Tulum is a popular tourist destination on the Caribbean coastline of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. It was the fourth and last destination of our 3 weeks trip around Mexico. But I have to admit, I feel a bit conflicted about Tulum… I was pleasantly surprised by things which I wasn't expecting, and also a little disappointed about other which I had pictured differently. 

When I thought of Tulum I had imagined white sand beaches, crystal clear water, ancient Mayan ruins, Ibiza-ish clubbing nightlife and hippie vibes. And yes, it is somewhat what the package says, but I noticed a few things:

• Around the beach everything is very pricey (the prices sure are like Ibiza!) and with many tourists traps.
• “Tulum” actually has 3 different areas: the beach, the town and the ruins. It’s way bigger than you might imagine, with a 15/20 mins drive from the beach to the town. 
• Unfortunately nowadays seaweed covers the beaches, making it very hard to swim and honestly, it creates an unappealing view.

Saying all of this, there are also many positives to Tulum. I loved seeing the ruins from the sea and swimming among the turtles and the mantarays.

Tulum town it's amazingly vibrant street art and seeing where and how the locals live. Sometimes the not-so-obvious parts of a destination is what you end up enjoying the most, and especially those things which don't involve breaking the bank, am I right?

I can’t deny there is a special energy to the place too…

Navigating Tulum

Tulum has 3 different main areas, all commonly described as “Tulum”, which we found a bit confusing, and even misleading. We were quite shocked the first day when we arrived to our hotel in "Tulum" and finding out it was nearly a 30 minutes drive to the beach!

1. Tulum Town 

In Spanish Tulum Town is called Tulum Pueblo, or referred to as El Centro. It's a relatively big town, but walkable, with plenty of shops, local restaurants, bars, cafes, banks, hotels, and residential areas. 

El Centro is vibrant, more authentic, only a 15 - 20 minutes drive to the beach.

2. Tulum Beach 

Also known as Tulum Hotel Zone where all the beaches, resorts, and tourist shopping is. 

To get to the beach from the town, you can take a "colectivo" (public mini bus) for 15 MXN ($0.75), ride a bike for around 30 minutes or get a 15-minute taxi ride. Taxis are abundant but expensive and around 200 MXN ($10.50) for this short journey.

3. Tulum Ruins

The Mayan ruins sit on seaside cliffs, high above the water. The visitor complex is just off Hwy 307, on the outskirts of town. 

The Seaweed Issue

There’s trouble in paradise, and it’s called sargassum! Unfortunately, the Yucatán coastline between Cancún and Tulum is clogged with mountains of seaweed.

I was quite shocked to see the smelly stuff, known as Sargassum, piled up monstrously all along the white sand and in the sea shore, on every beach we visited in Tulum. It makes it pretty hard to sit on the beach or swim in the sea.

In front of hotels and beach bars, workers are seen to be desperately trying to clear it up with wheelbarrows. Apparently, the hotels and resorts along the coast employ full-time workers (and spend thousands of dollars) attempting to stop the seaweed from piling up on shore.But, despite their efforts, it's a loosing battle. The Sargassum piles up with no sign of slowing down…

6 things you should do in Tulum if you're on a budget, or not.

These ideas come from the perspective of someone who likes authenticity, nature, art, good friendly vibes and a fun night out with a bit of dancing, tasty and affordable food, and getting my value for money. Keep reading to check them out.

1. Stay in Tulum Town

If you’re a traveller on a budget or prefer a more authentic vibe, then staying in Tulum Town is probably the best choice for you.

You won't be able to walk to the beach from your hotel, but sadly the beaches aren't what you would expect them to be due to the seaweed. Plus you will find way cheaper accommodation options in Tulum Town and get more value for your money.

Additionally, the high hotel beach prices - some range from $300 up to thousands a night - don't seem to make sense paying when you cannot enjoy the beach as you would hope too. It's sad, but true.

Where did we stay? At the Hotel Tulum H20 in Tulum Town. It was significantly cheaper than the beach hotels, but beautiful and comfortable. It was a ten minute walk to the centre of Tulum Town.

For 4 nights we paid MXN 7729.33 (Approx £334). This included a generously large room with a balcony, air conditioning, access to the lovely swimming pool, and daily breakfast.

Tulum Town is also more "real". If you are interested in seeing how and where the locals live, Tulum Town is a window into it, especially away from the main strip. As a result, you can find Mexican food at great prices. There’s an abundant amount of street food and local restaurants that are budget-friendly and delicious.

There's also a large range of bars, trendy cafes, rooftop clubs...whatever you desire.

There's also street art and murals all over town, It's a colourful town with it's own charm. I really enjoyed staying in Tulum Town and having it as our base to exploring Tulum.

However, it's good to note, taxis do charge quite high amounts for the short journey to the beach. Therefore, when staying in Tulum Town it could be worth renting a car, a scooter or bicycle to get around.

The town is also the most convenient place if you’re arriving by bus as the station is located within the town. We flew to and from Cancun and had to get the bus to and from the airport. This seems like a popular and easy way to arrive to Tulum.

2. Walk or cycle the beaches - Avoid the seaweed

As explained earlier, Tulum is facing a big issue with seaweed, which makes relaxing on the beach all day long, every day, not very pleasurable. My tip would be to spend a day walking or cycling the beaches around Tulum and at least to see them.

You can start the walk at Paradise Beach, walk down to Ruinas beach -a narrow strip of sand at the foot of cliffs, by ancient Mayan ruins - and then end at Tulum beach. This route is around 5km in total. There are various beaches on the way, as well as hotels and restaurants to stop, refuel with lunch and drinks, use their facilities and take a break to avoid the seaweed.

Behind Tulum beaches and the hotels, there is a road which you will need to walk on at several points as the beach isn't always accessible to walk on. 

