We had no intention of visiting Mexico this year, in fact we hadn’t even been that taken with the country on our first visit (to Puerta Vallarta) not long after the borders had re-opened in the pandemic.
However, feeling deeply burnt out and in need of some kind of rest before our epic adventure in July (more on that coming soon) we decided to take some time away from home to get some sunshine. Or, so we thought. With our two youngest teenagers (from our blended family of five) we jumped on the cheapest flights we could find (care of Tui, £313 return per person flying from Manchester in the UK to Cancun).
A ten-hour flight and two-hour drive later, we were arriving at our Airbnb in Tulum on the Carribean coast of Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, just in time for the first big tropical cyclone of the season. So not so much sunshine then.
If you're drawn to the allure of South America but prefer a shorter flight, Mexico is the perfect starting point. The vibrant colours, fascinating culture and warmth of the people meant that this second trip to Mexico entirely changed our mindset about the country and lit a fire to see more of central and South America.
Tulum is not without it’s problems. It is developing too quickly and is already light years away from the hip, sleepy seaside town it once was. With new luxury resorts popping up everywhere you turn, a brand-new airport and the controversial Mayan train linking up the peninsula like never before, it is a town which is undoubtedly focusing on the tourist market, in some ways to the detriment of the local environment and the inhabitants themselves.
But two opposing things can be true at once. Tulum sits in a region of lush beauty, fascinating ancient civilisation and hospitable culture. It’s a town with a chilled-out vibe and great food. And perhaps it’s therefore worth a visit before it grows too much more.
Thanks to the weather, we played more Connect4 and got more work done in Tulum than we perhaps expected, and our skin soaked up less vitamin D. And maybe that was just what we needed. We return to the UK better rested, with some Big Life Decisions made, feeling more in control of our to-do lists and having spent some quality time with two of the kids.
We also managed to visit a few sites, and eat in quite a few restaurants, so, if you do decide to head down to area, here are some of our favourite spots, well-researched just for you.
sleep
We stayed in Casa Pakal, an Airbnb in a gated community in the Aldea Zama area of Tulum. Located right on the edge of town with jungle on one side, we were only ten minutes drive from central Tulum, it’s restaurants and larger supermarkets like Selecto Chedraui, and fifteen minutes drive from the beach zone.
Within ten minutes walk of the apartment there was a pharmacy and a smaller local supermarket, Fresh Market, with all the essentials plus a coffee shop selling waffles. Bike rentals were available from the reception area for a small fee for those who arrived in Tulum without a hire car.
Casa Pakal had everything we needed for four people and sleeps up to six - there are two large double bedrooms with en suite, plus a single sofa bed in the upstairs meditation room which can be made up for an extra guest and a large comfortable sofa in the main living room which one teenager ended up sleeping on. There’s also always the hammock.
eat
We made no small attempt to test the vast choice of restaurants around Tulum for breakfast and still barely dented the surface. Our favoured routine when traveling is to quietly leave teenagers sleeping in our accommodation while we steal out for breakfast a deux, returning to mollify said teenagers with takeaway coffees and pastries. This usually works although we think they’re starting to cotton on to our ploy.
Our favourite spot for breakfast in Tulum was Botanica Garden Cafe, a ten minute drive from our apartment, although the very affordable Campanella Cremerie with it’s loaded waffles was a close second. For vegan and vegetarian options including a delicious iced coffee made thick and creamy with coconut milk, we really liked both the food and setting at Liefs. Speaking of setting, Ziggy’s Beach Club down on Tulum Beach couldn’t be surpassed - and the french toast with sour orange cream and pistachios was mind-blowing. In all honesty we didn’t have a bad breakfast while we were in Tulum, and an honourable mention and recommendation should therefore also go to Panza, the closest we breakfasted to our apartment.
For a takeaway coffee to take home to the teenagers, we liked Jade Tulum Coffee, where they quickly worked out our favourite recipe for an oat flat white even though it wasn’t on the menu. The teenagers can also heartily recommend their cappuccinos and iced lattes; in truth they must have thought we had a major coffee addiction as often we would have two in the coffee shop then take four more home!
