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There are endless things to do when visiting Cancun, but just a short drive away, you can experience one of the most unique attractions in the world.
It’s a little town inside a theme park called Xenses that defies logic because of how it’s constructed.
When you visit the town, aptly named, Town, you won’t be able to tell what’s up and what’s down, and this little-known one-of-a-kind attraction is just a short drive from Cancun.
The Upside Down Town
This unique attraction within Xenses Park is a town that appears to be upside down when you’re walking through it.
Visitors have trouble telling whether they’re walking up or down, or on a flat or inclined surface, the water seems like it’s traveling upstream, and a waterfall appears to flow upward.
The town resembles an authentic Mexican town, with everything from houses and hotels to bars and shops.
Why Everything Seems Upside Down
The Xenses theme park is designed to trick the senses into seeing things differently than the way they really are.
Optical illusions are used to cause this effect, making it sometimes seem as though gravity doesn’t exist.
Some visitors even have trouble walking through the town and report feeling dizzy or disoriented due to this sensation but in a fun way.
Visiting “Town” At Zenses
Zenses is part of the Xcaret theme park family but tickets just for the Zenses theme park are sold individually.
Adult admission tickets cost about $72 and children ages 5-11 cost $54, both can be booked directly here.
It’s free for children under 5 years old to enter the park.
Tips For Visiting The Town
Being that you may find yourself a little disoriented at times you’ll want to wear sturdy, comfortable shoes to the park.
You’ll also want to bring extra clothes for other attractions in the park, some of which involve water.
Last but not least, if you buy tickets in advance, you can save 10-15 percent on adult tickets, depending on how far in advance you buy them, and 25 percent on children’s tickets.
The Zenses Theme Park
Zenses is a decent-sized theme park that’s made up of two different paths of adventure, the Path of Feeling and the Path of Doing, with over 50 different possible scenarios.
Some of the attractions along the paths include the Way of Dwarves and Giants, the Xensatorium, the Labyrinth of Underground Arteries, The Breather, Xplash, and, of course, the Town.
The park will take about five hours to explore.
Getting To Zenses From Cancun
The Xenses theme park is a little over an hour from Cancun, so you’ll need to book transportation to the park, which is in Playa del Carmen.
There are several options, the most affordable being an ADO bus, which is less than $20 for a trip to Playa del Carmen, where the park is located.
Other options include shuttles, taxis, and private transportation, which are all much pricier.
If you stay at one of the Xcaret hotels in Playa del Carmen, admission to all of the parks and transportation are included.
Other Popular Xcaret Parks In The Mexican Caribbean
There are six other Xcaret parks in the Mexican Caribbean in addition to Zenses, ranging in price and activities.
All of them are within about an hour from Cancun.
The other parks are:
- Xcaret
- Xplor
- Xplor Fuego
- Xoximilco
- Xavage
- Xel-Ha
Xplor and Xcaret are the most expensive of all of the parks, starting at around $124 and $121, respectively.
The least expensive are Xavage and Xenses, which start at about $55 and, as mentioned above, around $72, respectively.
It’s a small price to pay for a good time and that is certainly what you’ll have at any of these popular parks.
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