If you’ve been on instagram lately, you’re bound to have seen at least one person Geotag Tulum, Quintana Roo, Mexico as their location. Tulum is what I like to call a Millennial Influencer’s Playground. It’s a little town located 45 minutes south of Cancun, perched right on the beach with gorgeous azul waters.
How do I get there?
If you like get around on your own: Rent a car. Rental agencies are located in the airport. Make sure to read insurance coverages closely!
If you like to do things spur of the moment: There are plenty of taxis located outside the airport. The drivers hang out right by the airport exit and will likely approach you and offer you a ride.
If you’re a planner: (like me) Prebook a taxi here. It’s $90 for a private shuttle one-way or $180 round trip. You can save money by hiring a shared shuttle, which is what we did for $100 round trip. If you try to get a taxi randomly, the general rate for one-way to the Cancun airport is $90.
Where should I stay?
Tulum is comprised of 2 distinct areas: The City Center and Tulum Beach. Within the city, you’ll find smaller, but rapidly growing neighborhoods where hotels, lodges, and condos are being built at every corner. Everyone wants a piece of that beautiful Tulum real estate. With the beach about a 10-15 minute taxi ride from the city (depending where exactly you are) you can get situated right in the jungle, while the beach is still super accessible. Honestly, no matter which area you stay, you’ll get all the Tulum Vibes.
We stayed in 2 different neighborhoods during our trip. First, Aldea Zama and second La Veleta. Aldea Zama is the closest neighborhood you can get to the beach, without being on the main strip. It’s very clean, modern and reasonably priced. We stayed at Copal Hotel Tulum in Aldea Zama, which is in the southern area of the city. Our second hotel was more inland, Jungle Keva Hotel in La Veleta. If saving money is a priority and you’re willing, it is possible to bicycle to the beach from Aldea Zama, but I wouldn’t recommend it from La Veleta. Jungle Keva to Tulum Beach is roughly 6 miles or a 35 minute bike ride. Copal Hotel is roughly 4.8 miles or a 25 minute bike ride. Honestly, we were happy to spend the pesos and just call a cab.
If you want to be front and center to all the action, you can spend more money on a hotel located right on the main Tulum strip. Ahau Hotel seemed to be our center of gravity in Tulum beach. Everything is walkable in this area!
How do I get around?
Uber and Lyft are not available in Tulum, so don’t count on being able to use any ride share apps! Taxi’s are predominately the tourists method of transportation, followed closely by bicycles and motor bikes. Don’t hesitate to bike around the first day or so to get to know the area. Tulum is small and beautiful, and you’ll see everyone enjoying their bikes.
At Copal Hotel, we were able to rent bikes for $12/day. They also have the option to rent motor bikes for $252/day. If you don’t want to pay moped prices, but feel like you’re not ready to bike constantly, check out Ryde Electric- they are located in the city, but you can rent electric scooters for $28/day. Don’t worry if your hotel doesn’t offer bike rentals, there are plenty of places to rent bicycles all around Tulum- just keep an eye out.
While staying in Aldea Zama, we would bike everywhere until we were ready to go to the beach. Then we would ask the hotel to call a taxi for pickup, and they would charge anywhere from 300-400 pesos ($15-20 USD). Remember- taxi’s only accept pesos! When we were ready to go home, we would grab any of the numerous taxis around the beach area & pay about the same. To avoid spending an unnecessary amount on taxis running back and forth to our hotel, we packed for the day, taking anything we would need until we’d go back at night.
What are good places to eat?
To make life easier on your trip, I’ll divide these by area!
$ – cheap eats. $$ – good value. $$$ – on the pricier side.
Tulum City
- La Coqueta (tacos) $$
- Chan Kaapeh (best coffee) $
- Manglar (pizza – try the nutella pizza for dessert) $
- Lief’s (smoothies, sandwiches, breakfast) (also has a beach location) $$
- Ki’Bok Coffee Bar (coffee + breakfast) $$
- Jungle Keva Hotel (they have a chef who makes phenomenal food!) $$$
- Antojitos La Chiapanega (best tacos, super cheap) $
- Campanella Cremerie (ice cream) $$
Tulum Beach
- Real Coconut Cafe (breakfast/brunch) $$$
- Matcha Mama (coffee + refreshers) $
- Raw Love Tulum (vegan) $$
- I Scream Bar (vegan ice cream) $
- La Malinche (tacos) $
- Aldo’s Gelato (ice cream) $$
- Ziggy’s (mexican, tacos, drinks) $$$
- La Zebra (mexican, drinks) $$$
What else is there to do?
The beach is the main, and most beautiful attraction in Tulum. You’re basically in a bohemian paradise. Almost every hotel on the strip has beach access, and many only require a minimum spend to relax on a sunbed, chill or party at the beach club, and/or have a few drinks. The best ones we found were:
- La Zebra: $40 minimum spend per person
- Coco Tulum: $25 minimum spend per person
- Ziggy’s: $25 minimum spend per person
- Tantra: $75 minimum spend per person
- Papaya Playa Project: $30 entrance fee
Other things to do/places to visit:
- Ven La Luz – an art installation by Daniel Popper located at the Ahau Hotel in Tulum Beach (free)
- Follow That Dream sign – highly photographed road sign located by Lolita Lolita’s in Tulum Beach (free)
- Tulum Jungle Gym – a unique workout gym on the beach. Barbells and plates are made of wood! ($500 pesos or $25 USD per person for a day pass)
- Thermal Bath Experience at Era Hotel’s Ritual Spa – a flower bath! ($80 for 30 minutes)
- Pottery Class – located at Laguna Studio + booked on Airbnb Experiences ($90 for 2 people)
- Grand Cenote – one of the swimming caves located in Tulum
- Casa Tortuga – Cenote located 40 min-1 hr north of Tulum
- Cenote Taak Bi Ha – located 1-1.5 hour north or Tulum
- Chichen Itza – Mayan ruins & one of the 7 Wonders of the World located a couple hours west of Cancun in Merida
How do I get a Covid Test to return to the US?
There are plenty of COVID-19 testing facilities located throughout Tulum City and Beach. We told our cab driver we needed a test (this was the day before our departure) and he kindly took us to a rather inexpensive place! It was a Medex Lab charter bus setup in a parking lot on Av. Coba, across the street from The Garage and Chula by Hotel Blanco. We waited in line about 45 minutes, filled out a questionnaire, and the swabbing only took about 30 seconds. The price was $400 pesos or $20 USD for the antigen test (they offer PCR as well, but as of this writing the US only requires antigen/rapid testing to reenter). We heard some places are charging around $2000 pesos, and the hospital is one of the more expensive places to get tested. We got our results emailed to us from Medex Lab within 4 hours!
At the airport in Cancun they verbally surveyed us multiple times, checked our test results at the bag drop counter, and we were required to fill out another COVID survey prior to boarding our plane. It was easy to do, and they definitely were making sure everyone stayed safe!
Have anything to add? Leave a comment so I can check it out on my next visit to Tulum, I’ll definitely be back!
