had a great time with Eli. He brought us to Punta Laguna Nature Reserve where we were able to observe spider and howler monkeys. Eli is knowledgeable, efficient, and fun! Recommended. read more

I created a personal tour package with Yucatan Eli's tours recently. We visited the Coba Myan Ruins, swam in a beautiful above ground Cenote near Tulum and had a delicious Lunch in a local Restaurant in Tulum. After the great meal we finished off the day by a visit to the Tulum Myan ruins overlooking the beautiful beaches and clear blue sea not far from downtown Tulum. The owner Eli was our personal guide, he is fantastic. His knowledge of history of the areas is amazing. He is well known by people at every location we visited . We will be customers on all future trips to this beautiful area! Thanks Eli and see you soon! read more

Eli was great! Super friendly, knowledgeable about local history, and very uplifting (even after a day in the sun). Highly recommend.

Amazing tour guide. My husband and I learned SO much about Mayan history, and Eli was so knowledgeable about the symbols and significance of each site. He is an amazing guide. Highly recommend! read more

Eli took great care of us in our half day Tulum ruins tour! Took his time explaining the history of the ruins, suggested amazing "hidden" spots for pictures, and has a great positive/friendly attitude towards everything. Since he operates in private tours, was willing to adapt to our needs. 100% would come back for another tour with him! read more

Went on several tours with Eli while in Tulum. Each time he didn't disappoint. If one of the attractions was closed he gave options for others. He was also awesome enough to drive us to do errands in town after the tour. Very personable and I never felt unsafe with him. Highly recommend!!! read more

The world is crazy right now, so we thought we'd escape to Mexico. With the ever-changing rules and closures, we waited until the week before to reach out. Within minutes, Derek wrote us back and we pieced together a tour. It wasn't one currently on the books, but within the next day it was uploaded and available to book. I appreciated the communication, flexibility, and knowledge they have. Eli is a wonderful guide and a true ray of sunshine. The ruins were closed when we visited, so part of our snorkel trip went by the ruins so he could show us something from the water and talk about how amazing they were. From beginning to end, Eli had so much knowledge and made everything seamless and fun. He was prepared with all the equipment we could need, water, snacks, anything! It was the first tour I've been on that felt like a good friend was showing us around. There's no other tour group out there that offers this level of service, kindness, and fun. read more

Nelson the tour guide was the best. seriously 5 star service! excellent guide!

Where, oh where, do I start? We booked a trip for Tulum in February back in October and I hit Yelp to hunt for ideas for our trip. I came across a review for Yucatan Eli's Tours and was so impressed by what I read that I reached out to them to ask some more specific questions. Derek responded to me within a couple hours and not only answered all my questions, but encouraged me to reach out if I had more questions... which, because I am an avid planner, I did. Over the several months leading up to the trip Derek gave me many insider tips and local advice- we were basically best friends when all was said and done. We planned the Yucatan Wildlife Tour in the Premium Tour Packages. The price was incredibly reasonable, especially considering this is an ALL DAY excursion with pick-up, drop-off and lunch and snacks included. Eli picked us up at 7:30am with the kind of cheer and enthusiasm that confuses any New Englander, but he also had hot, fresh coffee waiting for us so we knew he was just an actual angel in a polo. This notion was only solidified when within 15 minutes we would be friends for life, because Eli is that awesome. Our first top was deep into the jungle in Coba. We hired a Mayan guide who deftly lead us into the jungle (in flip flops!) over and under dense tropical foliage making monkey calls with his hands cupped over his mouth. Eli followed closely behind quickly educating us on all that surrounded us. Not before long we see, HARK!, monkeys! A momma spider monkey and her baby skipped across the tree tops over our heads, and then we saw the ever elusive howler monkey, and lucky for us he was stopped to answer our Mayan guide's calls! Let me tell you something, nothing prepares you for how intense and cool a howler monkey's calls are! Even this experience alone would have been worth what we paid for the entire trip. From here we visited a local Mayan village and enjoyed some roadside fresh coconut waters (in the coconut like true tropical voyagers), chili covered mangoes, and handmade wares (of which I bought many, shop local, you know?!). From there we went back towards Tulum to enjoy a delish lunch at one of Eli's favorite local spots- he has great taste, and then off snorkel in an awesome unground cenote! The waters were so cool and refreshing and there were only a handful of other people there so it did not feel crowded. Our next stop was going to be snorkeling with the turtles in Akumal, but unfortunately Mother Nature was throwing a wind-party and whipping up sand so the visibility was null. Quick-thinking Eli came up with another plan for us to snorkel in a near by lagoon so that we could still see some of what the reef has to offer. We saw barracuda, massive schools of sardines, and rainbow parrot fish among others. We were sad to miss the turtles, but hey.... this is nature are dealing with, plus it is a great excuse to make another trip. This was hands-down one of the best experiences I have ever had. Eli clearly loves what he does and this translates through every part of the excursion. You better believe that we will be looking up Eli on our next trip to Tulum, and you should too! Thank you Derek and Eli for being one of our favorite parts of our Honeymoon! read more

