Tulum is one of the best valued locations we have traveled to! The culture, adventure, people, history, food, shops, & hidden gems are truly worth every peso. This is one of my all time favorite locations and if I could visit multiple times a year, I would!
For a free downloadable 7-10 day itinerary, scroll to the bottom to keep all of our insights in your back pocket!
What to Expect
Tulum is a developing tourist city, so the pros are that it’s not overly crowded or priced! Due to its major growth across the city, expect construction in the residential areas as they are building tons of new constructions. The same goes for the roads, though the main streets that line Tulum Town and the beach are paved and easily driven on, once you get into the residential parts the roads will be wildly bumpy and an experience to drive on haha!
There is a vegan/hippy scene making it a really unique city to explore with so many ascetically pleasing spots and really unique people to meet. There is also a huge population of young people, it feels like the whole city is ran by young adults and all the tourists are young adults from all over the world!
As noted in 7 Unique & Budget Friendly Vacation Spots for the World Traveler, Tulum is over all an extremely affordable location! Our biggest hiccup was our rental car, but that was an age/Cancun problem that I will cover in the next section! Below I listed & linked costs to give a rough idea on what to expect!
Flights
$150-350
round trip flights (from USA to Cancun)
Food/Excursions
$15-50
per day
Accommodations
$70
per night
How to get to & Around Tulum*
We rented a car which honestly seemed to be the best way to transport ourselves. You really CANNOT get around Tulum with out your own rented car, mopeds, or ATVs. Unfortunately, this was the most expensive part of the whole trip.
We were hit hard with a young driver fee and what we thought was going to cost us around $250 for a week from booking online, jumped to close to $700… Tulum is about a 2hr drive from the Cancun airport, the drive is ridiculously easy, there is a highway straight from the airport that leads you RIGHT to Downtown Tulum.
Best Transport Option
IF you are under 25 OR want to try and save more money, take the bus to Tulum (Linked here). It is about $14-26USD one way depending on what time of day you take off from the airport, returning to Cancun from Tulum is a consistent $26USD. After arriving in Tulum, you will see the Main Street lined with shops and restaurants, and TONS of ATV rentals. We found the highest rated rental spot for you here: The Lagoon Company.
Typically, these companies will be willing to haggle, the longer you rent the lower the rate, try and see if they will give you a price 25% cheaper than what the first charge!
When we go back to Tulum again, we are going to do this instead to save money!
The Beaches…
We visited Tulum end of July, and this was probably the worst part about our visit. We found out that it was seaweed season and the beaches were disgusting. Lined with seaweed, smelled awful, the water was brown, and the sand was gross. We went twice and regretted it both times!
Apparently the best time to enjoy the beaches in Tulum is November-Apirl, but be mentally prepared, some years that seaweed season creeps in earlier. Tulum is still SO worth it still even with unpredictable beaches!
Where to Stay
Because the beaches are rough, we actually don’t recommend getting a hotel or all inclusive on the beaches in Tulum. It just isn’t worth it with the high risk of having smelly beaches that you can’t swim in or enjoy. Be sure to stay around downtown Tulum, which is right off the 307! Downtown is about a 10min drive inland from the beach and the place to hang day or night! It is where all the coffee shops, restaurants, and hidden gems are! This is where we stayed in our INCREDIBLE airbnb!
We had everything you’d want & more in a good location. We throughly enjoyed the indoor and outdoor kitchen, beautiful amenities throughout the entire airbnb, 24/7 onsite security, shared large pool + your own private pool on the patio, all the toiletries you’d need, clean drinking water, and great wifi! Total cost was close to $500 after fees for 7 nights!!! We were only a 5 min drive from downtown or 10 minutes from the seaside town.
3min drive from downtown or a 5 min walk to food stands and this incredible café pictured!
Melatte’s Café – 9/10 (under an apartment complex in center of Tulum)
If you look on Airbnb or Hostel World, you will find endless housing options to best fit your price range! I do know there were incredible looking hotels and hostels right in downtown that are worth looking around at!
Tacos, Coffee, Smoothies, & more!
