Ultimate Tulum Travel Guide

My boyfriend and I have been together for over three years and the majority of that time

was long distance. We met when I was living in San Diego and I moved to Los Angeles shortly after that. We were getting sick of the whole long distance thing and instead of me moving back to San Diego, we decided to quit our jobs and travel for a while (hopefully a year or so). We've been dying to visit Tulum, so we started reaching out to some companies and got an offer filming for a tour company. We saw this as our opportunity to go for it! The next week we booked one-way tickets to Cancun and a few weeks later we were off!

Papaya Playa Project, Tulum

Currency: 18 pesos is equivalent to $1 USD. You can pay in US dollars pretty much everywhere in Mexico, but you will get a better bang for your buck converting to pesos. I suggest Downloading XE currency app to help with your conversions, super helpful!

First stop Cancun, Mexico:

When going to Tulum you have to fly into the Cancun airport and since I've never been we decided to start our trip there and work our way down. Cancun is on the northeast coast of the Yucatán Peninsula and the water is insane... I've never seen such blue/turquoise water!

Zona Hotelera

Cancun is probably the most touristy of the Yucatán area, full of luxurious resorts located along the coastline. Zona Hotelera (Hotel Zone) is the place to be.. with beach clubs, bars, restaurants, and lots of shopping. Since we're balling on a budget, we found a cute Airbnb a block away for less than $30 a night. If you plan to spend your whole vacation in  Cancun, I would suggest staying in a beachfront resort. It can be hard to get beach access and layout chairs unless you go to a public beach like Playa Delfines, and even there you have to rent the chairs and umbrella.

Cancun is known for their nightlife, which we weren't really interested in this trip, so we just spent a few days there and here's what we did. 

Things to do: While in Cancun you must take the ferry over to Isla Mujeres. The ferry is only 146 pesos ($7.75 USD) per person round trip and takes just 15 minutes to reach. Isla Mujeres is a beyond beautiful little island with crystal clear water that I absolutely loved and is a great place to spend the day. 

Isla Mujeres, Mexico

Swim with whale sharks: Swimming with these gentle giants has been on our bucket list for quite some time. We finally got the chance to make it happen and it's an experience I will never forget. We went the morning after a full moon and got to swim with multiple whale sharks, and there were said to be 20+ in the area. The prime months for swimming with these gentle giants is June- September, so if this is something that interests you, I suggest booking your trip during that time. We did our tour through Sea Friends Tours and had a great experience. You can expect to pay around $100 dollars through any company, but it's totally worth it! 

Getting around: They have a great public bus system in Cancun, it's super easy to get around town for only 12 pesos (60 cents USD) each. They also have colectivos (shuttle vans) that are the best option for getting from the airport to your destination and city to city.

From Cancun, we took a colectivo to Playa Del Carmen that cost only 40 pesos ($2 USD) each, compared to a taxi that would have cost 1,125 pesos ($60 USD). 

Playa Del Carmen is a great beach town, much smaller than Cancun but still very popular with tourists. There's one main strip that has tons of restaurants and shops. Everything from Starbucks, Forever 21, boutiques, and local markets. 

We stayed in a little Airbnb a short 5-10 minutes walk from the main strip only $30 a night! It was super cute and right by many local restaurants that were much cheaper than the main strip. If you haven't used Airbnb before sign up using my code to get $40 off your first booking here! 

Unfortunately, when we were there (June 2018) there was a pretty big seaweed problem, to the point where we didn't even want to get in the ocean. I suggest looking into it before booking your trip, but luckily there's still much to do in the area!

Things to do: 

• The Reef 28 Resort has a large rooftop pool with a beautiful view of the beach that is open to the public for no charge. You can order drinks and food up there and it's a great place to enjoy the afternoon. The staff was very friendly, our hostess even brought us warm neck towels that smelled like lavender, that I was obsessed with. 

