The Most Spectacular Sinkholes in North America
6 places in 3 countries · updated 14 October 2026
In short: By our ranking, the most spectacular sinkholes in North America are Great Blue Hole (Belize), Sacred Cenote (Mexico) and Ik Kil (Mexico). The list covers 6 sinkholes in 3 countries. Mexico has the most, with 4. Last updated 14 October 2026.
The limestone shelves around the Caribbean are riddled with holes. During the ice ages, when sea levels stood far lower, rainwater dissolved caves in the exposed rock; their roofs later collapsed, and as the seas rose the shafts filled with water. On the Yucatán Peninsula, which has no surface rivers, these sinkholes, or cenotes, were the only source of fresh water and were sacred to the Maya. Offshore, the same process left blue holes in the reefs.
The Great Blue Hole off Belize is an almost perfect circle of deep blue, some 300 metres across, in the middle of Lighthouse Reef, made famous by Jacques Cousteau in 1971. Dean's Blue Hole in the Bahamas plunges around 200 metres beside a sandy cove and hosts freediving competitions. Near Chichén Itzá, Ik Kil is an open cenote where hanging roots trail down to the water. Cenote Angelita near Tulum hides a layer of hydrogen sulfide that looks like a river flowing underwater, with dead branches standing in it. Cenote X-Keken near Valladolid is a cavern hung with stalactites and lit by a shaft of light through a hole in its roof.
In this list
| # | Place | Type | Country | UNESCO |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Great Blue Hole | Blue hole | Belize | ✓ |
| 2 | Sacred Cenote | Doline | Mexico | ✓ |
| 3 | Ik Kil | Cenote | Mexico | |
| 4 | Dean's Blue Hole | Blue hole | The Bahamas | |
| 5 | Cenote Angelita | Cenote | Mexico | |
| 6 | Cenote X-Keken | Cenote | Mexico |
01 Great Blue Hole
Belize17.316° N 87.534° W
- UNESCO World Heritage
- UNESCO natural beauty
The TerraMar Project · CC BY 2.0 The hole is a drowned cave. During the ice ages, when sea levels stood far lower than today, this was dry limestone country, and rainwater dissolved a cavern system in the rock until its roof collapsed into a vertical shaft. Stalactites, which only form in air, still hang from ledges deep under water; dating them has shown phases of growth at several points during the last glaciations, the most recent around 15,000 years ago. As the ice melted and the sea rose, the cave flooded, leaving a sunken sinkhole in the middle of a reef.
Did you know? Some stalactites deep in the shaft hang about 5 degrees off vertical, all in the same direction, showing that the limestone plateau itself once tilted.
02 Sacred Cenote
Cenote sagrado de Chichén Itzá
Mexico · 38.4 km from Valladolid20.688° N 88.568° W
- UNESCO World Heritage
Tony Hisgett from Birmingham, UK · CC BY 2.0 Offerings were cast into it for the rain god Chaac. In 1566 the Franciscan Diego de Landa wrote that people were thrown in alive in times of drought, together with precious stones and treasured objects, and he mused that if the country had gold, most of it would lie at the bottom of this well. The twentieth century proved the offerings real. From 1904 Edward Herbert Thompson dredged the cenote with a bucket and pulley and even dived to the muddy floor himself; later Mexican expeditions, with the national institute of anthropology in charge, returned in 1961 and in 1967–68.
03 Ik Kil
Mexico · 35.9 km from Valladolid20.666° N 88.545° W
Image by mattiaverga from Pixabay To the Maya, that kind of opening wasn't just useful — it was theologically significant. Cenotes were understood as literal entrances to Xibalba, the underworld, and Ik Kil, a short distance from Chichén Itzá, was used accordingly: as a site for offerings and human sacrifice to Chaac, the rain god, in a region where surface water was scarce enough that rain itself was worth sacrificing for. Archaeologists and speleologists working the site have recovered human bone and jewellery from the water, physical confirmation of what the historical record already suggested.
Did you know? The Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series held rounds inside the cenote in 2010, 2011 and 2014, with divers launching from about 27 metres up.
04 Dean's Blue Hole
The Bahamas23.106° N 75.009° W
Ton Engwirda · CC BY-SA 3.0 nl Blue holes form in carbonate platforms like the Bahamas, where the bedrock is soluble limestone. Geologists offer two explanations for this one: either corrosive water rising along a fault dissolved the rock from below, or the roof of an underground cavern collapsed and left a drowned pit. Either way, the result is a pit with near-vertical walls, set in a sheltered bay where the sea is usually calm and exceptionally clear. The contrast is the point of the place: a few strokes from the beach the shallow sandy bottom simply ends, and the colour falls away into darkness.
Did you know? Its depth of 202 metres was first precisely measured and published by a researcher in 1994.
05 Cenote Angelita
Mexico20.137° N 87.578° W
Serge Melki from Indianapolis, USA · CC BY 2.0 The effect is the product of the peninsula's peculiar hydrology. Fresh rainwater floats on top of denser salt water that seeps in from the sea through the limestone, and the boundary between them — the halocline — lies just below the sulphide cloud. Leaves and branches from the forest have fallen into the shaft over a very long time and decay at depth with little oxygen, producing the hydrogen sulphide. Above it the water is fresh and warmer; below it lies colder, salty water in near darkness.
Did you know? Hydrogen sulphide is a toxic gas that smells of rotten eggs, but divers breathing from scuba tanks never notice the odour.
06 Cenote X-Keken
Mexico · 4.6 km from Valladolid20.661° N 88.243° W
Laslovarga · CC BY-SA 3.0 What makes the chamber memorable is the light. A single small hole in the roof lets in a shaft of sun, and as the day turns the beam slides across the walls and the surface of the pool, picking out one formation after another while the rest of the cave stays in half-darkness. Tree roots from the forest above push through the same opening and dangle in long strands towards the water, and small fish drift in the pool. The effect is closer to a natural cathedral than to a swimming hole, and it repays sitting still on the steps for a few minutes until the eyes adjust.
Did you know? Its pool measures roughly 30 by 20 metres and ranges from about one metre deep at the edge to about 20 metres at its deepest.
How this list is ranked
Places are chosen for how they look, not for how famous they are: each one has its own description and a photograph credited to its author. The order is a single world ranking that weighs the beauty of the place in curated photography together with how widely it is documented — the number of language editions of its encyclopedia article and how often that article is read in a year. The list is rebuilt as places are added, so the order and the counts on this page are always current.
Questions people ask
- What are the most spectacular sinkholes in North America?
- On our list, Great Blue Hole (Belize) ranks first, followed by Sacred Cenote (Mexico) and Ik Kil (Mexico).
- Which country has the most sinkholes in North America?
- In our collection, the most come from Mexico (4), Belize (1) and The Bahamas (1).
- What is a cenote?
- A natural sinkhole formed when the roof of a limestone cave collapses, exposing groundwater beneath. The word comes from the Yucatec Maya word for a well, and the Maya treated many cenotes as sacred.
- How was the Great Blue Hole formed?
- It began as a limestone cave system on dry land during the last ice age. When the ice melted and the sea rose, the cave flooded and its roof collapsed; stalactites found deep inside show it was once above water.
- What is the underwater river in Cenote Angelita?
- A dense cloud of hydrogen sulfide that settles where fresh water lies over heavier salt water, some 30 metres down. Seen from above, it looks like a misty river with the trunks of trees rising out of it.
- How many sinkholes are on this list in North America?
- The list covers 6 sinkholes in 3 countries. Mexico has the most, with 4.