We stopped for lunch at a hotel on Playa Las Palmas, which allowed us to use their beach beds for free - hands down one of the best naps of my life was under the shade of one of their beach beds, after a decent lunch and a few beers. The sea breeze and the sound of the waves crashing a few metres in front of me was like a lullaby. 

Paradise Beach 

 Playa Las Palmas

Playa Tulum

3. Go on a boat trip, swim with turtles & manta rays

The further you walk down Paradise Beach the cheaper the boat trips get. There's a few different options you can choose from to take you out to see the Tulum ruins from the sea and then to snorkel with turtles, manta rays and the many colourful fish that inhabit the corals. We payed around 15 dollars each for the one hour boat trip and shared the boat with just two other people - it felt like a private tour.

We learnt about the ruins and how the ruins were built to help the boats navigate their way through the coral and safely to share. Also, interestingly, Tulum means “wall” in Yucatec Maya, a reference to the city’s fortifications; 19th-century explorers used the name and it stuck. Originally, the city was called Zamá, or “dawn,” because it faced east.

Snorkeling among the beautiful sea life was definitely one of my highlights of Tulum.

However, it does seem like the boats go to the same spots regularly and throw food to the turtles. This makes the turtles used to the tourists and keeps coming back to get their lunch. But even though it felt a little touristy, the experience was a unique and great way to be able to see the animals so up close.  

4. Visit a Cenote park

You can’t visit Tulum, Mexico and not visit a cenote.

A cenote is a natural water pit, or sinkhole. The term is specifically associated with the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico, where cenotes were commonly used for water supplies by the ancient Maya, and occasionally for sacrificial offerings. 

Around Tulum there are many Cenotes and parks where you can spend the day. We visited a cenote park called Yax-Muul, it was just 15 minutes drive from the Tulum Town. It costs around 20 US dollars each to spend the day there, which included repelling and a guide. We got there by taking a "colectivo",  a local mini-bus which can leave you on the highway, right outside the park.

I really enjoyed visiting Yax-Muul park. It has adventurous activities you can do, such as repelling down to the cenotes and swimming through the different and very impressive caves. It's also a good way to stay out of the sun and cool down for a while. 

We visited 3 or 4 cenotes and enjoyed learning about the caves and their interesting rock formations. It was definitely a memorable and fun day.

5. Check out the Street Art in Tulum Town

There's some serious street art all around El Centro! It was a surprise highlight of our stay.

We loved checking out (for free) the abundance of colourful art and murals by local and international artists. I recommend going for a walk around the street art area, especially on a grey or rainy day when you're not feeling like sunbathing or swimming. 

In 2014, the local community launched an urban art project to beautify Tulum’s spaces. The striking pieces that exist today reflect this effort, and they have very much become a part of Tulum’s identity. 

Tinasah is an artist collective born in Tulum, responsible for most of the amazing murals you can admire. The murals tend to talk about social integration and nature preservation, two of the hottest topics right now in Tulum.

 Street art hot spots in Tulum that we found include:

• Calle Sol Ote & Calle Centauro Sur
• Calle Sol Ote & Calle Orion Sur
• Calle Sol Oriente & Calle Gemini Sur

‘Union’ (pictured above) by Valeria Navarrete and Alaniz represents what's happening in Tulum at the moment; with many foreigners moving to the area, the cultural melting pot is growing. 

6. Eat your way around & Bar hop - Tulum Town

When in doubt, eat. And there is no shortage of choice in Tulum Town. Eating around El Centro is also considerably cheaper than eating around the beach and there is so much more choice!

At restaurant La Choca Tulum, an unpretentious Mexican Restaurant run by a kind and welcoming family, we tried traditional Mexican dishes like Chiles en Nogada. It's located a few blocks away from the main downtown street in Tulum, the quality and quantity of food prepared by the chef/owner, it's authentic and delicious.

We also tried a take on the classic Spanish seafood paella but with crab and local sea food. 

For our last dinner we feasted at El Asadero (below), a really beautiful Mexican grill restaurant just off a side street of downtown Tulum Town, I recommend it.

 

There's plenty of places to soak up the nightlife in Tulum town too, with parties flooding out onto the street as the night goes on. You’ll also find that drink prices are a lot cheaper compared to the beach.

There's a trendy spot called Palma Central, which is good for food, drinks and dancing. It has many food trucks parked around the edges, a little kids' playground in the middle and a bar at the south end. The food offerings range from tacos and empanadas, to sushi and burgers. There are plenty of cocktail options and at affordable prices. 

While this place is trendy, it's not particularly touristy... plenty of the customers are locals... families out for a meal in the open air and it has a good atmosphere. When we visited there was a fire dancer and live music, it was a great place to start out the night.

Warning, we were partying on a rooftop bar on the main strip and at one point the music stopped and the place filled with local police. It seems like it's quite common for this to happen as police are looking to bust drug dealers. The friendly DJ who we'd been chatting to kept telling us not to worry and that the police would leave soon.

However, the police were determined to shut the party down and we ended up leaving to find somewhere else we could continue our night. In these type of situations I recommend to stay calm, positive and follow the police instructions. Don't panic or act hostile, just treat is as part of the experience.

How to get to Tulum

Accommodation in Tulum Town 📍

We stayed at the lovely Hotel Tulum H20 in Tulum Town. It was a 10 / 15-minute walk to the centre and to the bus station. We really enjoyed our stay there as we had a beautiful room with a great balcony and bathroom, access to the large swimming pool and daily breakfast. 

Total price 4 nights for 2 people: MXN 7729.33. Approx £334.

Address: Calle Chichen Itza Mz 24 Lt001, Tulum City Centre, Tulum, 77780, Mexico Phone: +52 984 871 2611