City Guide: Cancun and Tulum
Overview
There's nothing quite like being on the Mexican Rivera. Warm weather, white sand beaches, and turquoise blue water. It's a popular destination for travelers and spring breakers on the East Coast. But a little harder to reach for those of us on the West Coast. Due to Cancun's popularity and proximity to the United States, the area feels very touristy and very similar to the U.S. Many people speak English and you can even spend your American cash as you would in the states. Despite all of these things, the Caribbean side of the Mexican Rivera is incredibly beautiful and has much to offer.
Getting Around
If you plan on just staying in one city, I wouldn't plan on getting car. There are plenty of taxis and tour buses that can take you anywhere within the Cancun area. If you are planning on going to Tulum (like we were), it's possible to get there without a car. You'll have to take a bus from the Cancun airport to Playa del Carmen. And then you can transfer to another bus that takes you down to Tulum. If you have the time and patience to take the bus, i’d say go for it. Unfortunately for us, our schedule didn't allow for a long bus ride down the coast, and a car seemed necessary. Renting a car gives you a lot more freedom (obviously) to check out some harder to reach Cenotes and other areas of Tulum that would’ve been very difficult to reach. I will say that renting a car in Mexico turned out to be a very stressful experience. Like any rental car agency, you are constantly being up-sold on everything, especially when it came to insurance. At the end of the day, just make sure you stand firm on what you paid for, and you'll be fine.
Seaweed
When we traveled to the Cancun and Tulum area in 2015, the entire region had been experiencing this natural seaweed phenomenon that caused heaps of seaweed to show up on the beach everyday. It was everywhere, on the sand and in the water. This made it very difficult to enjoy the beach in some places. I would check to see if the seaweed is still an issue. Since the seaweed is harmless, we still got in the water anyway.
Tulum
Tulum is about a 90 minutes drive south of Cancun and is situated in the middle of lush jungle and sandy beaches. I was really excited for Tulum, mainly because of it’s exotic name. But when I got there, there was an interesting vibe. It was very hip. The 'beach' area of Tulum is the ‘hip’ part of Tulum. For about 5 miles of beach, there is a narrow stretch of road that is packed with small boutique hotels, restaurants, and yoga centers. A lot of the hotels in the beach area are ‘eco-friendly’. Which really meant, no electricity, no hot water, and no clothing required on the beach. Nevertheless, there is a huge market for this type of vacationing, and it's not cheap. Some of the nicer eco-hotels go for around $200-$500 per night. But they do look very cool. Just check out this girl’s tulum trip.
Accomodations
My girlfriend and I opted to stay just outside the main part of town at a place called Aqua Viva Tulum. It was a relatively new place, but not very convenient for catching a cab or taking the bus. The place was nice and modern and not too expensive. They had private suites for about $100/night. They also had a ‘hostel’ type accommodations for about $65/night, all on the same property. This meant that guests who stayed in the bunk beds got to enjoy all of the same amenities as the regular guests. Which was the shared kitchen and TV area (with netflix), heated pool, fire pit, and hammocks. Even though I really wanted to stay in the beach area, it ended up being a lot better staying at Aqua Viva Tulum because we got our hot water for showers, and AC at night (it gets pretty hot there).
Food
Arca
I had read a lot about this other restaurant called Hartwood which was pretty fancy and had a lot of press. Hartwood was featured in the NY Times 36 hours in Tulum piece. I really wanted to go there, but it was closed on the night we arrived (Sunday night). So we opted for a different restaurant called Arca instead. Similar vibe as Hartwood, but a little slightly newer. Arca has open air seating located beneath swaying palm trees and lit by tiki torches and a starry sky. The food is a fresh take on traditional Mexican cuisine. I enjoyed our meal there, but I felt a little out of place since I'm used to dining that's a little more casual. I'd recommend coming here if you're on a romantic date.
Mateo’s
This is a highly rated place to eat according to Trip Advisor. It’s located in the beach area (near Arca). Because they're known for their fish tacos, we had to try it out. The fish tacos ended up being ok, and the grilled tacos ended up being much better than the fried/battered tacos. If you wanted to compare it to Nick’s Crispy Tacos in San Francisco, Nick’s is much better.
Antojitos La Chiapaneca
Ok, so this place had the best Al Pastor tacos on our entire trip. I want to say ‘all of mexico’ but would be inaccurate. But if you make it to Tulum, please make sure you go here. It’s that good. It feels like a divey place. But the restaurant services a lot of locals (which is a good thing), and a lot of tourists. Tacos are about 50 cents (US) each. And they only come with the meat and tortilla. After receiving your taco, it's up to you to put on your onions, parsley, and hot sauce. We made the mistake of putting too much orange sauce on our tacos, which ended up being habanero. Ouch! We liked this place so much we went here twice.
