When I started planning our Mexican road trip, I knew I wanted to go to Tulum. I had heard so many good things about it and I saw so many beautiful pictures while I was browsing. I started researching and planning and found the most amazing airbnb to stay in and I booked our scuba dives to finish our PADI certifications. I just knew everything was going to be perfect.
I should have known better. If there was one thing I learned from our travels in Mexico, NOTHING will go as planned. It just won't. I also learned that it will all be fine. Just make sure to plan extra time into your trip and don't try to have a crazy tight schedule. When we were driving from Playa del Carmen to Tulum, we decided to check into our cabaña before heading to the cenotes just to make sure we didn't have problems. It was smooth sailing all the way. I had downloaded offline google maps before we left and I was watching the map and we were so close...and then we couldn't find it. We parked and we walked and we asked...but nothing. We had zero cell service and I didn't know what to do. Eventually we found someone who had heard of the place and it turns out we had to go another mile down the beach road. After 2 hours of driving up and down the beach road, we finally made it. We were so emotionally exhausted that we scratched all of our plans to visit cenotes and just sat on the beach and drank margaritas and ate ceviche instead. This was just one of the many things I wish I would have known before our trip. To make sure no one has to go through the same things we did, I've made a list of things we loved and things we learned.
What we Loved
Wandering the town
I really loved the town of Tulum. There were so many hidden gems off the main road. We found the most amazing restaurant that not only had good craft beer, but they also had fantastic food. I was tempted to go back multiple times.
We wandered into Parque Dos Auguas and it was really cute. They had lots of street food stands and it was pretty busy. It felt more local and off the beaten path. If you've never tried elote or marquesitas, I would highly recommend trying both. Elote is corn on the cob with spices and cheese and is oh so tasty. Marquesitas are kind of like Mexico's version of a crepe, except it is rolled up and stuffed with goodies. You can pick what goes in it, but the locals like nutella and cheese. Of course you can never go wrong with churros or tacos. On the other side of the park we found a paletas shop which was also great. Paletas are a Mexican frozen treat made with fresh fruit, vegetables, nuts, and other ingredients. They are the perfect snack for a hot day. While you are eating your snacks, you can go watch people play soccer at the soccer fields around the corner. The moral of the story is get off the main road and wander the side streets. There are a lot of hidden gems just waiting to be discovered.
Tulum Ruins
We have been to our fare share of Mayan ruins over the past few years, but the Tulum ruins were probably the most gorgeous ones I've been to. If you've never been to any Mayan ruins before, I would recommend getting a guide. You learn so much about the history of the Mayans and what all the structures mean. The go even deeper and explain the math behind everything and what all the symbols mean. It is really mind blowing learning about how much thought and time they put into everything they ever built. If you think this sounds like something you want to do, don't worry about booking a guide in advance. There are plenty at the entrance offering their services as the tourists roll in.
For these ruins, we didn't get a guide because we knew we wanted to splurge on one at Chichen Itza. It was still wonderful. We decided we wanted to get to the ruins as early as possible because we wanted to beat the heat and the crowds. We didn't get there quite as early as we wanted, so the crowds were already piling up. It was hard to get great pictures without having droves of tourists in the background. Had we gone any later, I think it would have been nearly impossible to maneuver though the site. My suggestion would be to get there as early as you can. It is a gorgeous site and you don't want to let the droves of people to take away from your experience.
Our Cabaña
When we travel, we almost always use Airbnb to find our rooms. Our room in Tulum was the first one we booked when I started planning our trip to Mexico. It was absolutely gorgeous. It was right on the beach and we could hear the waves at night. It was so peaceful. It wasn't luxurious and honestly, it was probably only one step above camping.
