Grutas Tolantongo quickly made it onto our bucket list. As soon as we had crossed into Mexico friends and followers would message us about this place. It kept popping up everywhere! And everytime I saw a picture on Instagram or social media I could not wait to visit this place myself.
There is no denying that Grutas Tolantongo is a place of divine natural beauty. But we definitely feel that pictures only tell part of the story. In actual fact it was quite different from how we may have imagined it from seeing it on social media previously.
So let us provide you with a more complete picture and share this honest, unfiltered review with you. Grutas Tolantongo is a stunning destination, which embraces Mexican culture but should not be confused with a luxury spa resort.
Here is everything you need to know before you go to make the most of your stay!
For more inspiration also check out TOP 20 THINGS TO DO IN MEXICO or watch our travels through Mexico on You Tube!
How to get there
Grutas Tolantongo is about 200km (125 miles) north of Mexico City. The drive takes around 3.5 hours and it’s definitely recommended to secure a hotel nearby and arrive nice and early in the morning to ensure you get the maximum amount of time to enjoy all that Grutas Tolantongo has to offer.
We found the drive, especially the closer we got, absolutely stunning. We saw the sun rise across the beautiful mountain range with breathtaking views of the valley on our way there.
The last stretch is a long and curvy serpentine gravel road until you reach the entrance. You don’t need a 4×4 and it’s not a challenging stretch of road for Adventure motorbikes either. We were fully loaded and enjoyed the ride.
When to visit Grutas Tolantongo?
First of all, forget about having this place to yourself as you may have seen it on social media posts before. Yes, it’s not as well known in other parts of the world but in Mexico it’s a very popular place to visit. Avoid any kind of national holidays or weekend if you want to share this place with fewer people.
Fiona and I visited Grutas Tolantongo as part of a bigger road trip. We were just coming from visiting San Luis Potosi and heading towards Mexico City. So it was very much a stop off on our way through and unfortunately for us this happened to fall on a busy weekend. Ouch!
Take our word for it how busy this place gets and pick a quieter time than we did!
You won’t be able to pre-book hotels
There are four hotels located inside the Grutas Tolantongo.
- “La Gruta” hotel: closest to caves, tunnel and river
- “Hidden Paradise” hotel: best for natural landscape and proximity to thermal pools
- “La Huerta” hotel: best for views of the river and surrounding mountains
- “Molanguito” hotel: recent addition to meet demands and probably the least exciting option
None of the hotels inside Grutas Tolantongo accept bookings !!!
If you want to reserve a room, you need to get here as early as possible, queue, cross your fingers and hope for the best. We found it very unrelaxing standing in line not knowing if we’d be able to get a room or not for quite some time.
Click here to find out more information about opening times, prices and other useful things to know.
Your best shot at securing a hotel room at Grutas Tolantongo
Fiona and I wanted to be here at 7am to increase our chances of securing a room. We were still quite a drive off and had to get up at 4.30am to make it happen. But imagine our surprise when we started passing big, huge tour buses heading in the same direction. We certainly started to get a feel for how busy this place would be. We got here early but we were far from being the only people here. After we got into the queue many more people kept arriving closer to the opening time.
If you want to secure a hotel room get here as early as possible! The Grutas Tolantongo water park opens at 6 am. Fiona and I arrived around 8am. But we still had to wait for a good hour to find out whether or not we could check into the hotel.
The hotels are in different locations. So while you queue at one hotel, you can’t really check for availability in the others. We queued for “Hidden Paradise” and around 9am we found out they had a room for us.
Check-in
Sometimes early check-ins are possible but certainly not on a busy day like ours. We were told to come back around 1-2pm. Meanwhile we could store our belongings at the office and enjoy the thermal waters. It was a mission carrying all our stuff as the parking space were we left our fully loaded motorbike was a little walk away from the hotel. But we were grateful they agreed to take in our belongings at least (which they looked like they dearly regretted once they realised how much stuff we had). Their office is tiny!
Grutas Tolantongo Thermal Pools
As we were staying in the “Hidden Paradise” hotel, we were located closest to the thermal pools. We were finally ready to experience the hot spring wonderland we had imagined! Picture a bunch of infinity pools carved into a natural cliffside overlooking the beautiful Sierra Madre mountain range.
I want to tell you that it took my breath away. But instead I was really surprised to see that amongst the stunning infinity pools people had pitched their tents. It was an eye sore to say the least.
Then we got into the water. Surprisingly it was lukewarm. I expected the water to be nice and hot. I should add that I’m a HUGE fan of thermal pools! But I’ve never visited thermal pools that were lukewarm. It was a warm, sunny day with bright blue sky. Nonetheless, I couldn’t see myself chilling in the pools for longer than 15-20 minutes.
Yes, we took beautiful pictures. But be under no illusion. The pools were busy! People kindly moved out of the way when we tried to take a picture though. So with a bit of patience we got some pretty awesome shots.
Getting around Grutas Tolantongo
The entire complex of the water park is huge. The main attractions are the thermal pools, the thermal river and the cave. But it can take around 45 min. walk one way along the river to get from the thermal pools to the cave. There are taxis, but we found them relatively expensive (in relation to the entrance fee anyway). And besides, we wanted to explore the place and were keen to get around by foot, taking in the pretty views.
Watch out for on-going construction works
The walk was indeed beautiful. But surprisingly we passed so many building sites. There is a huge drive to expand the water park and accommodate more visitors. So everything from new hotels to new man-made pools and even restaurants are being built. Watch out for the odd metal rods sticking out from the ground and make sure you don’t trip on any debris whilst walking around.
It’s also totally unrelaxing to use some of the facilities with the noise of building work going on in the background. Even the main thermal pools are being expanded and depending on where you are, you’ll hear the building work.