Things to do
Mayan Ruins
The ruins in Tulum are definitely a must see. And if you’re staying in Tulum, it’s only about a 5-10 minute drive from town. I recommend getting there as soon as it opens at 8am in order to avoid the hordes of tour groups that arrive from Cancun at 10am. We got there about 10 minutes before the gates opened and waited to get in. From the parking lot you have to walk through about 5 minutes of shops and vendors. And from there, you have to walk about another 10 minutes to the entrance of the ruins. There will be people offering to be your guide at the entrance, but you’re not required to hire one. The ruins also have beach access, so bring a swimsuit and a towel if you want to get into the water. We ended up not doing this because all of the seaweed. But it looked really cool to be able to swim in the gulf underneath the ruins. Because we didn’t go into the water, we got through all of the ruins in about 45 minutes.
Gran Cenote
This was the first cenote we visited. And was probably one of my favorite ones to visit. It wasn’t huge, but it had a lot of interesting features and a good amount of sunlight. Which made it easier to see underwater.
Dos Ojos Cenotes
Dos Ojos is the most famous cenote and is where everyone goes to. I thought it was just ok compared to the Gran Cenote. Dos Ojos is definitely a lot bigger, but also a lot darker too. This made the cenote feel cavernous and cold. But the good thing about visiting Dos Ojos is that there are a number of different Cenotes off of the same access road that you can visit. For more information on cenotes in the Tulum area, I found this site to be really helpful - http://www.dosojoslodge.com/cenotes/.
Playa Del Carmen and Akumal
Playa Del Carmen and Akumal are great areas to stay at while in the Cancun area. Because it's away from Cancun, you're farther away from the younger 'Spring Break' crowd. It's a little quieter, but still touristy. We didn’t get a chance to stay in either of Playa Del Carmen or Akumal. We just took a day trip to Akumal, and then made a pit-stop by in Playa del Carmen on our way up to Cancun from Tulum.
Turtles of Akumal
The turtles of Akumal are supposed to be here year round. And when we went, we were lucky enough to spot a few in the water. If you do decide to go, there will be a lot of people insisting that you need a guide to go see the turtles. The truth is that you do not need one. If you have all your own gear, you’re more than welcome to get into the water for free! But if you need snorkel equipment, you can easily rent it on the beach. There is a designated area in which you can snorkel in, so just stay within that area and you’ll be fine. Although my girlfriend and I accidentally wandered out of the designated area and we were just fine. Just follow the groups of tourists floating in the water. There’s probably a turtle down there.
Laguna Yal-ku, Akumal
Laguna Yal-Ku is about a ten minute drive north of the turtle beach in Akumal. The lagoon doesn’t look like much from the outside, but once you put your snorkel mask in the water there is a lot to see. Snorkeling here was a lot of fun because it was pretty big, had lots of different rock formations, and had a good amount of fish to see. The entrance fee is about $12USD, which was totally worth it. We ended up being in the water for almost two hours!
Kaxapa Factory, Playa Del Carmen
While a lot of people recommended to stay in Playa Del Carmen, we decided not to. But we did end up stopping at the Kaxapa Factory for lunch on our way back to Cancun. It was probably some of the best food we had on our entire trip. Kaxapa Factory is really delicious Venezuelan cuisine. Their specialty are Kaxapas, which are these small sweet/savory corn pancakes that come with a combination of meat and special sauce (very yummy). They also make arepas, which is constructed like a pita pocket, but with Venezuelan ingredients. Don't forget to wash everything down with a refreshing Venezuelan limeade. Everything we had at the Kaxapa Factory was amazing. The owner was really funny and nice to us too, which made us like the restaurant even more.
Cancun
Cancun was the last stop of our trip, so we didn’t do too much in Cancun except for relax at the hotel. I had never been to Cancun before, but there isn’t much to do if you don’t like clubbing and drinking. My girlfriend and I don’t do either. But we did manage to take a tour to swim with the whale sharks, which was one of the coolest things we have ever done. Unfortunately the day that we went, it was cloudy and raining. Which meant the plankton weren’t out, which meant the whales didn’t come to the surface to eat them. We got to see a few, but our guide told us on really sunny days you can see dozens of whale sharks. If you have some flexibility with your schedule, make sure you plan on going during the sunniest day. The weather will make a huge difference on how many whale sharks you see