BEST TOUR OF THE TRIP! We booked our tour through AMA/CAA so didn't have much info on whether it was a large tour group. We received a confirmation email prior to leaving on our trip. Then the day before our excursion, we received a confirmation text on pick up location, drivers name and vehicle. A reminder text was also sent in the morning on the day of reminding us of the time change in the area. Very professional. We were a little confused when we were informed the driver was Eli and was driving an SUV? Turned out it was just us and the tour guide. No large groups. Awesome. Eli was friendly, professional, knowledgeable and funny. The 2 hour drive to chichen itza flew by as he told us all about area, growing up in Mexico etc. He is very personable. He stopped along the way to get us delicious sandwiches. At Chichen Itza he took care of everything and when we went in he took us over to the pyramid and sat us down and went through the story of the Mayans and meaning of the Temple of Kukulkan. He is so knowledgeable and explains the story so well. Along our tour he continued to explain the buildings and meanings. He took his time and was aware of keeping us in shade (it was hot) and helped us when we wanted to purchase a specialized item in the market. We truly enjoyed our tour and the whole day in general. If you want a personalized tour of Chichen Itza or anywhere for that matter (they do tours all over) this is the company to use. Thanks for everything Eli and Cory and I look forward to touring with you many times in the future. read more

I just got home from my trip to lovely Tulum, Mexico and wanted to review my experience with Yucatan Eli tours. I traveled with my Mom and sisters and wanted to treat my sisters to a unique experience while we were away. I'd heard about how amazing the Cenotes were in the area, so it was a priority to check them out on my next trip. Enter Yucatán Eli tours!! A friend referred me to them...and I am SO glad he did! I could not have asked for a better experience. From the very first conversation I had, with Derek (one of the owners), to being dropped off and saying goodbye to our tour guide, Eli (the other owner), no detail was left out. We were briefed well in advance of the tour so we knew exactly what to expect and there were some nice surprises along the way. Eli picked us up at our resort at 7:30am with coffee, soft drinks, beers AND snacks. Our day was amazing not only because of the Cenotes and snorkel adventure that we took part in, but we felt like we were spending the day hanging out with a knowledgeable friend vs being on a stuffy group tour. Eli knew exactly where to take us to avoid the crowds - we even had the first cenote to ourselves for a while, which was incredible! It was our first introduction to snorkeling AND cenotes. Eli made sure we were all comfortable in our gear and promptly helped us all into the water...and off we went!!! Our next stop was snorkeling at the reef. The boat driver took us to view the Tulum ruins from the water, which was not a part of our tour, but was impressive to see. If you have any interest in history at all, this is where Eli excels - he loves talking about history and Mayan culture - we were glad to experience this! Once we anchored by the reef, we all hopped out of the boat with our flippers and started exploring the underwater life! We saw sea turtles, sea urchins, pipefish, eels, and various exotic fish. Again, Eli knew just where to take us to get the most out of our experience! Our next stop was lunch. Eli took us to a hole in the wall Mexican restaurant that had no cars out front (typically not a great sign at lunchtime!). I'm so glad we trusted him with our plans! One of my sisters has a severe shellfish and fish allergy (ie if she doesn't get the the hospital within 15 minutes of the onset ((even with an Epi pen)), it could be disastrous). We battled this allergy the entire trip and the language barrier didn't make it any easier. Not when we were with Eli!! He communicated with the restaurant owner to ensure that every precaution had been taken, (which as you can imagine was essential to us enjoying the rest of our trip). We definitely appreciated his thoroughness here! Needless to say, the food was incredible and we left with full bellies and happy! Next stop was our last cenote, Yul-ha Lagoon. This was by far our favorite! There were so many beautiful fish to see and we spent a good chunk of the day just floating around with our faces glued to the sea life we were witnessing. It was like swimming in our very own aquarium! One important thing to note, make sure you put sunscreen on your backside!! We all ended up with burned butts...Ooops! We were sad to leave Yul-ha, but after a full day of exploring what Tulum had to offer, we were wiped out! While I'm typically the 'lounge at the resort' type of traveler, I wanted this trip to be more of an adventure for my sisters and me. Yucatan Eli definitely delivered. If you are visiting Tulum, make sure that you book your adventure with them! You'll have a completely customized, personal experience with one of the most knowledgeable tour guides I've ever toured with. Also, once we returned home, Derek and Eli shared pictures that Eli had taken during our adventure - his pictures turned out MUCH better than the ones I'd taken, so I was really excited to see those. Again, they left no detail to chance and when you've already gone through the exhaustion of planning every detail of your vacation, it's so nice to work with a tour guide business that takes the reins and plans an adventure that's exponentially better than what you'd expect! I can't wait to go back to Tulum and hang out with Yucatan Eli tours again! read more