• Take the ferry over to Cozumel Island or book a snorkeling tour. We did the snorkeling which cost $35 USD each and it was awesome! They took us to 4 dive locations then dropped us back to enjoy the rest of the day on the island. My favorite part was swimming with starfish, they were everywhere!! 

Cozumel is pretty big so we decided to rent a scooter and explore the island. $20 for 3 hours, not Southeast Asia prices but tons of fun! Such a beautiful island with crystal clear waters and no seaweed!

We also did a cenote/cave tour nearest Playa Del Carmen that was super cool but I can't remember the name of it... We took ATV's to a cave, it was so dark in there you could only see with a flashlight. At certain points, we even had to crawl on our hands and knees to get through. 

From Playa Del Carmen we took a colectivo to Tulum for 45 pesos ($2.40 USD) each, which takes just under an hour to reach.

TULUM: 

If you haven't been to Tulum yet, you've probably seen it all over Instagram, making it a tourist hotspot in the last few years. We spent 3 weeks there and loved every minute of it! It's such a hip trendy beach town with so much to do and see. 

There are 2 main areas to stay in Tulum. The main strip along the coastline with beautiful boutique hotels and trendy restaurants. Or the centro of town, where we stayed, which is about 10 minutes drive to the beach. The centro is the more budget-friendly part of Tulum with affordable accommodations, restaurants, bars, and markets. We got a super comfortable apartment off Airbnb for a little under $30 a night with a kitchen, so we saved a lot of money by being able to cook our own meals. Another perk of staying in this area is street food... so many delicious tacos and quesadillas for less than 18 pesos ($1 USD)!

Getting around: 

• Our favorite option while in Tulum was hitchhiking. There's one main street to and from the beach so we got picked up often and met some extremely nice people. (Not saying this is the safest option but we had no issues!)
• We also took colectivo's for getting around Tulum. They are white vans with big red letters on the front that say 'COLETIVO'. There's not really a stop for them, you just kinda gotta wave them down. They are jam-packed with mostly locals and very hot inside (no A/C) but can't beat it for 14 pesos (75 cents US). 
• There are also tons of places to rent bikes, most places we saw were $15 a day. 
• Taxi's- the most expensive option cost around $10 for a short 5-10 minute ride

SO many things to do:

Mayan Ruins:

• Coba- one of the only ruins in the area you can still climb up, the view from up there is incredible!

• Chichén Itzá- A new wonder of the world, so obviously a must visit while in the Yucatán.  

• Tulum Ruins- If you're in Tulum you can't miss the Tulum Ruins. They are located just a few minutes from town and it only costs 65 pesos ($3.50 USD) to get in. The ruins are on a hillside right along the beach and the view is amazing! It started pouring on us while we were there so I didn't get a picture... BUT I did manage to get a hi-five and a picture of Ed Westwick (Chuck Bass) and that was pretty much my highlight anyways. xoxo 

Cenotes:

Cenotes are natural sinkholes with insanely clear mineral-rich water and there are more than 6000 in Mexico. All the cenotes we went to were amazing, definitely a highlight of mine for things we did in Tulum. There are tons of mosquitos around these settings, so make sure to always bring bug spray! You aren't supposed to wear it into the cenotes to keep the water pure, but usually they have showers to rinse off before you JUMP in! 

• Cenote Calavera- my favorite cenote we visited and also one of the cheapest, only 100 pesos ($5 USD) each. Besides the obvious beauty, it's also so much fun, there are 3 holes in the limestone you can jump through! 

• Dos Ojos- probably the most popular cenote in Tulum area. Entrance fee: 200 pesos ($14 USD)

We also visited Grand Cenote, another popular one in Tulum, it was nice but super crowded... I'd definitely pick Cenote Calavera over that one and it's literally right down the road. We visited multiple others during tours and they were all equally beautiful and unique! 

Now for all the trendy/ instagramable spots in Tulum:

• Matcha Mama for acai bowls & smoothies, there's one in town and by the beach! So delicious and pretty!

