After a month of celebrating Thanksgiving and prepping for the upcoming holidays, I am finally getting around to writing my Tulum blog! That being said, Evan and I traveled to Tulum and Cancun, Mexico, October 30th – November 4th, during Día de Muertos. We had a solid three days in Tulum and day in Cancun. Thus, we had a lot of fun adventures, including getting engaged in Tulum, but also some lessons were learned along the way that I’d like to share here.
Tips and tricks:
- Invest in a hide-away pursue or bag that can go under your clothes and has enough room to hold valuables like passport, credit cards, paseos, and phone. I recommend also keeping values on your person, unless your hotel has a safe and lock where you can store some things.
- Take out some paseos at the airport. I read a number of blogs that said otherwise, but when we got to the Tulum Hotel Zone, we couldn’t find a working atm in sight. This meant not being able to tip servers or pay taxi drivers in paseos like we would have wanted.
- Speaking of taxis, it is always good to negotiate the price with the driver before going anywhere, and if you just have card, making sure this works okay for them.
- Pack mosquito repellent! Tulum is in the jungle after all. I am allergic to mosquito bites and I was super swollen from all the bites I received on my legs and ankles, which meant needing to find and track down Mexican Benadryl.
- Pack a light rain coat. Mexico is pretty humid, but if you travel to the Caribbean coast during the summer or fall seasons, like we did, you are bound to experience rainfall and perhaps even a tropical cyclone (this is what we got with traveling to Tulum towards the end of hurricane season).
- Familiarize yourself with the conversion rates before agreeing to buy merchandise. There are definitely tourist prices in Tulum, and I even wound up paying $150 American dollars for some wooden sunglasses (authentic but I would have maybe paid half the price I did for them had I taken the time to do the math on my phone).
- Try and speak as much Spanish as possible! This might come as a no-brainer, but I truly felt like we had a better experience with the locals when we attempted to speak their lingo.
- Be blunt and say no if a situation feels uncomfortable and keep walking. When we went to the ruins, we had a few guys trying to sell us tickets outside the gate and they wouldn’t take card, so we went right in and learned you could and should purchase a ticket inside. We also noticed lots of tourists taking photos with monkeys and snakes – just remember everything comes with a cost.
- In terms of transportation and lodging, I am so glad we stayed at Ahau Tulum and utilized their round trip shuttle service to go to and from the Cancun Airport/Hotel Zone. We felt very safe and taken care of during our travels.
- However, with flying, I highly encourage you to not fly Volaris. They offer cheap flights for a reason. We had both flights canceled by the airline less than 24 hours in advance of traveling to and from Mexico. I had difficulties with their airline even prior to the trip, but this had to have been my sixth time calling them just to re-arrange a new flight to Mexico. Our flight from Los Angeles to Guadalajara was alright, but from Guadalajara to Cancun, we for sure thought we were going to die (by far the roughest and sketchiest flight I have ever been on). Needless to say, we spent extra money with a different airline so we could travel home with peace of mind.
- Be aware – when traveling to Mexico, the sewage system is very different from the states. It is important to find clean drinking water and not flush toilet paper down the toilets. Expect to become very close to your travel companion(s).
Of course, we had such a good time on our trip as well, and it will always serve as a special memory for us, since this is the place where we got engaged!
If you are planning to travel to Tulum, these are a few fun activities/sites we checked out that are also highlighted in the video.
- Because we stayed at Ahau Tulum, we were able to visit the Ven a La Luz sculpture for free. We also enjoyed a nice hour-long message, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and motorbikes as part of our stay at Ahau (extra charge to the room). Raw Love is also located at Ahau.
- We visited Coco Tulum for drinks, and lounged on the white swings by the beach. This is a great place for a daytime beach party!!
- We rented and rode a scooter to Cenote Calavera, where we jumped into the natural cenote. There are some little fish in the cenote, so don’t be startled if you feel something swimming around your feet haha!
- After our morning dip at the cenote, we traveled to the Tulum Mayan ruins (Tempio del Dios del Viento – aka wind temple). It was really interesting to read up on the history of the ruins and see it up close and in-person.
- We were able to have our hotel make a reservation for us at Kanan Rooftop, where we enjoyed drinks, dinner, and a view all to ourselves. Evan even pulled me aside to this beautiful boho arch and popped the question – and I, of course, said YES! Watch to the end of the video to see him ask me if I’d marry him.
- Matcha Mama was a must for smoothies and açaí bowls. Not to mention, the Follow that Dream sign was an easy stop on our way there. It was raining, so instead of renting bikes, we walked, which still allowed for some cool photos.
- Azulik Tulum and SFER IK Museum are a must-see while in Tulum! We made reservations and paid a deposit to eat at Kin Toh, and after our meal, we walked around the museum for free.
- Casa Malca is a mansion-turned-hotel once owned by Pablo Escobar. Unfortunately, we made the decision not to go inside since this was very costly (we just wanted to see the famous hanging couch, but it meant paying full admission fees for the day club and restaurant too, which we weren’t as keen on).
- After visiting Tulum, we took a shuttle to Cancun, where we spent our last day exploring the hotel zone, taking post-engagement shots at Senior Frogs (I took the shots for the both of us), and walking around the beach.
All in all, it was a very fun and memorable trip! Now, I can’t wait to get the wedding planning process started! And of course, since we got engaged on a taco Tuesday, 11/1/22, it is only fitting we have tacos at the wedding… stay tuned!
