Tulum 0.1
My top goal in life is to be well traveled. I want to go everywhere. I have been very slow on making my travel dreams happen but I am trying to visit one new country each year. I have yet to cross off more than a handful of countries so, by no means, am I a travel expert. I have so much to learn and being extremely challenged in the foreign language department makes things even harder. I went to Tulum with my sister and my step-mother who have traveled even less than I have. This is travel guide is for the inexperienced traveler.
The three of us were coming from three different cities, on three different flights, arriving at three different times. I arrived first and for some reason, I just thought once I got off the plane I would see a restaurant or bar where I could sit, get on the wifi, let them know where I was and wait. It did not work out like that. Maybe it was just my gate but once I got off the plane it was just a direct funnel to customs then to baggage claim then to immigration and that was it. Once you exit the doors after immigration there are a bunch of car rental counters. It is very loud, there are lots of people and it is very chaotic. Once you leave the doors to the outside you cannot come back in. I got lucky when I was looking around for a bench or somewhere to sit that it was raining so I did not go outside or else I would have been locked out! I ended up just sitting on the floor near the ATM machines and watched the immigration exit door, hoping someone I knew would walk out. It was really unfortunate that there was no wifi in that part of the airport so I could not let my sister know where I was. At the time I was getting really anxious that we hadn't researched the airport and made a plan on how to find each other. Luckily it worked out in the end (my sister had to pay a man to use his phone to call us) and we found each other and successfully got our rental car.
Flying out of Cancun was a completely different experience. We found wifi you could pay for. There is basically a mall in the airport (like any other international airport) there were a handful of restaurants as well. A warning about the airport food, all airport food is expensive but Cancun is ridiculously expensive! I went to Johnny Rockets for two orders of french fries and a water, it was over $20! I don't even want to know how much that would have cost at a normal Johnny Rockets in the US. We got to the airport 3 hours early for my flight because of all these warnings we got about airport security and Trump's wall had us nervous. It was completely unnecessary, we could have gotten there an hour and a half early and been fine.
We decided the easiest thing for us would be to rent a car rather than get cabs every time we wanted to go somewhere. If you stay in Tulum cabs are cheap and they are always swarming around asking you if you want a ride. If you are staying outside of Tulum like we did, renting a car is the way to go. Getting the rental car was kind of a long process, you have to wait for a shuttle to come and take you from the airport, fill out the forms, look over the car and they try to sell you on these ticket packages to various parks and shows. Once we got through all of that it was a really easy drive down the one road to Tulum!
We would have really liked to have stayed in Tulum but when I was looking for Airbnb's for this trip I was having trouble finding a decent place. We wanted to be near the beach, we needed two or more bedrooms and we had to have air conditioning. Our options in Tulum seemed to be limited. I ended up finding a pretty nice place that had three bedrooms, three bathrooms, air conditioning and was steps from the beach outside of Tulum in Akumal. I could not seem to find our exact condo but this one is in the same development and looks exactly like ours. We were probably around 30 minutes away from the main road in Tulum, which is not ideal but driving in that part of Mexico is really really easy.
Our first night we went to a restaurant in Akumal instead of driving all the way to Tulum. Someone at work recommended La Buena Vida and it was the perfect first stop on our trip. The tables are right on the beach, in the sand. The bar seats are swings. They even had tree houses that you could climb into and order your drinks via a bucket and pulley system. The ceviche was really fresh and I liked the guacamole but our meals were not that great. We loved the place anyway because our drinks were strong and the place was so cool. We did not go back but if we had the time I would have liked to go during the day just for a drink.
The next day we woke up and went to breakfast at the Sahara Cafe located in the Joshita Hotel in between Akumal and Tulum. The hotel looked beautiful and the cafe was right on the beach. They had a great breakfast spread of juice, fresh fruit, yogurt, granola and huevos rancheros. After breakfast, we drove to Tulum to lay out on the beach. We decided on Playa Paraiso for our first day since I had read such great things about it.
