We Love Tulum: Where to Stay, What to Eat

Joe and I are in love with Tulum. We just got back from our second trip in a year and we decided to return again for Joe’s 40th in May. This time we went with both of our parents and our three kids (thanks to my mom and dad who spearheaded it). It’s a great family vacation if you’re not looking for Disneyland. Lots of sandcastles to build. If you go without the kids though, it’s completely romantic.

The sand in Tulum is so white and fine that it feels like cornstarch under your feet. It’s humid enough that your legs are always a little sticky and your hair that you never knew was curly suddenly is. But it’s not stifling—in January at least. (June’s another matter.) The water is that Caribbean blue that you can’t take enough pictures of and every day has a moment where the sun and the clouds meet to make a perfect photo opp. Everyone looks great in Tulum. Just ignore the mosquito bites.

Unlike Cancun, which is where you fly in, or even Playa Del Carmen, which has changed so much since I was there 20 years ago, Tulum is blessedly free of mega resorts and guys in guayabera shirts embroidered with limes and shots of tequila. Though the small beachside hotels are all yoga-ed and eco-ed out, the town, which is 10 minutes inland, is a typically chill Mexican beach town—aimless dogs, taco stands, empty buildings next to tourist shops, plenty of Oxxo’s, the Mexican answer to 7-11. There’s no grand church to anchor it all but it still has a town square full of families at night, mixed with the occasional hippy dancing and doing weird things with ribbons.

Europeans were everywhere this time around. Thus the bikini bottoms were very, very small. Tops were negligible, if in existence. On the last night, there was a full moon and the palm trees on the beach were crackling in the relentless wind. I saw a lone kite surfer hopping the dark, small, bathwater-warm waves when I went out to get a glimpse of the salsa band playing at Le Zebra next door to the house we were staying in. I love traditional couples’ dances. They’re so generally civil and old fashioned.

Sadly, Joe and I had to head back to San Francisco last week, the city where parking meters exist—though I get the sense that if parking enforcement was an issue in Tulum, the meter maids would have machine guns like the federales patrolling the roads do. Come to think of it I’m surprised the meter maids here haven’t tried it.

Here are a few of our recommendations for Tulum should you find yourself yearning for the perfect beach vacation. It really doesn’t get much better.

STAY Clearly the beach is the place to be and along it is an endless supply of mellow little “eco-resorts” that almost all run off-the-grid. The first time we stayed here, we booked a balcony room at Hotel Mezzanine, which is particularly great because it’s situated at the end of the beach, the last hotel before you get to the Tulum ruins—the only Mayan ruins situated on a beach.

But if you’re a family, or just prefer to have a kitchen to cook in instead of being relegated to dining out which can be pricey and mediocre if you stick to beach-front dining—we really loved staying at Casa de las Palmas this time around. The beautiful three bedroom house, which is meticulously taken care of, is situated right next to Le Zebra Hotel and owned by Bob and Bonnie, a friendly and helpful couple who spend part of their year in Tulum and part of it back home in Canada. And I don’t mean to sound like the princess-and-the-pea that I am, but the beds are really comfortable, which is not a given in Mexico.

COOK To eat well, you need to know where to shop. If you’re looking for a supermarket for the basics, skip the huge market called Chedrahui and go to the smaller San Francisco de Asis market which is on the right-hand side off of the main drag of Highway 307, right before you turn to head to the beach (click here for the map). We got all our staples there (don’t forget to pick up the Microdyn which you’ll need to clean your unpeeled veggies and fruits). A warning to even slight coffee snobs: Bring your own coffee, if you care for anything better than instant.

For produce, there are plenty of frutas y verduras stands, but the consensus seems to be that Pool’s is the best (I believe it’s about 1 block to the east at the obelisk on the side street).  That’s where most restaurants get their produce.. Get a watermelon. The watermelons are so much better in Mexico. Freshly made tortillas, still warm and wrapped in paper, can be found at pretty much any store. Just look for a cooler which usually has the name of the local tortilleria written on it. Or just go straight to the source: It appears that Tortilleria Lulu is one of the main ones in town, which is on a street that runs one block parallel from Highway 307 towards the beach (forgot to write down the exact location).

For fresh fish, Bob and Bonnie recommended Pat y Pat, a little, local pescaderia. Joe made fresh fish tacos on the first night topped with fried potatoes and grilled pineapple, which turns out to be a delicious combination. Though Pat y Pat used to be on 307 it’s moved a few blocks down and around the corner.

EAT The deck at Hotel Mezzanine‘s Thai restaurant (part of the hotel I recommended) sits on a bluff overlooking a wide expanse of beach. Don’t be scared of the photo on their website. At happy hour (1 pm to 4 pm, I think), grab a seat for two-for-one cocktails. The blended passion fruit margarita is great. The Thai food is super solid here too. We always get the rare beef salad, though my parents love the green curry. Breakfast here is nice as well. Service is friendly and efficient. You’re in good hands if you have a server named Lucky.

Joe and his dad were dying to watch a football game and someone recommended El Pequeño Buenos Aires, an Argentinian restaurant, because it has a TV. Though they have another location on the beach, we like eating in town better in general. It’s just gives you more of a taste of being in Mexico—not simply a beach resort. Buenos Aires is located on a corner and is open-air, festive and a lot of fun. We all got arranchera steak with peppercorn sauce, veggies, a side of French fries and a bottle of red wine that arrived nicely chilled. It really couldn’t have been better. I recommend pouring the pepper sauce over the fries and the steak and eating it all at once. After your done, head over to the little town center, just a block away, where vendors are selling antojitos, freshly pressed cane juice, as well as jewelry and other homemade trinkets.

Joe and I came across El Rincón Chiapaneco on our last trip to Tulum and we made sure to come back—three times, actually—while we were visiting again. (Click here for a map.) It’s one of the many little open little Mexican restaurants but you know it’s good because it’s generally busy with locals. Get an order of the panuchos (a classic antojito from the Yucatan region)—fried tortillas stuffed with shredded chicken or turkey, black beans and topped with cabbage, pickled onions, avocado and a tomato—as well as a big glass of made-to-order hugo verde (juice made of fresh pineapple and chaya, a leafy green). The friendly owner Damian speaks perfect English.

NOT THE BEST EATING We’re going to go against every tourist book here to tell you that the fish tacos at Mateo’s—an incredibly popular restaurant across the street from the beach—are not indeed the best fish tacos on earth, as the restaurant and everyone else seems to claim. They’re by no means terrible, but we thought they were oddly sparse, topped with one slice of avocado, a sprinkle of cabbage, and a bit of paltry fried fish all on a stale tortilla that had only been vaguely resuscitated from a plancha to the point of being crispy but not in a good way. The weirdest part is that they’re served with a little ramekin of sweet and sour sauce—like the sticky stuff you get in an American-Chinese restaurant. I don’t mean to be a hater, but you can do better. However, the service was very friendly, efficient and warm, which means it’s a pleasant place to sit and wile away the time, which is what beach living is kind of about anyway.

Since it’s next door to the house we stayed in, we ended up at Le Zebra, starved and exhausted from our trip on the first night. Though the food was fine, the service took forever—and I mean to the brink of death—and I’m factoring in what’s known as Mexico time. But on the upside, Le Zebra has great, strong, thick coffee for the mornings when you realize in a panic that you’re out of the coffee you brought with you, as well as good, housemade coconut toast.