We enjoy our time together on the holidays exploring and connecting with the world. We chose Christmas and December proved to be a perfect time of year, with stunning weather.
Where to Stay:
We chose a lovely VRBO in the heart of Tulum, Ku Tulum. The open air kitchen and proximity to the best food and drink and pricing was perfect for us. We booked the less expensive one bedroom on the bottom floor.
We LOVE Food:
Bakery/Coffee
Cafe Babei
Estancia Jujena (those pancakes and heart shaped sugar cubes!!)
Lunch/Dinner
El Mariachi Loco - Ask for off the menu grilled octopus and shrimp in garlic butter.
La Malquerida - Great drink specials and pasta. Happy hour starts at 9am with 2 for 1 specials.
Taqueria Eufemia - Best bar and taco spot on the South beach (Mmmmmm margaritas).
Bocconcino - pizza and pasta - unreal truffled pasta
Gitano - A little more pricey and delicious. Try the Ribeye and Habanero old fashioned - just don't eat the garnish
El Milagrito - Best octopus tacos.
Nightlife
It surrounds the VRBO.
Make sure to check out Batey (fresh squeezed sugar cane mojitos from a VW bug sugar cane press in the restaurant. Stay for the live jazz.
Ice Scream Bar - Ice Cream drinks on the South Beach with catchy slogan T shirts
Black Rose for Cocktails on the Beach in an ambient setting
KiBox Nights has this cool rooftop that you can barely find via narrow stairway to the right of the bar. Great way to see the whole street and chaos!
Groceries
Frutas y Verduras Pool - Local supermarket. Fresh groceries for your outdoor kitchen cooking or snacking and water. Most fruit is 2-3 days old.
Discovery:
Casa Cenote - beautiful easy dive for a beginner or refresher, GO EARLY
Dos Ojos - Barbie line was stunning, bring your camera! Next time? Bat Cave!
Shark Dive - Bull Sharks, no cages, strong currents, deep water, not recommended for beginners. Most places require 30 logged dives min.
Ziggy Beach - arrive at restaurant opening for a beach bed, must spend 30.00 a person for the whole day.
Ruins - Very busy, make sure to go early. It was worth seeing but we were glad we didn't take the long day trips out to Coba. Take a cab, don't bring your bike. Exit on the south side of the ruins, and pick back up on the north beach.
Tulum: Take a walk along some of the streets. It's quite safe with the police driving by about every 30 minutes or so. Some of the decor of the restaurants is breathtaking as is the graffiti scattered around the streets, many pieces of which were done by the local tattoo shop: Tulum Ink, which is next to Batey.
The Beach: North and South. La Eufemia is the only restaurant on the beach that isn't a resort. They also have the best tacos and margaritas! Otherwise you can access the north beach through some public entrances, and on the south, you need to go through a resort and have a drink on the way in and the way out. All of the hot spots at night are on the south side of the beach, about $140 pesos. North beach is $100 pesos from downtown.
Tips:
There are cute clothing stores downtown with dresses price around 7.00 USD. I should have packed almost nothing and purchased more.
Eat and drink downtown if possible. Prices are fantastic, all afternoon and evening cost us $45 USD. There are many drink specials and the food is outstanding. It's totally worth throwing $100 pesos to have your own mariachi play at your table!
The beach is a jaunt from downtown, we chose the 5.00 cab vs the biking to South Beach. There are plenty of Taxis. Biking is prevalent in all areas, but seems sketchy at night.
The bus from Cancun was a 2 hour bus ride for around $30 for two people.
Check out this page from The Together Traveler. Her packing tips are very good, especially what isn't needed, I had the same experience.
Bring Cash and get Pesos. The Scotia Bank has the best exchange rate, was almost 19 to 1. Many places on the beach don't take CC, and on the weekends, the ATMs can run out of cash pretty quickly, especially in high season so be prepared.
Overview:
We absolutely loved Tulum. The weather was perfect and the people were incredibly friendly. We felt very safe and ate and drank like royalty for very fair pricing. JR and I enjoy cooking so the outdoor kitchen was a most delightful experience, as was morning coffee in the hammock with fresh fruit and huevos rancheros for breakfast.