Tulum Travel Guide

Last January, my two dear girlfriends and I (Jessa + Cassi) decided it was time to get away, creatively recharge after a full wedding season, and encourage each other with likeminded creative women! I can’t think of a better day to share this little post than on International Womens’ Day! For five days, the eight of us ate way too many tacos, rode bikes all over Tulum, chatted over dinners and late night dance parties and had just a little champagne! I truly am in awe of how incredible friendships can be in this creative community when we choose to lift one another up, encourage one another and bounce ideas off each other. These women have my heart and it was the most encouraging, inspiring getaway! Not to mention – let’s talk about how INCREDIBLE Tulum is! I hope this post is helpful for you if you’re planning your own visit (and you definitely should!!).

Getting around: Tulum has two sections: the beach strip and the more “local” feeling Tulum town. We spent most of our time on the beach strip, but also biked into town (about a 25 minute bike ride) for some cheap eats, walking around the markets and drinking honestly the BEST coffee we had all week! If you’re staying in the main beach strip, you most likely will be able to get everywhere you want to go via a bike. Cabs are much safer once it gets dark though, as we learned the hard way (getting caught in a rain shower in the dark didn’t help, either! haha.) One of my favorite memories of the whole week is just biking around, ringing our bells, racing each other to get smoothies + acai bowls! If you’re flying anywhere from the US, you’ll be able to get a direct flight into Cancun, followed by a 1.5 hour shuttle ride down to Tulum.

Where to Explore: Every little corner of Tulum is filled with magical little nooks, crystal clear ocean water, trendy boutiques, yoga studios and the hippest restaurants you’ll ever see. A few highlights to check out: The Tulum Ruins, the beach swings at Coco Tulum, Zebra Beach Club, Azulik Boutique + Resort (truly transports you to another world – and eat at their birds’ nest restaurant 150 feet in the air!!), Matcha Mama, cenote swimming (which we didn’t have time for, but I’ve been before and it’s fabulous!), the “town” of Tulum for a more local feel, Be Tulum, and so many more. Restaurants + where to eat gets its own category! 🙂

Where to Eat: My biggest score going into the trip was that I got us a reservation at Hartwood, Tulum’s most famous restaurant and the best one in all of Mexico, or so we hear! We were so excited – until we sadly got an email informing us that because it was going to rain that evening, the restaurant would not be able to be open! Since it runs on all solar and is fully outdoors, it makes sense – but we were sad! The third time’s the charm I hope, and I will eat at Hartwood eventually! Haha! That being said, we ate at some INCREDIBLE restaurants. Gitano Tulum had an amazing vibe with open air seating, live music, disco balls and fresh, inventive small plates. Kin-Toh at Azulik was probably the most magical spot ever – this treehouse restaurant is brand new and is part of the new resort, and is actually mind blowingly cool! Posada Margherita we had heard from everyone was amazing, and we were confused why an Italian restaurant was rated so highly – until we ate there! The most incredible fresh homemade pastas, breads and drinks – I will now think of Posada everytime I think of amazing Italian food! We adored the food and vibe at Mi Amor Hotel + Restaurant, which was right next to our house. We had our best brunch there and I dream about that French toast + those healthy smoothies! In Tulum town, we went to Ki’bok Coffee for breakfast and the drinks were SO GOOD. Also, $2.50 for a giant breakfast and two lattes is my kinda place! And I can’t foget about Matcha Mama – the healthy smoothie / acai bowl place of your dreams! And bonus, it has the cutest swings and surfboard sign!