Xenses: Ultimate Guide to a Day of Mind Bending Fun

What is Xenses?

Xenses is park that is a part of Grupo Xcaret in the Riviera Maya of Mexico. It is a park that focuses on mind bending fun and sensory exploration. You complete interactive activities that allow you to explore your environment in a fun and engaging way, often full of illusion.

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Location

Xelfies

The first thing I want to mention is the Xelfie spots at Xenses. If you are new to Xcaret parks and hotels, Xelfie spots are cameras that are set up to take unique and/or beautiful photos for you. You scan your bracelet, and smile for the camera. One thing I like about Xenses is that each spot has an example picture so that you can see where to stand and how to pose.

Now these photos are not free, you do have to pay for them, so some people just use their phone to take the pictures instead. However, Xenses is a park that you should definitely choose to pay for the photo package because the shots are super unique and fun.

Xenses has some Xelfie spots that your phone will just not do justice. Some examples are the Bird Flight zip line, going down the water slide, and especially in the town where up is down and down is up.

While we were at Xenses we took about 160 Xelfie photos, so it was well worth paying for the photo package. You do have to pay for the photo package before hand, and some people have said they were able to negotiate the price. If you choose to pay for the photo package at more than 1 park, you can get a discount for that as well.

Xenses also has several screens where you can scan your bracelet and see the photos you have taken so far. I would suggest doing this to make sure your photos are turning out well in case you need to retake any. I also suggest taking a few pics at each spot to try and make sure you get a good shot each time.

I LOVE the Xcaret Xelfies and it is one of my favorite things to do when visiting any Xcaret park or hotel. These photos are some of my favorite ever taken, and add some fun to out Christmas cards.

Activities

When you enter Xenses you enter into the colorful pinwheel, which serves as the starting and ending point, the gift shop, snack shop, and a hub of fun Xelfie opportunities. When we first entered we went to the lockers/bathroom area to drop off our bag because who wants to carry around a bag all day? In this area there a lot of fun Xelfie opportunities, so do not miss them.

We then went back into the pinwheel, and took all the fun Xelfie photos here first. Note that if you walk through the snack shop, there is a courtyard that offers several Xelfie opportunities including my favorite one pictured below.

You can either sit on the chairs around the camera, or scan your bracelet and run and stand at one of the other photo spots to be in the picture. I prefer the latter because when we sat in the chairs, the picture looked awful.

After these areas, there are 2 different paths that you can choose from, The Path of Doing and The Path of Feeling. The Path of Feeling offers dry activities, so I suggest doing this one first so that you do not have to walk around wet all day, especially if you are taking pictures. The Path of Doing offers several wet activities including a river of mud.

Please note that the famous town where up is down and down is up, is at the beginning of the wet activities. We walked through the town and took our pictures, then went back to the lockers and changed into our swimsuits to continue on to the wet activities.

Path of Feeling Activities

The Way of Dwarfs and Giants

The Path of Feeling starts with the Way of Dwarfs and Giants area. This path tests your sense of perception by making you feel small or tall. You will walk through an area where everything tiny, making you feel giant. Then you will experience the opposite where everything is large, making you feel tiny.

This area includes some Xelfie spots for you to capture your experiences. The following Xelfie was my daughter’s favorite here because she got to look like the adult in the picture, while we looked like children.

Xensatorium

The next activity is the Xensatorium. In this activity you will walk through pitch black ecosystems to test your senses. You will have to feel your way through different ecosystems using your sense of touch and sound.

This activity can be skipped if you do not like dark activities where you cannot see anything. However, if you do participate, there are workers inside that if you get scared, you wave your arms and they will get you and escort you out.

After you exit the Xensatorium, there are some beautiful Xelfie spot opportunities. They also take some photos and videos of you as you walk through the dark Xensatorium. Those are fun to look at later.

Xitric Garden

Once you exit the Xessatorium, you will walk through a relaxing garden environment where you can take in the beautiful scenery. There is a Xelfie spot with a stone head, and other opportunities to take pictures if you have your phone. The path also has a spot where you can get limeade from a tree. It is nice a refreshing, especially on a hot day.

After the Xitirc Garden, you will walk back down the Way of Dwarfs and Giants back into the Pinwheel area. You can then grab something to eat if you are hungry, change your clothes, or continue in the the Path of Doing.

Path of Doing Activities

The Path of Doing offers the more adventurous activities. On this path you will find a waterslide, the Bird Flight, a relaxing river, a mud river, and of course, the famous town. The Path of Doing opens at 10:00 AM, so if you are there earlier, you will have to take some of the fun pictures around the Pinwheel first.

The Heartbeat

You start off the Path of Doing with the Heartbeat, a large red heart that beats like a real heart. This is a Xelfie opportunity, and also serves as the entrance into the Pueblo.

