For years, I had heard about friends visiting the little bohemian beachy town of Tulum. It looked amazing on my social media and my Pinterest board. It was for sure on my list of places to go. For the last several years, my husband and I have been lucky to make one trip per year, just him and I – no kids (I highly suggest this for parents – it will do wonders for your marriage). It’s also great for your kids to spend the week with grandparents. They also felt like they were on vacation from us : ) Win. Win.
Where to stay
Tulum sits about an hour and a half south of Cancun. It’s an easy flight to Cancun, and most hotels will provide a shuttle service to and from the hotel. If I am being confirmed, the drive there is ho-hum; I decided to make the most of it by taking a nap. We planned to stay 6 nights. The first three days are at Kore, an all-inclusive resort, and the second three are at a cute boutique hotel called Ana and Jose. I will cut to the chase quickly and say, skip the all-inclusive and stay at one of several cute little boutique hotels sprinkled throughout the town. It is a way better vibe for this type of trip. The hotels are adorably sprinkled along the water’s edge. Walkable by the street side as well. Each offers restaurants, beach service, etc. One thing I love about this area compared to others (such as Cabo, etc.) is that you are not inundated with people selling you stuff on the beach. Tulum (so far) has yet to succumb to the many vendors littering the beach experience. It is a blissful experience to lay out, read a book, and watch the waves wash in (drink in hand, of course).
In addition to the hotels, the restaurants were some of the best. Before we went, I had someone suggest only making dinner reservations after 8 pm because many of the restaurants will put on performances. This same person also described Tulum at night as Vegas in Mexico. This was the WRONG description for someone like me. I was immediately turned off, so I purposely booked all our dinners for 6:30 pm. To avoid said ‘Vegas’ experience. However, this is an excellent example of how one person misreads another person’s perspective. What my friend failed to explain (and I failed to get more details) was that the shows are, in fact, very cool, very un-vegas-like. They are authentic and incredible. After getting a glimpse into what we missed, I will book my dinner reservations after 8 pm next time I am in Tulum.
What to do
As for activities, we rented a quad one day and toured around the town. We fumbled through the directions and found some of the coolest cenotes. What is a cenote, you might ask? It is a natural sinkhole resulting when a collapse of limestone bedrock exposes groundwater. It is like a swimming cave below water. You can swim in them; some of them are deep enough to jump into, which we did. It was a blast and a rush! There are several of them sprinkled throughout the Tulum region.
Additionally, we walked through the town shops and vendors. We walked the beach. One thing we didn’t do but looked fun was the Tulum Jungle Gym. This gym is nestled on the coast between several boutique hotels. The gym is outdoors and all of the equipment is made from wood – no joke. It was very cool. Very well done.
Just chill
What we loved most was lounging at the beach, drinking tequila, and eating chips and guacamole with a good book in hand. If you want a chill vacation vibe with great food, ambiance, and a beautiful location. We highly recommend Tulum.