The thermal river of Grutas Tolantongo
After some walking we reached the volcanically-heated river which originates in the main grotto and follows the canyon floor. It flows down in sections creating perfect little pools to relax in. As the water is flowing down a slope you can hear the water flow from each pool to the next.
But something was taking away from the river and the natural beauty surrounding it. The entire stretch along the river was covered in tents, people barbequing, music blasting out of big speakers and it was so crowded that it felt like we were walking through a funfare.
It was like a little festival was going on with people pitching their tents right by the river. We continued towards the cave which was a further 20 min. walk.
The cave of Grutas Tolantongo
The closer you get to the cave, the hotter the water of the river gets. Finally, I thought … hoping the water would be warmer than the thermal pools.
As you get close to the cave, you’ll be required to lock all your belongings into a locker as you are not allowed to take anything with you inside the cave. So we followed the instructions and then proceeded to the cave where we were greeted by a queue leading into the cave.
The cave is located inside a cliff which is covered in vegetation with a stunning waterfall flowing right down it. It’s so beautiful to stand in front of it that we didn’t mind queuing for the cave at all. The cave is also the source of the water which flows directly down the river from it.
To enter the cave you need to walk through the waterfall. Despite all the thermal waters and hot temperature inside the cave, the water running down the cave as you enter is cold. But don’t worry, as soon as you enter it’ll get seriously hot so we actually appreciated this refreshing surprise.
The tunnel of Grutas Tolantongo
After entering the cave you can walk through a 40 meter long tunnel which features stalactites and stalagmites. The temperature rises significantly the further in you go. The warm water is about knee high with only one part that requires you to swim a few meters across (ropes provided). I almost didn’t make it to the very end of the cave as I felt so hot I thought I was going to faint. You can turn back at any time if you feel unwell though.
We really enjoyed visiting the cave despite it being quite busy. It’s absolutely beautiful and after feeling disappointed with the temperature of the water so far, I certainly appreciated what felt to me like entering a steaming, hot sauna.
Eating at Grutas Tolantongo
There is no food shortage here and there are many different places to eat. Some basic looking eateries and some proper restaurants, but essentially all serving more of less the same food. You can definitely find cheap enough places to eat if you are on a budget. Many families also BBQ all along the river so there is always a smell of freshly grilled meat in the air.
Nighttime at Grutas Tolantongo
After sunset and dinner we decided to go back to our hotel. The walls were super thin so we could hear every word the people next door were saying. Although we all had private rooms it still felt like a shared space. But what really bothered me is the ever louder blasting music coming from the various speakers around. Taste of music aside, the quality of sound the speakers were producing was terrible. Never mind that different music was being played on top of each other at full blast. We just wanted to relax in our room but it was impossible. I feared it would continue all through the night and I wasn’t looking forward to it. Then, completely out of the blue, all heaven broke loose. It started thundering and you could hear the windows being battered by torrential rain.
I immediately thought of the many poorly set up tents we saw throughout the day. I was pretty sure that many people would not be able to stay dry in these weather conditions. But almost instantly all music stopped and it was quiet and peaceful. I felt so relieved and it was so relaxing for the rest of the night. Yes I felt pretty bad for anyone camping that night, but I was too busy enjoying the outcome of the drastic change in weather, as that it would cause me a sleepless night.
If you like the idea of walking around, having some drinks and quesadillas to loud music, this might be just your ticket. But if you want to relax away from the noise you may prefer to find a hotel located outside of the resort.
Best time to take photos
The best time to take photos is to get up super early in the morning. Of course we had planned to be the first ones up and take some awesome shots before leaving. But it was miserable the next day! Really foggy, cold … there was no way the pictures would do the natural beauty and views any justice so we decided to have a lie in instead.
How much time to spend in Grutas Tolantongo?
The complex is pretty big so it definitely takes a day to check it all out, even if you pay for transport / taxis and don’t do it all by foot. For sure many families stay here for a week to camp out by the river, gather with friends and family and enjoy the thermal waters.
I was very happy with our one day visit. We saw everything and experienced all it had to offer. Even if it hadn’t been as crowded or noisy, I am not sure I would have stayed longer. The thermal waters just weren’t hot enough for my liking to spend another day here. If you arrive first thing in the morning then I think one day is enough.
So is it worth visiting?
Yes, but pick your time better than we did. Avoid weekends and holidays. Weigh up the options of queuing for a room to stay on-site vs booking a place within a short driving distance. It might be easier knowing you have a place to stay for sure and not losing time in the morning to queue and look for accommodation. We were lucky but it’s frustrating to not know if you can have a room for sure.
Also, despite the fact that not everything was to our liking I need to say that after our 4 months stay in Mexico we learned a lot about Mexican family life and entertainment. So a lot of it was down to cultural differences.
One person might think that the people managing Grutas Tolantongo don’t care about preserving its natural beauty. But others may embrace how liberally people can enjoy all the natural beauty around them. There is no denying the locals were all having a great time! And after all, this place is in Mexico, run in a way that is most likely to be enjoyable to Mexicans so I don’t believe it should change just to accommodate us tourists. Natural beauty aside this place will definitely give you a feel for the Mexican way of life.
Even though Fiona and I picked a super busy day to visit we are both grateful that we could experience it!
Are you ready to experience Grutas Tolantongo?
Hopefully this blogpost has helped you understand what you can expect from a visit to Grutas Tolantongo. The good, the bad and the ugly. Once again, we are happy we got to see this place and certainly don’t mean to put people off. We just felt this place is being really hyped up by social media and felt it would be worthwhile to write a transparent review, not just posting awesome pictures. Though we love the pictures too of course 😉