• Papaya Playa Project- An amazing boutique hotel on the main strip along the beach. We just walked in and spent the afternoon.. A lot of the hotels on the strip have beach bars open to the public so you can still enjoy the hotel without the hefty price tag. 

• Azulik- literally the cutest treehouse resort ever, major decor goals everywhere. There's a clothing boutique and art gallery (IK LAB) open to the public and in the evening, I think 5pm, the bar opens to the public as well! 

• Ahau Tulum Resort is a great place to get beach access and hang out for the day. You can order drinks/food or get a smoothie bowl at Raw Love! 

•  Coco Kush- is another great beach spot to hang out right next door to Ahau!

A lot of people asked me about my scarf/top... so here it is: Silk Scarf only $7 on Amazon and there are tons of colors to choose from! 

• Nômade Hotel- another aesthetically pleasing boutique hotel with all the decor inspiration and killer black fringe hammocks. 

 

We got pretty lucky with seaweed free beaches during our time in Tulum, since there is a bit of a problem going on right now.. We did run into a few beaches covered in sargassum as you can see below! So, I suggest checking the status before arriving and being disappointed.. but regardless there are still tons of other things to do in Tulum!  

• La Eufemia- super cute place with great tacos and cheap beer!

• Bonita Burger- because in a city full of delicious Mexican food.. sometimes you just want a burger and fries! This place was so good we went twice! 

• Batey Mojito Bar- the most popular bar in Tulum.. serving freshly crushed sugar cane out of this VW beetle for their famous mojitos!

From Tulum, we backtracked and headed to Holbox. There's only one ADO bus that takes you there early morning, so definitely go a day prior to book your ticket! Something we didn't do and missed it.. and had to backtrack even further to Playa Del Carmen, eventually catch a colectivo to Holbox, to barely make the last ferry over to the island. Anyways, we finally made it and it was well worth the struggle! 

Isla Holbox: pronounced (Hol-bosh) is such a chill little island with no cars, only bicycles and golf carts, and all dirt roads! The main reason I wanted to visit Holbox was the flamingos and they were amazing! 

To reach the flamingos you have to walk a couple of miles on this sandbar in the middle of the ocean. Which sounds great but after a few hours got pretty tough, totally worth it seeing the flamingos though! You can also take a tour by boat.. but we're all about the free route.

The main attraction of Holbox is relaxing, the ocean is so calm and clear people just hang out on the sandbar for hours. There's a lot of restaurants and stuff but the town is pretty mellow, two nights or so is plenty. We stayed at Hostel Che which was less than $10 each for mixed dorms. Not the hugest fan of dorms.. but the hostel was so fun and got super lively at night. Also, Holbox is a great location to swim with the whale sharks and had beautiful sunsets every night! 

From Holbox, we took the ADO bus to Bacalar our last stop in Mexico before crossing the border into Belize! 

Bacalar: So many people we met while in Mexico told us we had to visit Bacalar and I'm so glad we did! Another chill little town with the most beautiful seven color lagoon.  

There are several cenotes in Bacalar you can visit, my favorite was Cenote Azul (bottom left ^)! Another must is taking a boat across the lagoon to the sunken pirate ship. There's sulfur near the ship so you can have a natural mud bath too, my skin felt so soft after!

The colors of the lagoon were insane!!!

From Bacalar, we headed to Chetumal Bay to catch the ferry over to Belize, which totaled $93 USD including immigration fees. Read all about that here: Belize Travel Guide 2018

We absolutely loved our month and a half in Mexico! Finishing this blog 3 months later, we've already visited 5 countries since (Cuba, Belize, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama). Every once in a while we find ourselves missing Tulum, for the endless things to do, amazing and CHEAP food/groceries, affordable tours, etc.! But then again, I love being on the go! Every country is something new and exciting and I'm so grateful for all the experiences we've had along our journey so far! xx

Watch our Tulum experience!

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