What to Bring to Grutas Tolantongo
Nine operators publish their own packing lists for this canyon and they agree with each other more than travel advice usually does. Five items come up on nearly every one. This is that list, with what each thing is actually for.
The five things nearly every operator asks for
Swimwear, worn under your clothes
Changing rooms exist, but the queue for them at eleven on a Saturday is not how you want to start. Arrive wearing it.
A towel, and a second one if you can
One for the pools, one for the drive home. Four hours in a van in a wet towel is a long four hours.
Water shoes
The most repeated instruction across all nine listings. The rock is wet, uneven and in places sharp, and the grotto has to be entered through water.
A change of dry clothes
Plus a bag to put the wet ones in. One operator includes exactly that bag in its kit, which tells you how often it comes up.
Cash, in pesos
More than you think. This has its own section below because it is the thing that catches people.
Cash — how much, and why cards will not help
Card acceptance inside the valley is close to non-existent; the operators say so plainly on their own listings. There is no cash machine at the bottom of the canyon, and the nearest town of any size is a long way back up the road.
Budget pesos for: lockers, food and drink, the shuttles between the terraces and Las Pocitas, the zip line at about 200 pesos, anything you buy at the shop on the way in, and the gate itself if you are arriving under your own steam. Draw it before you leave the city and split it between two places.
Water shoes, and where to buy them on the road
If you arrive without a pair, you are not stuck. Most departures stop at a shop in San Miguel Tlazintla on the way in, where water shoes run roughly 100 to 150 pesos. Travellers mention buying them there so often that the stop has become part of the day.
Sandals with a heel strap work. Flip-flops do not — they come off in moving water and the river moves.
Keeping your phone dry
A sealed waterproof pouch costs roughly 50 to 120 pesos at the same shop, and it is the difference between photographs of the steam tunnel and no phone at all. There is nowhere dry to leave anything inside the tunnel or the grotto.
If you would rather not risk it, a locker at the top is the other answer — rented, in cash, and not included in any fare.
Sunscreen and repellent — the biodegradable rule
Two operators specifically ask for biodegradable sunscreen, and one asks the same of insect repellent. The reason is straightforward: the water you are swimming in is the river, and everything on your skin ends up in it. Buy it before you travel; it is not the thing the roadside shop is best stocked for.
Shade in the canyon is limited and the pools sit at 1,280 metres, where the sun is stronger than it feels. A hat earns its space.
ID, and the passport rule on the coach departures
On the Amigo Tours coach departures every traveller must carry a passport — original, digital or photocopied — proving legal stay in Mexico. The other operators do not state the requirement, but carrying a photograph of the page costs nothing and settles it either way.
What to leave in the vehicle, or at home
- Glass: not permitted, on more than one operator’s list.
- Anything you cannot get wet: if it matters and it is not in a sealed pouch, it stays in the van.
- Jewellery: mineral water and small pools are a bad combination for anything that slips.
- Alcohol: prohibited on several of the trips, and on the vehicles.
- Large luggage: one operator lists oversized bags among what it will not carry.
The packing list, in one table
| Item | What it is for | Buy on the way? | Roughly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Swimwear | Worn under your clothes | No | — |
| Water shoes | Wet rock, and entering the grotto | Yes, at the shop stop | 100–150 pesos |
| Towel | The pools, then the drive home | Rentable at the resort | — |
| Dry clothes + a bag | The four hours back | No | — |
| Cash in pesos | Lockers, food, shuttles, zip line | No cash machine on site | Bring extra |
| Waterproof phone pouch | The tunnel and the grotto | Yes, at the shop stop | 50–120 pesos |
| Biodegradable sunscreen | Requested by the operators | Buy before you travel | — |
| Hat | Little shade, 1,280 m altitude | No | — |
| Passport or a photo of it | Required on the coach departures | No | — |
| Personal medication | There is a medical post, not a pharmacy | No | — |
The shop stop is on some trips and not others
Departures that build in the roadside stop are the ones where forgetting your water shoes costs nothing. Check which do before you pack.
For what happens once you are through the gate, see hours and access, and the cave, the tunnel and the pools for what each item is actually needed in. Every departure is compared at mexico city to grutas de tolantongo tour listings.