Tulum! This place really ticks all my boxes. The colours, climate, people and food are truly sensational.
Tulum basically has two parts – the beach (full of boutique hotels, bars and beach clubs), and the cute little town. We stayed in the town which was great, we met lots of locals and had a blast cruising around on bikes.
As usual, it was way too short (not even 4 days). Neither Georgia or I are the types of people who like to organise our trip in advance – we greeted each new day with zero itinerary which (glass half empty) may not be the optimal use of time but (glass half full) meant we followed our gut and stumbled across SO many gems…
- The little unsuspecting local cafe that opened up to a gorgeous back garden, live music and a giant iguana
- Taking the long route to the beach through the back streets and seeing all the cute & colourful houses
- The most beautiful, serene Cenote that we randomly selected off the map – we almost didn’t go because a local warned us about mosquitos, which turned out to be a non-issue
Sadly the bright blue ocean water that I was so excited for was non existent due to an insane amount of seaweed (I’m not being dramatic, I assure you). Apparently it’s been an issue for a few months – despite truckloads of seaweed being shipped out, it just kept rolling on in. However the silver lining is that it meant we spent a lot more of our time exploring and immersing ourselves in everything Tulum had to offer, rather than lazing on the beach the whole time.
The Cenotes are incredible – natural, fresh water swimming holes that form part of a large underground network. The water is a beautiful colour, crystal clear and divine to swim in. The Grand Cenotes has lots of little turtles swimming around!
We lived off tacos, margaritas and Mezscal. Of course the best taco spots were the local joints – our favourite was Antojitos La Chianapeca, where at 50c a taco you do not feel guilty about eating 5 in one sitting. Sweating profusely from the heat and chilli, watching the organised chaos of the kitchen and ordering just ‘one more taco’.
We also loved La Eufermia – best beach spot for margaritas and cheap tacos.
The beach resorts are amazing – we didn’t spend much time in them, but the architecture is insane. Would be a dream to stay here one day! Although it does feel a bit strange contrasting from the beautiful local culture 1km away to this extreme luxury.
The nightlife on the beach strip though is pretty fun. We had a large, Mezscal infused evening on the Friday which kicked off at I scream bar – known for ice cream and Mezcal. It was full noise from the beginning, with a local masseuse giving us impromptu neck cracks on entry (quite terrifying) and an Irish man crying to me (bless him!). We then hung out at a tiny little cocktail bar – big comfy chairs outside, Georgia on the DJ decks and one of the best cocktails we’d ever had. Our final stop was Gitano’s – we had no idea what was happening but turned out to be a Super club with a huge dance party. It was PACKED and great fun. 10/10 would go again. The poor Swiss girl we were with had driven that night and parked at a ‘parking lot’ – it turned out it was just a driveway that the owners kept filling with cars, meaning you couldn’t leave until the person behind you did.
All in all, Tulum definitely takes one of the top spots on my destination lists. There are a few ways you can experience Tulum; and I think Georgia summarised our time brilliantly:
(I will end by saying that after our trip I noticed that I had acquired an insane amount of freckles on my right hand. Turns out, this is a burn from squeezing limes (followed by sun exposure). I got off pretty lightly – Georgia had almost second degree burns! So word of warning… wash that lime juice off your hands!)
Tips:
Stay
- It really depends what experience you are after – if you want the lux experience, stay at the beach. If you want a more local vibe, stay in the town. It’s really easy to bike around. We stayed at Xscape Tulum which was great.
- If I had my time again I would probably split my time or at least do one night at the beach
Eat:
- Local:
- Antojitos La Chianapeca – easily the best tacos of the trip, and at 50c a taco you can’t go wrong. We ate 10 tacos between two of us. Could. Not. Stop.
- El Camello – for all your seafood needs… fish tacos, ceviche
- Other:
- La Eufermia – spot of the trip. Great tacos, margaritas and beach party vibes.
- We were also recommended but did not go to:
- Hartwood – apparently incredible
- Matcha Mama for breakfast
Bars:
So many great bars. Apparently there is a party on a different party every night – we went to Gitanos which was insane!
- Bateys in town for the best Mojitos
- I Scream Bar – ice cream and Mezcal. They had live music & awesome people
- If you cruise down the beach strip there are heaps of cute bars to pop into!
General tips:
- We caught a private shuttle from Cancun Airport to Tulum – it was very expensive, but super easy. The bus also looked relatively easy so it could be worth looking into
mowgli explores 