We brunched rather than lunched as a rule - we are both fasting at the moment and don’t eat breakfast until 11am/midday - and most nights it was easiest to self-cater in the apartment, but we did try a couple of places for dinner. Mark, youngest teenager and I enjoyed the fajitas and people-watching at La Coqueta but found the simple menu at Tulum Tacos more authentic and delicious (and only ten minutes walk from the apartment - try the taco puerca). For those not so keen on Mexican food we tried Bonita Burger near the main centre of Tulum where the brioche buns were soft and the mojitos refreshing, despite the rain.
shop
We don’t tend to buy that much when we travel any more, especially as we try to live more minimally, but we did pick up our customary Tulum sticker for the van and I spent some time trying to find a small bottle of the Tamarind sauce I’d been having on my tacos. No success I’m afraid although there’s still hope for the airport tomorrow.
The main street through Tulum, the 307, seemed to have the lions share of tourist traders and tiendas selling textiles and handmade art, although we also saw many roadside shops on the way out to Valladolid, a town also famous for its boutiques and local artisans. Make sure you are carrying cash though, whilst many places take credit cards, it is by no means guaranteed even in the more touristy areas.
visit
A big part of this trip was to rest and recover, we were both feeling pretty burnt out when we arrived, and the teenagers just wanted to chill out by the pool. However the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico is peppered with Mayan ruins and beautiful cenotes (sink holes perfect for wild swimming) and so of course we did some visiting while we were there, as not to would have been a waste. I should point out, we were in Tulum right at the beginning of the hurricane season, and so we had a couple of relatively dry days when we arrived and one before we left, otherwise the rainfall was epic and constant, which also discouraged us from venturing too far.
Chichen-Itza
We certainly couldn’t travel to the Yucatan without visiting one of the seven new wonders of the world; Chichen-Itza. The ruins of this once spectacular Mayan city are mostly gone or underground, but you can visit the main sacred area of the site where you’ll see the famous El Castillo, the tallest pyramid, and the Temple of the Warriors. It’s here that, we were told by our guide, sacrifices were made by taking out the (still-beating) human heart and placing it on a statue as an offering to the gods.
There are two entrance fees, in total around $600 pesos each, and as hard as I tried I couldn’t find anywhere to buy these tickets online in advance. We also paid $1200 (Mexican pesos) for a private guided tour and then tipped a further $400 - our guide was friendly and knowledgeable and even had on hand an umbrella when the heavens opened. Our visit was cut slightly short by the downpour, but we managed to see the great ball court and the sacred cenote before we left. Worth a visit, if only to tick it off the bucket list.
Valladolid
There are certain places that I would love to revisit and stay for a couple of weeks at least, to really get under the skin of the town and find all of my favourite coffee shops and work spaces. Valladolid is definitely one of those places. A gateway town for Chichen-Itza and the surrounding area, Valladolid is a charming town filled with culture and beauty and several cenotes (pronounced seh-notays) of it’s own. With colourful buildings and a striking central church, the Iglesia de San Servacio, Valladolid has plenty to discover, just an hour from Cancun and slightly further from Tulum itself. I hope we will return here at some point.
Cenote Agua Dulce and Palomitas
Around half an hour’s drive north-east of Valladolid, we found two cenotes together (although be warned they have separate entrance fees), cenotes Agua Dulce and Palomitas. I wanted to make sure we visited at least a couple of these ancient sinkholes while we were in the Yucatan, and so after extensive research picked Agua Dulce as I thought it would be the most atmospheric on the way back from Valladolid thanks to it’s mostly enclosed roof. The visit didn’t disappoint and we were lucky enough to be alone in the enormous cave-like structure for all of our visit.
