Your Ultimate Guide to Tulum, Mexico 🇲🇽

When it comes to Mexico, there are a lot of places you can visit. If you want to explore the authentic culture, you can visit Mexico City but if you want to chill somewhere by the beach with a pina colada in your hand then I would recommend picking a place somewhere close to the shore. Tulum is one of them. It’s only an hour away from Cancun, it is a perfect spot to relax and catch on to a much-needed break. It has everything and when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING. Amazing food spots, great beaches, phenomenal nightlife, and kind people. This was my first international trip after being in a lockdown for all of 2020 so given that I was traveling during the pandemic, some things were different and I will point them out as I talk about them through the read. Tulum was also part of a bigger trip. We stayed in Tulum for 3 nights and then moved to Cancun.

Before you go:

• Dates in Tulum, Mexico
  • December 25th, 2020 – December 28th, 2020 (3 nights, 4 days, Friday – Monday)👉 One thing I would’ve changed: Stayed at a different accomodation (I’ll talk about more detail in the accomodation section at the bottom)
• Stay in the ZONA HOTELERA (it might be a little expensive depending on when you go, BUT it is 100% worth it to stay in ZONA HOTELERA.

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1. Airport: Cancun International airport – CUN

Tulum does not have its own airport and so you would really have to land at Cancun International Airport (CUN) and then make it to Tulum. It’s honestly not that hectic. It’s an hour’s drive and if you’re with people, it shouldn’t be bad at all. Beware though, if you’re traveling during the peak season, there will a lot of lines at the airport once you land. I was traveling during the pandemic and yet it took my family and me about 1.5+ hours to get through the customs line and not to mention that our flights were full going to Mexico and coming back.

• Some things I would recommend:
  • Keep a pen handy. You will have to fill out a customs form and airlines won’t hand them to you until you’re getting off the flight. It’s not like Europe, where you get the customs form handed to you before landing so you have time to fill it while you’re in the flight.
  • Once you go through customs, the customs officer will hand you the bottom piece of the form back WHICH you have to make sure you SAVE it. When you are returning back to the United States, they will ask for that bottom part of the form and if you don’t have it, be ready to pay a $50 fine.
  • Keep some water or snacks handy incase the lines are long and you need to fuel up.

2. HOw to get to tulum 🇲🇽

• Tulum is ~1 hour away from Cancun international airport. There are lot of different ways you can get to Tulum.
  1. Bus
     • Option 1: https://travelyucatan.com/cancun-to-tulum-bus-schedule/
       • This one picks you up from Cancun downtown. So you would have to figure out how to get to Cancun downtown.
     • (Mrshutterup RECOMMENDED) Option 2: https://www.cancunairport.com/public-buses.html
       • This one picks you up from the airport and drops you off in Tulum downtown. Probably the best option as it has a bus at every terminal.
  2. Rent a Car (We did this)
     • Every american rental car company is at Cancun International Airport so renting a car should not be hard. Although, reserve it long time before your trip or you will you have to pay quite a lot or there might aslo be a shortage of cars.
  3. Private Taxi
     • Private taxis are really expensive but you would like to do that, definelty do so. There will be lot of private taxi vendors right outside of the airport.
  4. Book a Private Taxi in Advance
     • I was in a group of 6. Me and 5 family members so in order for us to get to Tulum, we would need a big car especially with all our luggage. I wasn’t aware of this until I got back from Cancun but USA Transfers is a great company to book your transfers. They have over 4000+ reviews on google and the only company I’ve seen to have a 5.0 rating even after all those reviews.
     • They also have an app where you can track live about where the car that’s picking you up is at.
     • https://www.entertainment-plus.net/affiliate_1082/cancun-airport-transfers

3. Accomodation

4. Things to do in Tulum 🇲🇽

1. Visit a Cenote

💰 Free/$35

A Cenote is a natural pit, or sinkhole, resulting from the collapse of limestone bedrock that exposes groundwater. This Cenote is a great find, it feels like you’re in a super clean river. You can see the bottom of the Cenote with a good pair of goggles and snorkels they provide.

It’s $35/person for a guided experience including a wetsuit and snorkel/mask if you were to go to the Cenote directly for snorkeling. I went for scuba diving with @airbnb so this price was not for us. They also provide lockers with a lock and give you the key until finished, which is nice. There were also people kayaking and stand up paddle boarding there.

Another interesting thing about this Cenote is that the tunnel on the bottom goes straight into the ocean so there was a neat “underground river” effect where the salt water and fresh water meet.

💡 At a lot of these Cenotes, you’ll be asked to pay for your own camera gear, in that case, we had to pay for our Go Pro that we used to record some of the videos.