We only visited two beaches during our trip but that is fine with me. I actually don't even like going to the beach! I love looking at it but I hate being sandy and sticky from the salt water. Playa Paraiso or Paradise Beach was incredibly beautiful and did not disappoint. Between the water which looked ombre and the soft white sand, it did not even look real. I hate all sand but the best part of this sand was that it does not get hot in fact, it felt cool! I heard this is due to the fact that the sand is made up of coral and shell fragments rather than silica. Playa Paraiso is a public beach and we found two entrances to the beach. The main entrance is near the Playa Paraiso sign and the leaning palm that dominate Instagram but this is where the beach is the most crowded. The second entrance is not as far down the beach road and is right next to the Mezzanine Hotel. It was much less crowded on that end and the hotel has a margarita 2 x 1 happy hour everyday from 1pm-4pm! We originally parked near the main entrance but later moved our car to the Mezzanine Hotel for happy hour and I got the best pad thai I've ever had.
For dinner, we went to Posada Margherita, an Italian restaurant with homemade pasta that everyone was raving about. It really was the best pasta I have ever had and I am still thinking about it! We went a couple of times but that first time I got the special of the day which was tuna cooked in sea water. The sea was extremely salty so the fish cooked in sea water was incredibly salty. It was delicious but when water is $10 it's tough when your meal makes you very thirsty! Posada Margherita is cash only but accepts USD they offer 15% discount if you pay in pesos, definitely, take advantage of that! This was one of the most expensive meals we had but everything about the place is perfect. The restaurant is on the beach and the walk down there is like walking into an Anthropologie catalog.
A side note about cash. Tulum is a cash only town which makes things tough. There are ATMs with pesos and USD all over the beach road in Tulum to help you out. We arrived with pesos that we had exchanged at the bank in the US, which was great for tipping the shuttle driver and paying the man so my sister could use his phone in the airport. We found the best exchange rates were in Tulum. There is a place near Posada Margherita that had a great exchange rate. I would recommend bringing all your cash to Tulum and exchanging it in town. I also had the "Convert" app on my phone which will convert any currency and was really helpful. If you are connected to wifi or data it will update itself to reflect the most current exchange rates.
The three of us were coming from three different cities, on three different flights, arriving at three different times. I arrived first and for some reason, I just thought once I got off the plane I would see a restaurant or bar where I could sit, get on the wifi, let them know where I was and wait. It did not work out like that. Maybe it was just my gate but once I got off the plane it was just a direct funnel to customs then to baggage claim then to immigration and that was it. Once you exit the doors after immigration there are a bunch of car rental counters. It is very loud, there are lots of people and it is very chaotic. Once you leave the doors to the outside you cannot come back in. I got lucky when I was looking around for a bench or somewhere to sit that it was raining so I did not go outside or else I would have been locked out! I ended up just sitting on the floor near the ATM machines and watched the immigration exit door, hoping someone I knew would walk out. It was really unfortunate that there was no wifi in that part of the airport so I could not let my sister know where I was. At the time I was getting really anxious that we hadn't researched the airport and made a plan on how to find each other. Luckily it worked out in the end (my sister had to pay a man to use his phone to call us) and we found each other and successfully got our rental car.
Flying out of Cancun was a completely different experience. We found wifi you could pay for. There is basically a mall in the airport (like any other international airport) there were a handful of restaurants as well. A warning about the airport food, all airport food is expensive but Cancun is ridiculously expensive! I went to Johnny Rockets for two orders of french fries and a water, it was over $20! I don't even want to know how much that would have cost at a normal Johnny Rockets in the US. We got to the airport 3 hours early for my flight because of all these warnings we got about airport security and Trump's wall had us nervous. It was completely unnecessary, we could have gotten there an hour and a half early and been fine.