A few tips for visiting cenotes in Mexico: avoid wearing sunscreen or bug spray if possible (and if impossible shower before you get in and opt for organic so that you’re not introducing chemicals into the water). The water is fresh, and can be a bit of a shock as you enter, but your body soon adjusts to the temperature and the water is very refreshing in the hot, humid Mexican temperatures. Most cenotes offer you life-jackets and we found them helpful for floating around but a bit of a hindrance if you’re jumping in. And, as cenotes are actually more river than pool, connected as they are by hundreds of kilometres of underground caves and streams, you will encounter fish swimming alongside you and sometimes gentle currents.
Selva Maya Adventure Park
We do love an adventure in our family, and an adventure we had at Selva Maya. We’d been in the middle of a tropical cyclone for days and so it was a slightly apprehensive three that left the apartment on the morning, amidst heavy rain and winds swaying and bending the palm trees. By some miracle however, we arrived to a partially flooded but essentially dry park, where we were met and whisked 8km into the interior of the jungle where the jaguars and monkeys are free to roam. None of which we saw on our trip unfortunately.
At $80 per person, including youngest teenager who was then 13, Selva Maya isn’t cheap, but for a morning of outdoor activities it was well worth the price. We traversed nine ziplines in the canopy, five rope bridges, a climbing and rappelling wall and then we freshened up alongside the fruit bats in two, very different, cenotes before freshly made tacos were served for lunch. It made a change from sheltering and working in the apartment, and for a few hours we forgot about the rain, and everything else, time slowing down as we each stepped out of our comfort zone in our own separate ways.
Tulum Mayan Ruins
Tulum itself is actually one of the most visited Mayan sites in Mexico due to it’s beautiful location set on the seaside cliffs above the turquoise waters of the Caribbean. Smaller than Chichen-Itza but no less impressive, it took us until our last day to visit even though it was only a fifteen minute drive from our apartment. I blame the tropical storms that battered the coastline for most of our trip. Tickets for the ruins (and allow a couple of hours to visit) are $80 pesos and can only be purchased at the entrance. It is indeed a most instagrammable spot, so expect to not be the only person there by a long shot.
in short - the highs and lows
Exploring on foot: We didn’t walk as much as usual due to the humidity, rain, flooding and tropical winds. However AllTrails have some brilliant beachside trails and walks around the Mayan ruins in Tulum, so we would have done one of these if the weather had been better.
Keeping it real: We were surprised and disappointed by the amount of litter we saw alongside the roads and verges in Mexico, especially through the jungle outside of Tulum. The area is developing rapidly and whilst there’s many responsible tourism companies, there’s also significant over-tourism in the area with large swathes of jungle being cleared and locals being priced out of the ever-expanding market.
As we arrived at the beginning of the hurricane season (mid-June) it rained a huge amount while we were there and we saw some significant flooding which curtailed some of our plans. Thankfully we had hired a car from Mex Rentals in Cancun, however our car started to judder on the way to Chichen-Itza and then completely failed to start a couple of days later. The team at Mex were helpful, sending out a mechanic to jump-start us and then sending us to Tulum Airport where we were able to swap the car out. None of these things have found their way onto our Instagram.
Memorable encounters: Something that really struck us was how warmly we were welcomed by just about everyone we met. People were helpful and friendly, from the barista in the coffee shop to the armed police officer with vibrant red lipstick who stopped us at a checkpoint. We always felt safe and welcome.
Sweet treats: The best churros I have ever had were from Don Churro in Tulum, just a ten-minute drive from our apartment. Keep it simple with an original churro dipped in dark chocolate sauce. The.best.ever.
questions about Tulum?
Would you give Mexico a try? Have you been?
Great trip w excellent notes for those of us coming along after.. I always stash folded plastic bags & take a few and clean up
Wherever I travel. Find appropriate urban disposal of course. Sounds like a great trip even w wet weather… nothing like warm rain 😘.. no fuss w hairstyling… another vacation freedom..
Nice to see you enjoyed our side of the planet. ;) Mexico was my first real international experience when I was in my early twenties, so it has a special place in my heart. I haven't visited the Yucatan yet. Nice tip about Valladolid, I love little places like that. I had to look it up on Google Maps for future reference.