Tulum, Mexico

Thursday

I started off my trip to Tulum, Mexico, by flying into Cancun, Mexico. From there I took a 2-hour bus ride to Tulum. Unfortunately, Tulum doesn’t have an international airport so flying into Cancun is the easiest way to get there. The bus dropped me off in the town center of Tulum, which is the more local town part, but still touristy. From there I got a taxi to the hotel my friend and I were staying at.

One key thing about Tulum is that there are no Ubers, Lyfts, or any sort of rideshares. So if you don’t have a car, the primary way to get around is by taxi. The hotel my friend and I were staying in was about 20ish minutes away from town and was more like a fancy glamping experience. The hotel we stayed at is called Ikal.

Once entering the hotel, you are led along a sand pathway with several wooden doors spaced out, all entrances to rooms. Our room was the second one, and when you walked in, it was an entrance to a private yard filled with plants and trees, which led to a door to our room. Our room was essentially a wooden treehouse-style cabin. Then behind our room was a backyard with a table and chairs and some beanbag chairs. Past the backyard was the bathroom, which was outdoors with a curtain and an outdoor sink area and shower. If you kept on walking, you saw a tiny swimming pool and then stairs to a higher-up platform known as our own private treehouse. The view from the treehouse was amazing.

Once leaving our private room, we could follow the sand path which led us to the restaurant, bar, main pool, and beach.

I arrived at this treehouse hotel around 7:30 pm but quickly dropped off my things and changed before heading out to dinner. I went to Yafe, the first and only kosher restaurant in Tulum. However, the place was super casual and extremely empty; it was only me there and two other people. So it wasn’t the most exciting vibe. I ordered beef tacos, which were delicious, and of course, the meat was Kosher. One cool thing was that instead of the menu being in Spanish and English, the menu was in Hebrew and English.

Tacos at Yafe

Friday

The next day my friend and I woke up early and did a great photoshoot around the Bohemian jungle. We then headed to the beach on the hotel grounds, where we participated in a mini-tour. The tour took us on a boat that stopped in front of the Tulum Ruins for us to take a picture and then took us snorkeling. We got to see some adorable turtles and also lots of stingrays. The tour was a great deal for only $18.

After hanging out at the pool for a while after and getting some frozen margaritas we packed up our stuff and headed to the second hotel we were staying at for the remainder of our trip. This hotel was a more traditional hotel but also by the beach as well with an awesome dock. The second hotel we stayed at is called Alea.

We then got dressed up and headed out to the main hotel strip with lots of restaurants, bars, and shops. A super fun area to walk around and take pictures of the exciting signs. My friend had read online that the “Follow that Dream” sign was one of the most instagramable signs and spots in Tulum. So we went to visit it- but surprise- it was definitely a trap- and my guess was that the shop by the sign paid influencers to take pictures by it. It was just a small sign with no special background. But there was no loss in visiting it.

For dinner, we went to the well-known Gitano. The place has an awesome jungle and fancy vibe brought together. Along with both getting drinks we shared three small plates; a mushroom truffle pizza, shrimp tacos, and ceviche. I particularly liked the Ceviche and Truffle Pizza but my friend preferred the tacos. After we hung around and waited for the music to start- however the music ended up not being our cup of tea.

Then around 11:30, we attempted to grab a taxi back to our hotel. The first taxi told us it would be $80 then the second one was $70 then the third one said $50 so we, of course, got in that one. But it just shows how Taxis in Tulum can decide whatever price they want since they don’t have meters. The taxi we got in however ended up attempting to scam us. I showed him the address and the hotel clearly on my phone yet he brought us to this random parking lot and then said we told him the wrong address. I was super scared we were going to get kidnapped. He grunted after we had confirmed we had given him the right address and he safely took us back to our hotel.

Saturday

We started off Saturday going kayaking by our hotel. We then headed back to the hotel strip where we decided to get a lounge chair at one of the beach clubs but also hopped around to a few. We enjoyed music and some good drinks. We also stopped by a delicious taco place. For dinner, we stopped by another taco place but this time we tried some cricket tacos- they actually didn’t taste terrible but they looked super gross. But we had enough curiosity to try them. Add some toppings to them and they aren’t terrible- they did taste extremely salty.

Sunday

Today we woke up bright and early for a tour. The tour visit started off with a visit to a beach. Then we went to an amazing lagoon known as Laguna Kaan Luum. The water was bright blue and there were hammocks and swings in the water which made for some awesome pictures. I would highly recommend a visit to this place. The next stop on our tour was our first Cenote- Crystal Cenote. I had heard this Cenote was very nice and beautiful and actually was suppose to be less crowded than some of the other ones. This, however, was not the case. This cenote was extremely crowded and it was nice but it definitely was not one of the most beautiful ones. It did have a cool cave to go in. We then headed to lunch in a different nearby town- the area was a little bit more local which was cool. I got a fajita that came with some rice and beans.

We then visited the Gran Cenote- which was by far my favorite one on the tour. There was a section that had perfect blue water and was automatically set up for amazing pictures. There also were two caves which were cool- however, the caves were both a little bit spooky to me and my friend since they had bats in them. The last stop on our tour was the Zacil Ha cenote. This cenote was extremely small but fun since there was a platform high up so you could jump into it and also a zipline into it. I did both. After our tour, we headed back to the hotel strip and enjoyed dinner in an area there that had a few food stand options to choose from.

The trip overall was awesome and I would highly recommend a visit to Tulum, Mexico. The Cenotes are amazing and the hotel strip and town are super fun to walk around.