Tulum is tourist hotspot on the Caribbean coast in the Yucatán Peninsula, famous for its white sand beaches, turquoise sea, ancient Mayan ruins and for its laidback, hippie, eco vibe. You have got to visit here on your trip to Mexico.
Now there are many ways you can holiday in Mexico choosing between an all-inclusive resort based holiday for the ultimate chill out or staying in hotels, eating out and still being able to chill out. We opted for the later, as we didn’t want to be limited by the hotel food and wanted to explore and experience the culture fully. There are also many things you can do here, so I’ve created a guide to some of the best things to do whilst you’re in Tulum!
What to do in Tulum?
There are so many activities and experiences to be had to Tulum, here are some of the things you should not miss while visiting Tulum:
The beach
Playa Paraiso is one of the most beautiful beaches, white sand, turquoise sea it’s the perfect place to chill out and jump in the sea.
Cycling around
It’s super easy to get around Tulum on bicycles, your hotel will most likely have cycles that you can borrow or hire. Through downtown there are cycle lanes and there is even a cycle path to the beach which is amazing, cycling along lush greenery and as you get closer you get a glimpse of the white sand and bright blue sea.
Tulum Ruins
The Tulum ruins is one of the last inhabited cities by the Mayans, and these ancient ruins were once a hub for trade. These have to be the most stunning ruins, with their prime of location perched on the cliff top facing the Carribean Sea.
Akumal
If you’ve always wanted to swim with turtles then you have got to visit Akumal, it’s a sheltered bay about 30 minutes North of Tulum. Here you can take a guided tour to hopefully see some turtles swimming! When I went I was lucky enough to see 4 turtles it was amazing, a definite highlight of the trip. If you want to find out more read my Snorkelling with Turtles in Akumal guide!
Cenotes
An absolute must in the Yucatán Peninsula is exploring some of the many thousand cenotes, and you’re in luck because in Tulum there are some amazing ones! Why not see if you can spot turtles at Gran Cenote or zip line into Zacil Ha.
For more ideas on which cenotes to visit check out my post here.
Coba
Another amazing ancient Mayan Ruin, one of the best things about Coba is that it is not as popular as the nearby Tulum Ruins. It’s also not as excavated and it’s most famous for the stone and dirt roads that lead to each of the sites within the ruins, whilst visiting Coba you have the ability to cycle along some of them, it’s really fun! Don’t worry if you don’t feel like cycling you could walk or go in a cycle taxi.
Food
It is no doubt, that the food in Mexico is unreal, from delicious burritos, tacos and creamy guacamole to sourdough pizza, thai food and the best smoothie bowls. Tulum is home to some amazing vegetarian and vegan restaurants which are some of the best I’ve eaten at!.
Where to stay?
In Tulum there are really two options:
- The hotel zone by the beach
- Downtown Tulum
The hotel zone, is essentially a long strip of huge hotels, many of which located rihgt on the beach front, but as expected these are hotels are very expensive and you’ll see this reflected in the price of food, drinks and massages/activities within the hotels too. At night, this area becomes a little like Cancun, with lots of clubs, bars and late night parties. Driving through the hotel zone can take quite some time as there is only one road and lots of bumps, it took us 45 mins to drive down this road when we were leaving Tulum.
Downtown Tulum has many more reasonable hotel options, many of which are beautiful and have amazing facilities. It’s also a good place to stay because you’re close to the centre so have a whole range of food options and you can also easily cycle to the beach area.
Where did we choose to stay?
We chose to spend 4 nights in downtown Tulum at Naay Tulum and our last night in the hotel zone at Dos Ceibas Eco Retreat.
Naay Tulum was amazing, had a beautiful rooftop pool and was a great place to chill out. It’s based a new upcoming developing area of Tulum, and arriving in the evening we found ourselves driving along what felt like a road for quad bikes, it was quite scary, but in the daylight we were able to find out way to central Tulum without going on any dodgy roads. Although we weren’t staying in central downtown Tulum, it was super easy to drive there and park downtown when going out for dinner. Ecologica was also very nice, it was really nice to be right on the beach but we were glad we stayed in Downtown.
Dos Ceibas was also beautiful with an amazing beach front location, great sun loungers and beach beds and they run activities such as yoga classes, sound healing and more. It is quite expensive so in the end we didn’t end up doing any of the activities as we just felt it wasn’t worth it.
I hope you found this guide useful and that you have the best time in Tulum!
