Tulum, Mexico Review (January 2017)

At the request of HoustonGumbeauxGuy, here is a recap of my recent trip to Tulum:

Hotel:
We stayed at Alaya Tulum. It had great reviews and a good price and we were not disappointed one bit. Great staff working hard to tend to every need, beautiful location along the beach. Had relaxing beds and chairs with umbrellas awaiting every morning, with no hassle to claim a spot. The food at the hotel was wonderful. We ate breakfast there most mornings and lunch was delivered beachside a couple days (shrimp tacos were amazing). They offered yoga every morning, although not really anything me or my GF were into.

We arrived in Cancun and hired a van to transport to and from the airport (1.5 hour drive) for $150 round trip. Not crazy expensive, but the most annoying expense on the entire trip. We stopped immediately outside the airport to pick up beverages for the ride.

All hotels on that stretch of beach in Tulum are boutiques, as opposed to the big all inclusive Cancun/Playa resorts. Alaya has about 14 rooms and everyone was mostly nice and interacting with one another beachside. I do not think it matters which hotel you choose in this immediate area as they all seem to be a variation on the same product, and there are hotels that fit every budget and preference (i.e. private pools/jacuzzis on decks overlooking the ocean). Some that stick out are Be Tulum, La Zebra, the Nest, and Hip Hotel.

Beach: Gorgeous beaches. More seaweed washing up than you see in the popular gulf locations (Seaside, Destin, Clearwater) but extremely calm turquoise water with no worrisome ocean critters (jellyfish) made the seaweed an afterthought. The sand was great, not very sticky. We went the last week of January and the temperature averaged mid-80s and lows in the low-70s at night. Perfect time of year to visit, not unbearably hot and the beaches/hotels were not crowded at all. It felt like half or so capacity while we were there, but I have no basis of comparison. There were enough people to feel like you were never alone or unsafe, but not constantly stepping over people like it can sometimes feel at American beaches (especially if the weather is nice).


Restaurants: The quality of restaurants was the most pleasant surprise of this awesome trip. Chefs from around the world "burn out" and end up in Tulum, serving incredible food. We found great seafood (unsurprisingly) and Italian. We were only in town 5 days, so we barely scratched the surface of all the wonderful food this place had to offer. The hottest recommendation seems to be Hartwood. We thought it was very good and would go back. Our favorite meal and dining experience was at Kitchen Table. It had a great jungle setting and delicious food. We had an enjoyable bike ride down the main road one morning and stopped for breakfast at Zamas, which I would recommend. We ate at Posado Margherita one evening. It was delicious as well. I'd guess there are no less than 30 restaurants in a couple mile stretch that all are worth trying. Like other high competition areas, I get the feeling restaurants don't make it long here if they aren't providing top quality food and service.

Activities: There are no shortage of activities to do while in Tulum. Mayan ruins are everywhere in the Yucatan and they can be great to explore. We hired a driver for the day ($150) to take us to the Coba Ruins to explore the ruins and then to local cenotes and a monkey sanctuary. The cenotes were fun and you could spend an entire day seeing 5-10 awesome cenotes (there are dozens near Tulum). We only visited a couple, but I recommend Tamacach-ha cenote (found a random Youtube video). It is underground in a beautiful cave with diving platforms (30+ feet - scary/exciting) and bats flying above. This blog gives you a good feel of visiting the town of Coba and the nearby cenotes.

We did a jungle hike at Punta Laguna Nature Reserve (link to random blog) and saw howler monkeys and spider monkeys in their natural habitats while having a good time just hiking through the jungle. The guides were great and it cost about $40.

Things we did not do that we wish we had time for include the Muyil ruins, the Chitchen Itza ruins, the Tulum ruins, Akumal snorkeling and fishing. A small fishing boat pulled up on the beach in front of our hotel one day and two old men unloaded two big sharks (reef and nurse) and 3 huge rays for everyone to look at before taking it to market. It was pretty cool.

Bars:There seemed to be plenty of nightlife in Tulum, although admittedly by 9:00 pm each night, I was pretty spent from drinking cervezas on the beach all day. We did hit up Gitano a couple nights. Overpriced drinks ($10+) but a good vibe with plenty of people. I strongly recommend a sunset drink at Mezzanine, perhaps before heading across the street to eat at Kitchen Table.


Shopping: Not my specialty, but there were a range of boutique stores and your traditional Mexican trinket/junk stores up and down the main street. I think there is enough to keep shoppers satisfied for a half or full day of shopping.

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