The caves have artificial lighting, sometimes neutral color to emphasize the color of the different rocks, and in some places, they put filters to enhance the experience.

The tour are on foot only because the cave has been left almost intact, with no pedestrian walkways and no wheelchair access. Some of the passageways are extremely narrow.

It's a long walk, so be ready to carry your small children on your back when they get tired midway. Once you start the tour, there is no going back, as the lights had timers on them and only the guide knows the location to activate them.

The best Mayan artifact here is the relief carved right at the entrance, although there are a few other bits inside the cave. If you've come strictly for the Mayan artifacts, you'll be disappointed in that respect. But the natural beauty of the cave is its real attraction. I've been in several US caves, but this one still awed me. The formations here seemed different than what I've seen in the US, probably because of the different limestone geology of the Yucatan, I guess. The huge girth of some of the stalactite/stalagmite formations was reallly different, and there's a part called the "grand canyon" which is also great to see. All this coupled with the bits of evidence of ancient occupants really made for an enjoyable visit.

Some details: we visited on a Sunday, just after New Years. Most of the archeological sites of the area are free on Sunday, but the caves did have a small fee ($2/adult) remaining on Sunday, because, since it is a cave, a guide and the electricity to light your path are required. Tours depart at several set times and are generally in Spanish.

There was only one other English-speaking couple besides our family of four on the tour we were on (but a big group (50+?) of Mexican families were there at the same time). Anyway, as the tour began with the Spanish-speaking guide, another man told us to wait behind and he would act as our English-speaking guide if we wanted. He explained he only worked for tips and said we could decide what to pay him at the end. As a guide, he was just OK. His english wasn't the best, and he certainly didn't say as much as the main spanish guide, but it sure beat trying to translate from the spanish guide, and he pointed out the highlights.

We didn't really know what to expect from Loltun, but we were definitely glad we made the side trip to see it. One of the highlights of our trip! Get good directions before setting out and find out the tour times so you don't have to kill an hour in the parking lot waiting on the next tour (we timed it perfectly, as much from luck as from planning).