Start in the morning at Tulum, the walled Maya city above the Caribbean Sea. Your SECTUR-certified local guide walks you through the temples and along the cliffs for about an hour and a half, explaining the history and the sea trade that made Tulum so important. Admission to Jaguar Park is included, so you can add the museum, lighthouse or watchtower if you like.

Then leave the busy side of Tulum behind. With life jackets and waterproof torches, you enter a cave system in the Yucatan's underground river network, swim through crystal-clear water and come out into a cenote, far from the stops used by large tour groups. Finish with lunch at a local taqueria.

The tour is private, so only your group participates and the timing adapts to you. Pixan Travel's founder, Diego Viadero, guided travel writer Rick Steves and his family in the Yucatan, a trip Rick featured on his travel blog.