Can’t say enough good things about our experience with Selvatica! We did the ATVs, zip line, cenote, and human roller coaster. Our transportation was pretty seamless, it was a few minutes late but no big deal. We were greeted with 2 beer coupons to enjoy after the adventures, and had to fill out a couple waivers/forms. We purchased the $10 insurance for the ATVs - they have a package deal with towels and a locker, so don’t worry if you forgot a towel. Definitely bring sneakers and flip flops/water shoes as well as sunscreen/bug spray.
Our tour guide, Chino, and the rest of the guys were super professional, funny, and accommodating. I was a little nervous and they made me feel at ease!! I enjoyed how they started us off small and worked our way to longer and faster ziplines.
The ATVs were a blast and we got to go decently fast if we felt comfortable. Our guide continually made sure everyone was safe and having fun. The cenote was gorgeous and the rope jump was great!! I do wish we had a little more time at the cenote, but understand we were on a schedule.
At the end, they give you a fajita lunch (which was delicious) and show you photos that were taken throughout the day on an iPad. The photos were great quality and I recommend buying all of them for $80 (I think it’s $40 a person?)
Thank you and we can’t wait to come back!!!!
This is my VERY FIRST Tripadvisor Review. I travel quite a bit with my husband and older children (19, 17, & 13) and have had plenty of great excursions. But, Selvatica and Chino, our fantastic group leader, CONVINCED me to write my 1st Tripadvisor Review!
My best friend and I spent a short five days togethers in Cancun after not seeing each other for more than two years. We decided to spend every day at the hotel, in chairs by the ocean EXCEPT for one day. Luckily, we chose to spend our one day off the beach at SELVATICA, doing their "Gimme All" Package.
I'm 42, in good shape and had no problem climbing the necessary stairs needed for these GORGEOUS rides (included in this 'Gimme All' package): a multi-rope zip-line course (with the last zip-line ending in a small, waist-deep pool of water); an AWESOME ride as a 'Superwoman' during "Superflight"; a roller coaster-like ride called "Tarzania" (where you ride a roller coaster track while hanging directly below, attached in a seated harness). It also helped that Chino was present during each activity to cheer every group member on and to verbalize our safety.
During all of these BEAUTIFUL & AWESOME rides through the rainforest, one of Selvetica's staff photographers, Pepe, took plenty of professional photos. The best part was that the staff always told us where Pepe was going to be/what leg/which experience/ and EVEN where to look to ensure the best photos!
The Bungee-Swing was an activity I found myself surprised to have done (thanks to encouragement from my group leader, Chino (who was the ABSOLUTE BEST!!!!). The word, "Bungee," has always frightened me; however, the height of the swing was not high and the Selvatica crew completely encourages everyone that 'they can do it' and places every clients' safety first!
Finally once your/our group was done with the harnesses, we had a quick snack (a lunchmeat sandwich provided by Selvatica included with price), and then it was off to get wet and dirty!! First, we arrived at their personal Cenote and did the "Aqua-Zip!" We were able to do this several times and were also able to jump up from the side of the cliff into the Cenote! After the Cenote, we then went to drive either "Side-by-Sides" or 4x4s. My bestie and I chose Side-by-Sides. Holy hell! did we have fun!! My bestie decided to drive. Selvatica made sure there was PLENTY of muddy holes to drive through!! After driving about 10 minutes, the crew let us switch so I could drive, and it was on a slightly different course. Pepe was there to take photos, don't worry!!
After getting covered in mud, we ended back at the Cenote for one last dip and Aqua-Zip to help clean off. Of course, Chino was there the entire time to cheer us on and to answer our questions. After our final dip, we came back to the gift shop/locker area, where they had prepared a fresh grilled fajita lunch of our choosing (steak, chix, veggie). Delicious. They also had a bar ready to prepare drinks and fresh guac if we wanted. Every worker (Alan, Maurice, Luis, Horatio, etc.) was extremely personable. Chino, however, was the BEST!!!
The only down side would be that with the "Gimme All" Package, it doesn't provide much time left to look in the gift shop after finishing everything (which isn't a downer for everyone). But, I went to shop for a few shirts in the 20 minutes I had left, and I couldn't tell where the mens'/womens'/youths' shirts were located, and when I asked for help, Horatio was super gracious and nice. Nonetheless, when I asked for his help, the gift shop seemed to only carry either bright red or bright yellow shirts, and they did not have a wide variety. For example, during the day you would see the staff wearing pretty cool Selvatica shirts with front and back graphics in multi color, say the shirt might be a light navy blue with green and red writing on the front, yellow writing on the back. You would see other workers with Selvatica shirts with other graphics. But the gift shop seemed to only have one main t-shirt (especially for men) and in red and bright yellow.
I noticed in the van ride back that I was the only person out of 8 adults that purchased any item from the gift shop (except for a couple that purchased water shoes). It would be great if the gift shop could organize their shirts in clean and separate sections for women, men, & youth AND ensure that they have a variety Selvatica available, especially those shirts with the graphics worn by their employees and seen by their customers. If so, I would have purchased at least 5 t-shirts, if not an additional 6 more for my brothers and my nephews.
In all, I am STILL TALKING about how AWESOME this experience was to everyone I run into since I've been home, and I tell everyone how SPECTACULAR Chino was to have as a group leader!! Thank you, Chino, for making our vacation, and Selvatica is lucky to have you!! And, thank you Pepe for taking such awesome photos for my bestie and me to remember our trip by!!
We chose to do the Polaris Option when we visited Selvatica ... we were able to zip line, ride an Polaris, and swimming in a Cenote.
When we checked in and had our orientation, I wish they would have told us that at the end of the zip line portion, you would get wet ... if we knew that, we would have changed into our swimsuits and water shoes right away. We didn't find out until we were at the last zip line station - we ended up taking off our shoes and putting them around our neck (and they stayed mostly dry) but didn't have any dry clothes for the trip home. They charged $10 to rent a locker (which we paid cash for at the gift store) ... when you turn the key back into them at the end, you get $5 of that back.
The zip line course was amazing! We had a great time going from station to station ... the staff along the way were very helpful and funny. I was happy to see all of the safety measures they have in place to make sure everyone was safe. We will definitely zip line again!
Once we finished the zip line, we had a few minutes to go to the locker to change cloths and get what we needed for the ATV ride and Cenote Swim. At that point, we had to board a truck with drove us to a different site about 10 minutes away.
We chose to ride the Side by Side Polaris ... it was perfect set up for my wife and me. During the ride, the guide stopped about half way during our time to switch drivers ... it was great because we each got to drive. Our guide did a great job flying around the course ... he allowed us to drive faster than I thought they would let us ... it was also rougher/muddier than I expected (which was good).
After our ATV riding, we walked over to the Cenote ... we were able to jump into the Cenote or ride a zip line and drop into the Cenote. The water was refreshing and we had fun swimming for a while. The time they gave us at the Cenote was perfect ... enough to do the zip lines a few times but not too long where we got bored.
From there, we took the truck back to the main area and had a nice fajita lunch ... the food was very good and they allowed us to more food from the salad bar. While eating lunch, they stopped by with iPad to show us the pictures they took of us ... I expected it but was pleasantly surprised that they were not too pushy for buying the pictures (when we told them we weren't interested in doing that).
Jorge and his team did a great job making sure we had a fun time at Selvatica ... I would definitely recommend this activity and would do it again if I had the chance.
We had booked the transfer (to and from our resort) through Selvatica when we booked the activity ... Antonio was our driver - he showed up right on time and did a great job getting us there and back safely.