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| View from our room 😍 |
There isn't any fresh water, so the employees have to refill the water tanks every morning. If you try to shower before they do this, there is a chance you could run out of water. There is very limited hot water and the shower water is extremely salty, so I still felt kind of gross even after a shower. They also only run off solar energy. This means if someone is using a lot of power in the night time hours, it can run out before the sun comes back up. There also wasn't any wi-fi and very limited cell service, but it was kind of nice to completely disconnect from everything for a few days. We are very low maintenance people, so for us, it was the perfect place to stay. If this sounds like something you'd enjoy, you can check it out here. If you've never used airbnb, you can use this code to save $40 off your first stay.
Even though this wasn't a high-end or luxurious place, the views can't be beat. Just looking out our window or sitting out or porch, we had a beautiful view of the beach. There are lounge chairs out by the water and a bar that serves homemade food (their ceviche is AMAZING!!) and good drinks. Since it is pretty far down the beach strip, the beach is mostly empty. It is so quiet and serene. Everyone who worked at the hotel was very nice and accommodating. They felt like family by the end of our stay. Also, you can't get a better view of the sunrise. Staying here was one of my favorite parts of my entire trip.
What We Learned
Now that I've talked about my favorite parts of Tulum, I need to talk about things we wish we'd known before visiting. Had we known, we probably would have planned differently.
Tulum town and Tulum beach are VERY different.
When I was planning our trip, I had read that Tulum town and Tulum beach were different. When you look at them on a map, they look pretty close together and it seems like it would be easy to get to both. If you stayed on the town end of the beach road, you could easily ride bikes back and forth. We were about 5 miles down the beach, so it would have been a long bike ride for us, especially with all of the traffic. Even though I loved the beach, I really loved the town. The beach area is mostly boutique hotels with a lot of tourists on yoga retreats and vacations. It has been designed to appeal to this crowd. Even though this area has its own appeal, it wasn't what we were looking for personally. The town was more appealing to us. We were able to find areas that we really loved that didn't feel quite so touristy. I know we ARE tourists, but I don't like staying in a place that feels just like home. I like to experience as much of the local flair as I can. If I were to start over and plan another trip, I would book two separate places. I would stay in town for the days that we needed to be there, and then I would pack up and move to the beach for a couple of days. If you don't like to move around a lot, try to stay closer to town.
There is only one road.
When you look at Tulum on a map, you can see that there is only one way in and one way out of the beach area. This isn't completely unusual for a remote location like Tulum. A few years ago, I would bet it wasn't even an issue. However, over the past few years, Tulum has gotten a lot of publicity and is no longer a hidden treasure. This means the traffic up and down this road is TERRIBLE. I loved our little cabaña, but had I known how bad the traffic was, I probably wouldn't have stayed so far out of town. I loved the rural location, but since we had to travel into town every day for scuba diving, it got really tiring going back and forth. If it was really early in the morning, we could make it to town in 20-30 minutes. If it was later in the day, sometimes it took us over an hour. We were only about 5 miles from town, but the commute was long and brutal. If you have to commute back and forth every day like we had to, I would recommend either staying in town and commuting to the beach in your spare time, or stay on the town end of the beach trip. This will cut down on your commute quite a bit.
Tulum can be expensive.
When people think of mexico, they generally tend to think about how cheap it is. Normally, this is true. However, if you aren't careful, it can get really expensive really quick. After one of our diving days, we went to lunch with one of the guys from our dive. Lunch turned into happy hour and happy hour turned into all night. By the time we left, our tab was through the roof. We spent more on drinks and food that day than we did all of the days combined leading up to that day. I was frustrated, but I wouldn't say we regret it. We met some really fun people and it was one of the most fun nights we had on our entire trip. If you are on a budget, I would stay away from eating and drinking on the beach. The prices are much closer to what you'd expect in the USA. If you are on a budget, you would be much better off eating in town. Even nicer places in town are more affordable than mediocre places on the beach.
Overall, we loved Tulum and I could see us going back one day. If we ever go back, we will definitely plan differently than we did this time. Hopefully anyone who is thinking of taking a trip will learn from our mistakes.
xo-Nancy
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