We decided the easiest thing for us would be to rent a car rather than get cabs every time we wanted to go somewhere. If you stay in Tulum cabs are cheap and they are always swarming around asking you if you want a ride. If you are staying outside of Tulum like we did, renting a car is the way to go. Getting the rental car was kind of a long process, you have to wait for a shuttle to come and take you from the airport, fill out the forms, look over the car and they try to sell you on these ticket packages to various parks and shows. Once we got through all of that it was a really easy drive down the one road to Tulum!
We would have really liked to have stayed in Tulum but when I was looking for Airbnb's for this trip I was having trouble finding a decent place. We wanted to be near the beach, we needed two or more bedrooms and we had to have air conditioning. Our options in Tulum seemed to be limited. I ended up finding a pretty nice place that had three bedrooms, three bathrooms, air conditioning and was steps from the beach outside of Tulum in Akumal. I could not seem to find our exact condo but this one is in the same development and looks exactly like ours. We were probably around 30 minutes away from the main road in Tulum, which is not ideal but driving in that part of Mexico is really really easy.
Our first night we went to a restaurant in Akumal instead of driving all the way to Tulum. Someone at work recommended La Buena Vida and it was the perfect first stop on our trip. The tables are right on the beach, in the sand. The bar seats are swings. They even had tree houses that you could climb into and order your drinks via a bucket and pulley system. The ceviche was really fresh and I liked the guacamole but our meals were not that great. We loved the place anyway because our drinks were strong and the place was so cool. We did not go back but if we had the time I would have liked to go during the day just for a drink.
The next day we woke up and went to breakfast at the Sahara Cafe located in the Joshita Hotel in between Akumal and Tulum. The hotel looked beautiful and the cafe was right on the beach. They had a great breakfast spread of juice, fresh fruit, yogurt, granola and huevos rancheros. After breakfast, we drove to Tulum to lay out on the beach. We decided on Playa Paraiso for our first day since I had read such great things about it.
We only visited two beaches during our trip but that is fine with me. I actually don't even like going to the beach! I love looking at it but I hate being sandy and sticky from the salt water. Playa Paraiso or Paradise Beach was incredibly beautiful and did not disappoint. Between the water which looked ombre and the soft white sand, it did not even look real. I hate all sand but the best part of this sand was that it does not get hot in fact, it felt cool! I heard this is due to the fact that the sand is made up of coral and shell fragments rather than silica. Playa Paraiso is a public beach and we found two entrances to the beach. The main entrance is near the Playa Paraiso sign and the leaning palm that dominate Instagram but this is where the beach is the most crowded. The second entrance is not as far down the beach road and is right next to the Mezzanine Hotel. It was much less crowded on that end and the hotel has a margarita 2 x 1 happy hour everyday from 1pm-4pm! We originally parked near the main entrance but later moved our car to the Mezzanine Hotel for happy hour and I got the best pad thai I've ever had.
For dinner, we went to Posada Margherita, an Italian restaurant with homemade pasta that everyone was raving about. It really was the best pasta I have ever had and I am still thinking about it! We went a couple of times but that first time I got the special of the day which was tuna cooked in sea water. The sea was extremely salty so the fish cooked in sea water was incredibly salty. It was delicious but when water is $10 it's tough when your meal makes you very thirsty! Posada Margherita is cash only but accepts USD they offer 15% discount if you pay in pesos, definitely, take advantage of that! This was one of the most expensive meals we had but everything about the place is perfect. The restaurant is on the beach and the walk down there is like walking into an Anthropologie catalog.
A side note about cash. Tulum is a cash only town which makes things tough. There are ATMs with pesos and USD all over the beach road in Tulum to help you out. We arrived with pesos that we had exchanged at the bank in the US, which was great for tipping the shuttle driver and paying the man so my sister could use his phone in the airport. We found the best exchange rates were in Tulum. There is a place near Posada Margherita that had a great exchange rate. I would recommend bringing all your cash to Tulum and exchanging it in town. I also had the "Convert" app on my phone which will convert any currency and was really helpful. If you are connected to wifi or data it will update itself to reflect the most current exchange rates.
Stay tuned for Tulum 0.2 coming soon!
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