2. Scuba Diving

💰 $170

First thing after getting to Tulum, we went scuba diving. My brother-in-law had this excursion booked well in-advance through @airbnb. I was pretty excited and scared at the same time because this was something wild and adventurous but at the same time I don’t know how to swim.

– Here is a link where you can book the specific scuba diiving experience that we booked with Jamie: Link

3. Chill at one of the beaches

5. Sian Ka’an Biosphere

Part of Ruins of Muyil Excursion through GetYourGuide

Once you pass the Muyil Ruins, you’ll be able to take the boardwalk to the Sian Ka’an Biosphere. This is where you’ll be able to see different species of birds and be able to get the real experience of walking through a jungle. At some point on your tour, you’ll reach a watch tower and although it’s up to you if you want to climb up or not, I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND it. Not only the view is amazing but the wind blowing at the top feels amazing and fresh without any pollution. I almost wanted to just take a nap up there 😴😂.

The first couple floors are fine to climb but as you gain more elevation, the stairs almost turn into a ladder🪜, straight up.

All in all, when you’re given this option to go up, definitely do so!

Below are some of the additional packages you can look at for Sian ka’an.

5. Food

Now that we’ve talked about everything from the airport to things to do in Tulum, let’s talk about the food scene. Tulum has SO MANY food options. I mean, you will literally get tired of figuring out where to eat but here are some of the food restaurants you should try when in Tulum:

1. I Scream Bar 🍨
   • This place is very unique. It’s an ice cream parlor and a take out restaurant during day but then later at night, it turns into a nightclub and is open till 3am.
   • I would highly RECOMMEND you check this place out and even better if you can stay somehwere close by.
2. Matcha Mama 🍲 🍉
   • A healthy and balanced breakfat. I was first introduced to smoothie bowls in Bali back in December 2019 and I fell l in love right there and then. I mean what’s not to like? Healthy smoothie, bunch of nuts, little bit of chocolate and top it off with fresh fruit. You cannot go wrong! Before I got to Tulum, I’d have heard that there are lot of places where you can find these smoothie bowls and so before I got to Mexico, I did my research.
   • This place is called Matcha Mama. They have a great variety of smoothie bowls along with coconut water and bunch of other things. It’s also a very cool looking, picturesque, homey feeling place. Has swings all along the bar and you can pretty much just sit and enjoy your smoothie bowl while they keep making more and more for other customers.
3. Panna e Cioccolato 🍫
   • There is a small ice cream shop you can find on the Chetumal-Cancún Rd that offers a great variety of flavors. My favorite is coconut and when I saw those coconut ice cream bars covered in chocolate, I had to get it. When it comes to dessert, I’m big on cakes and I was looking for Tres Leches but these ice cream bars definitely hit the spot.
4. Matteos Mexican Food 🌮
   • Mark my words and SAVE this restaurant. They had some of the most amazing food AND it’s on the Tulum strip where majority of things are happening. They have great happy hour deals like 2 drinks for the price of one and to top it off, food is top notch. If you’re concerned about COVID, I’ll be glad to let you know that the whole restaurant is an open space so you don’t to worry about being clustered in a room.
5. El Mariachi Loco 🌯
   • Post a couple hours of Scuba Diving, we were hungry like never before. If you know me, you know that I absolutely love Mexican cuisine. From tacos to burritos to number of desserts. Luckily, our diving instructor suggested we check this restaurant out. It was right around the corner on the Main Street and had everything on the menu what my group and I were looking for.
6. Taqueria La EuFemia 🌮
   • Great and cheap restaurant. It’s also a beach front restaurant so you can technically just order food and sit on the beach. They have chairs and tables on the beach. The restaurant is also really great because even if you don’t eat there, they let you pass through to get to the beach.
7. El Vegeteriano 🌱
   • Small and locally owned all vegetarian restaurant. This is one of those restaurants that promote vegetarianism and veganism which was great because majority of my family is vegetarian. If you or your family members are vegetarian, definitely check this restaurant out.
8. Canopia 🐘
   • You wouldn’t think that there would be able to find great Thai food in middle of Mexico BUT you’re wrong. Canopia had some amazing Thai food and my whole family enjoyed it entirely. The serving sizes were a little small but the quality of the food was really good.
9. Boccanera 🍕
   • This is an italian restaurant and it’s also very cheap. We all had dinner here on our first night in Tulum and enjoyed it alot. We even contemplating on going here again but since we really wanted to try other places, we didn’t end up going here again.

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Here is a my vlogger friend Christine explaing her experience in Tulum! Check it out!

Christine’s Youtube channel: Link

Check out & follow my journey @mrshutterup on Instagram and don’t forget to Subscribe for new blog posts about cities around the world. Lastly, feel free to contact me if you have any additional questions!