The Pueblo (Town)

The Pueblo is an interactive experience where nothing is as it seems. Water flows uphill, you are standing straight but feel like you are leaning, etc. There are many different Xelfie opportunities in this area that make for some fun, unique pictures. Make sure you look for them if you want those gravity defying shots.

If you have issues with motion sickness (like I do), you may want to take motion sickness medicine before taking pictures in the town. As we started taking pictures, I got sick and had to skip all of the fun pictures. There were several other people there who were sick as well, and decided to sit on the benches at the bottom of the hill.

The Recamara

When you get to the top of the hill in the Pueblo, there is a little church looking building. This is the Recamara, and it is an area to take fun photos in. My daughter enjoyed jumping on the trampolines and having her picture taken.

The Waterslide

After the Recamara, you will enter into a relaxing area with hammocks and a little pool area. From here you will enter the water activities. First you will enter an area where you can leave your shoes to pick up on the way out, then you will enter the line for the waterslide.

The Waterslide is a fast descent into darkness, and then a pool. As we were going down the slide, water splashed into our faces and then we were plunged into complete darkness, then ended in a pool. It was a little shocking to the senses, which I guess is the whole point of this park. The pool at the bottom is about 6 feet, so you need to make sure you can swim.

There is an option to skip the waterslide if you do not want to do it, or cannot swim. There were some people who walked up to the top, and then the lifeguard showed them the path to continue walking to skip the slide.

The Bird Flight

The Bird Flight, in my opinion, is the best activity at Xenses. This is a zip line where you lay down, and “fly” through the air like a bird. This activity is super fun and you get to take in the beautiful scenery as you fly.

We did this twice because my daughter loved it and wanted to do it again. As you are flying there are several Xelfie spots, so make sure you smile for the camera for amazing pictures!

Riverlaxing

Next you will head to a warm, relaxing salt river. You can float down the river if you would like, but it is very slow and will take you forever to get to the end of it. There are little ledges on the side that we used to pull ourselves along.

The water in this river is about 2 feet deep, so you can sit up at anytime and be fine. My daughter is 9 and she was good in the river, it wasn’t too deep. There are also three rivers next to each other, and I think they must be slightly different because they told her to go in a specific one, and arranged us by height.

The Sludgerie

After the river, you can float through a river of mud. The mud is on the thinner side, it is not thick, but it does have a slimy texture to it. It is very similar to the river, except it is mud.

The mud in the river is said to be good for your skin, and the Xenses website calls it a “natural spa” that will leave your skin feeling rejuvenated.

Rain

After you exit the Sludgerie, you will be able to walk through a tunnel of water spraying you, kind of like a human car wash. As you walk through the tunnel, there are storm sounds playing to make you feel like you are walking through a thunderstorm.

This was actually fun because it is not something you normally experience. It also helps wash off any remaining mud from the Sludgerie, because the mud does get everywhere. I had to wash my bathing suit to get the last remaining bits of mud out.

Xauna

After walking through a rainstorm, you will walk through a warm, humid area known as the sauna. It is not as hot as a regular sauna as this is more open and not closed in, but it is a nice little warm up after rinsing off with cooler water.

The Breather

The Breather is a relaxing area at the beginning/end of the Path of Doing. Here you can take a dip in a small pool, or relax in one of the hammocks that are artfully arranged in the area.

There are two Xelfie spots in this area, one in the pool, and one in front of the hammocks. You can sit in the chair that is there, or hurry and lay in a nearby hammock before the camera goes off. This is a nice birds eye view photo, especially if you can snap it where there aren’t other people in the area.

Marblelous

Marbelous is a tunnel that you walk through as marbles roll down tracks and play a little tune. It wasn’t the most exciting thing there was, but it was sort of interesting to see. If you are into engineering and/or music, this may be cool for you to see.

Food

Xenses is a park where the food is not included. The have snacks that you can buy such as chips and drinks, or more substantial food like burgers and tacos. We did not eat here while visiting the park, but we have heard people say the food is not that great. I would only order if I was absolutely starving and a snack could not hold me until I got back to the hotel to eat.

Tickets

Tickets for Xenses can be purchased through the Xenses official website, or check out the packages below. If visiting multiple parks, you can often buy the tickets as a bundle, and save money when doing so.

Recap

Xenses Park is a half day of sensory fun. My family really enjoyed Xenses, and we cannot wait to go back. Our favorite activity was the Bird Flight zip line, and we always enjoy taking the unique and fun Xelfie photos. With 2 paths of activities, there is something for everyone to enjoy.

In my opinion, Xenses is a must do if you have never been there. My family had fun creating lasting memories together, and shared a lot of laughs throughout the day. We cannot wait to make more memories together in the future.