Parador Turístico Celestún

If you are in Mérida or even Cancún, definitely consider going here. The flamingos alone will mesmerize you. We got there at around 8 am on a Sunday, even though they are supposed to open at 9, but everyone was there early. The rental costs 1,800 pesos per boat, so we decided to wait. Thankfully, we didn't have to wait long, at around 8:30, there were already 4 groups of people, although this is entirely up to luck. So we shared a boat and ended up paying just 300 pesos per person. Our tour guide was amazing, he didn't speak any English so keep that in mind, but he went above and beyond to make our tour worthwhile. We saw so many flamingos, 3 big groups, and we got as close as possible, without disturbing them. You get to see alligators, Canadian pelicans, so may different kinds of birds, fish, the mangroves, etc. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity, so definitely take it. You'll find clean bathrooms in the facilities and vending machines, some souvenir shops with everything flamingo, and people selling candy and some snacks. Remember to tip your tour guide!

You will see a lot of flamingos, crocodile, plenty of different birds. Great experience.

This tour is amazing! We got to see flamingos, crocodiles, some kind of other birds, then the boat takes you throught the little island, it's like a fairytale, and at the last stop you can get off and walk through one of the islands and even swim there.

We are fortunate because we rent a car on the weekends to be able to get out of Merida and see things. This is a pretty easy hour 20 minute drive out of Merida. two lane road for most of the time but pretty much no way to get lost. We went in Jan of 2021 during covid. So I've read sooo much mis-information about tours here and I'm sure there is more than one way to check out the flamingos but here's what we did. Once you cross the bridge over ria celestun (its a female river) the FIRST place to turn off on the left is the the reservdela boisfera ria cleestun - parador turisum on the sign - you can't miss it. Go park, walk in, use the restroom, buy a ticket. The ticket is 1800 pesos to rent the boat. During covid times, it one group per boat - basically the group you came with. I don't know if they allow for combining groups. The price wasn't that much to have the boat all to ourselves - YMMV. By taking the tour from here vs on the other end of town (gulf of Mexico side) you can start out where you need to be vs having to motor all the way around the point and back. Walk down to the pier and the next available boat guy will meet you there. Our guy spoke some English so all the better for me. My wife speaks Spanish so she's been a translator for a couple of weeks now. It took less than 10 minutes to get to where the first batch of flamingos where. on the way over he knew where some crocodiles where hanging out so we got to see like a 4 ft one (head only above the water) kicking back. We've had great luck with guides and today was no exception. it also helped that we were the ONLY boat on the river (it DOES pay to arrive early ;-) - beat the heat and crowds) he got us close to every group of birds he could without scaring them off. We check out some other birds as well. As part of the tour we did the mangroves. He lets us sit on the front of the boat slammed the throttle and powered into a little opening in the mangroves - like a whole different world once you enter. we parked and check out part of a - not really a cenote - but fresh water was bubbling out of the ground and lots of those fish that will eat your toes where there. He said we could go swimming but we had not prepared for that so unfortunately we didn't get to jump in. After that we checked out another 'creek' into the mangroves got out and looked around there. There are walkways to do all of this BTW. We check out every group of flamingos we could except for one which was in too shallow water so we couldn't get close. Headed back after that - gave our guy a great tip for a great ride and headed back to Merida. Good times and we got to see thousands of Flamingos in a natural location along with a lot of other sea birds. Hopefully this will be helpful to others.

Amazing views from the Flamingos, the cocodriles and the manglars, people was extremely nice, my friend is in a wheelchair and they went above and beyond so he could experience the board ride!!