In August I toured with Eli & we went to Tulum Ruins. Eli made the tour so interesting because he is so knowledgeable of Mayan history. Then we went zip lining over a beautiful large cenote. There were three zip lines! Then we canoed back to where we started. Next we swam in a cool refreshing cenote. We had lunch at a seafood restaurant on the beach. This entire tour was amazing! Eli is the best tour guide ever! I am returning to Tulum soon and will definitely be touring with Eli again. read more

Eli is the best!!! My husband and I went to Akumal on our honeymoon and we booked him for a tour of Tulum. We loved it so much that we booked him for a cenote tour the next day. He happened to have availability and he took us on a cenote tour that absolutely blew our minds. He was funny, kind, easy to talk to, and SO knowledgable. We loved our tours with him and we have already recommended him to multiple friends. read more

Yucatán Eli's tours are PERFECT!! I was a part of one of their Tulum Adventure tours last year, when I was in Tulum for a family member's wedding, and it was definitely a highlight of my trip. We went to a variety of cenotes, ate a fantastic lunch, and saw the amazing ruins of Tulum. So, because of the wonder and amazement of my experience in 2018, I thought that it would be great to get another tour from them this year, when I went again with some friends. When I saw that all the dates for the tour I did last time were unavailable, I emailed them and politely asked if they could accommodate us, and they certainly did! They responded quickly and politely, telling us that they would unblock their usually reserved Sunday for our group, and it was the best experience ever! The best part of it was that, even though we signed up for the one I did the previous year, the activities and places were completely different, so you know that they personalize them. They picked us up in a lovely air-conditioned van at exactly the time they said they would, even though the house we were staying at was hard to find, and took us directly to the ruins. Because we got there early in the morning, it wasn't very crowded or hot. Last time, the service hired one of the tour guides that work at the ruins, but this time, Eli gave us a personal tour, which was one of my favorite moments of the entire day! His passion for history for the city shined through as he gave us a detailed and exciting history of Tulum and its ruins, explaining the purposes of buildings, the reasonings for settlement, and the impact that Tulum had on the Yucatán. From there, we were driven to an amazing lagoon (different from the first time), where we snorkeled among tropical fish in clear, warm water. Then, we went to a great lunch in town, and finished with the most beautiful cenote that I have ever seen. It was one that was mainly known by the locals, with fewer tourists, less noise, and more of a calm vibe. The snorkeling there was insanely good, and Eli even took me around to show me his favorite parts of it. We hung out there for as long as we wanted, then we ended the day with some beers in the can back to our house. All in all, Eli's passion and true love for what he does is incredibly apparent, and it makes the tour so special. I 100% recommend Yucatán Eli's tours, if you don't go on one, you certainly are missing out. read more