Antojitos La Chipaneca -15/10 ( best street tacos that didn’t make us sick ahaha) 
Los Morros Callos & Aguachiles – 10/10 (good food, great vibes) 
Los Morros Callos & Aguachiles – 10/10 (good food, great vibes) 
Tostada Tulum – 9/10 (great dinner spot, little pricey) 
Random Street Tacos 
Oxxo- this is a Mexico staple, like our version of 7/11 but better, get all of your Mexican snacks, cookies, and drinks here
YOOO these restaurants and coffee shops were amazing… everything in Tulum is pretty reasonably priced, especially in the local and downtown area. You have to get street tacos and check out some of the more trendy spots! The more expensive restaurants line the beach but can be worth it for a special night out!
Sin Etiqueta -7/10 (pictured above^)
Burritos Beer – 9/10 (Inside a super cute street hotel, pictured above^)
Botanica Garden café – 10/10 (We went here 5 times, plant based food, smoothies, coffee, juices and SO AFFORDABLE! This place is a dream, make sure to ask to sit in the back garden. Pictured above^)
Coati Café Tulum – 10/10 (near Tulum beach, pictured above^)
Raw love – 10/10 (açaí bowls, coffee, vegan, pricey but the most unique jungle spot tucked behind the beach. Pictured above^)
Speakeasy coffee shop – 10/10 (Across the street from Aroma Tulum hotel, theres this big door no sign, just knock and you’ll find a coffee shop or just ask around to people on the street to find it haha! DEF RECOMMEND, photos above^)
Why people really go to Tulum
THE CENOTES! This is why people come to Tulum. Even if you aren’t a scuba diver it’s still worth it! Our TOP Cenote was: Cenote Cristal y Escondido (2min drive from downtown). at $15 a person this was the best value, you don’t have to wear life jackets, you basically jump off of every corner that you can and not super populated (but be sure to go as early as you can just in case)! You pay to visit 2 cenotes for the one price, go to the one where u buy your passes first & save the best for last (It is right acrossthe street!)
WAKE UP EARLY! Try and get to the cenote around 8/9am and you’ll be so happy you did! We were with about 6 other people for like 6 hours and then the large tour groups started flooding in around 2pm.
We recommend making sure your valuables are always secured. We did not get anything stolen but we met multiple people whose stuff was stolen while they were swimming. I found this sweet fanny pack that is waterproof and floats if you are traveling solo! Check out the booē bag!
Mayan Ruins
Your next stop! This was a super cheap activity, tickets were about $7 each without a tour guide. The Tulum ruins are right on the ocean, providing incredible views and tons of ruins to check out. It was extremely hot so we only lasted about 45 minutes to an hour. I am glad we did it but it wasn’t “amazing.”I think if we would have joined a tour group and had an umbrella to block the sun it would have been a more investing experience.
SCAM HEADS UP: when you are parking on the side of the street YOU DO NOT PAY FOR PARKING and you DO NOT BUY TICKETS ON THE STREET. The street is lined with vendors and scammers. JUST SAY NO. lol. park your vehicle and walk to entrance of the ruins where you will obviously see where to buy tickets. Additionally, people will try and sell you beach excursions, snorkeling, and more activities just don’t do it 50% chance you are going to get scammed or robbed. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!
Considering Cancun Instead?
Our recommendation is to stay in Tulum for 5-7 days of adventure packed experiences! If you want to have nice relaxing all inclusive with INCREDIBLE beaches maybe Tulum isn’t for you. Cancun is the epitome of relaxation. We honeymoon’ed in Cancun for 10 days at an all inclusive resort and it was perfect! I only had wished for more adventure. Which is why I have a great proposal if you want both!
My perfect trip would be to stay 4-5 days in Tulum for adventure and 3-5 days in Cancun for a relaxing getaway. I think this is the perfect pairing. We wished we would have done at least 2-3 days in Cancun to end our trip in Tulum since we never got to enjoy the gorgeous beaches that were just 1.5hrs above us! And honestly, Tulum is an adventure and the last day or two we were wishing we had a bit of luxury just to be able to lay at the beach, eat, drink, and chill in our room! When ur in Tulum you’ll have to drive out for every meal which is so fun but by day 5/6 we were ready for Cancun (could just be our preference tho and being a little extra..🤣).
Cancun has some amazing deals but can be expensive! This is where we stayed in Cancun: Dreams Sands Cancun Resort. If it can work in your budget it is a reliable option, but all in all, Tulum or Cancun, you will love you stay in Mexico!
Free Downloadable Itinerary
Happy Traveling,
Cosette & David
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