At the beginning of April we took a weekend trip to Tulum from Mexico City! Tulum is located about 2 hours south of Cancun, and the closest airport to fly to is Cancun. Tulum is known for it’s beautiful white sand beaches in the Mayan Riviera, it’s beach clubs, it’s adorable city center, and its proximity to Chichen Itza and about a million cenotes.

We arrived in Cancun on a Thursday night and flew out Sunday night. Here are our recommendations for how to spend a weekend in Tulum:

Rent a Car

Tulum is a great place to rent a car. Because the Cancun airport is 2 hours from Tulum, if you don’t have a car, you are at the mercy of buses and have to coordinate your arrival and departure around the bus schedule.

This also allows you to easily go to any of the other ruins or cenotes in the area and get easily to and from the beach and the town.

We used Autoslash to book our car rental and were able to get our car for $7 (!!) plus the cost of insurance. When all was said and done, we paid less for our car than we would have to take the bus to and from Cancun and to and from Chichen Itza.

Note: If renting a car isn’t an option for you, the ADO bus can get you to and from the Cancun airport.

Bike Around Tulum

If renting a car isn’t in your favor, there is a still a great option for getting around Tulum – renting a bike! Everyone does it and you’ll see tons of people zipping around towns on bikes.

On one of our days there we borrowed bikes from our AirBnb to take down to the beach. The bike path is (mostly) pleasant to bike on, and it makes it really easy to get to and from town, especially if you want to have a few drinks at the beach.

Visit Chichen Itza

A visit to Chichen Itza is a must if you are in the Tulum area. It’s about 2 hours away from Tulum on a well paved road. Chichen Itza opens at 8am, and most of the tour busses start to roll in around 10am-11am, so we got up early and were at Chichen Itza just after it opened. We were able to tour the entire ruins before most of the tourists had arrived, and when we left there was a massive line to get in.

This was another huge benefit to renting a car. It allowed us to go on our own schedule, skip the lines, and get some amazing photos without anyone else in them.

When you arrive at Chichen Itza, you will be approached by a local to take a personalized tour. While this is a great option since there are no signs throughout Chichen Itza, we opted for an audio tour from Tales & Tours. It cost us $6.99 each and allowed us to learn about Chichen Itza very much at our own pace. As budget travelers, this was also a great way to skip paying a guide $50 or more dollars to show us around.

Chichen Itza is famous for the main pyramid, but there is a ton more in the area, so make sure you check out some of the less photogenic, although equally interesting sites. Some of our favorites included the observatory, the Sacred Cenote, and the Temple of the Warriors.

Pro tip: wear a hat and bring sunscreen and water – it’s REALLY hot at Chichen Itza and there isn’t a ton of shade.

Please note: Other popular ruins to visit in the area are the Tulum Ruins and Coba. If we had more time, we would have visited these as well!

Take a Dip in a Cenote

After spending a ton of time in Tulum’s blazing sun, it feels great to strip down and take a dip in a cenote. A cenote is a sinkhole where the top has collapsed, revealing the groundwater underneath. There are over 5,000 centoes in Quintana Roo and the Yucatan, and many of these you can visit and swim in.

There are tons of cenotes to choose from, but we visited the popular cenote, Ik kil, which is close to Chichen Itza. Ik kil was quite busy, but it didn’t take away from the refreshing water and the beauty of the sun shining in from above.

Other ones that were recommended to us were: Cenote Sac Actun, Gran Cenote, Tankha, and Dos Ojos Cenote. Do your research before you go on the costs and quality of each of these!

Spend a Day Relaxing at a Beach Club

There are a ton of great beach clubs in Tulum, but we spent time at Ziggy’s and La Zebra. Both have beach chairs a few feet from the ocean, great service, and solid drinks and food. At both Ziggy’s and La Zebra, there is a minimum purchase of around $30-$35 USD.

If that’s too expensive for you, you can hit up the public beach for free, but for us it was worth a day of relaxation!

Where to Eat

Burrito Amor – this place was so good, we went back a second time! The burritos are massive and super delicious and they even offer a coconut tortilla.

Babel Cafe – great spot for smoothies and breakfast in town. They also have solid wifi if you need to get some work done!

Ziggy’s Beach Club – Since we spend an afternoon here, we also got food. The guacamole, ceviche, and shrimp tacos were a hit!

La Zebra – We also spent an afternoon here and ordered margaritas and a couple of appetizers, all of which were great!

Chedraui – we stocked up on groceries and snacks for our day trip to Tulum and the Ik kil cenote. Having food on hand was a great way to save some money and make sure we didn’t get hangry!

Other places recommended to us that we didn’t have a chance to try (Google before going!): 

El Camello – for ceviche and fried whole fish
Antojitos La Chiapaneca – for tacos al pastor
Taqueria Eufemia – affordable tacos by the beach
Raw Cafe – raw cafe by the beach
Batey – fun bar in town!
El canaston – tacos
La gloria de don Pepe –  paella and tapas
Taqueria honorio – Cheap tacos in town
Ki’bok – coffee
Posada Margherita – pasta by the ocean

Nathan from Foodie Flashpacker also visited Tulum recently, so for even more recommendations, check out his recent post on where to eat in Tulum here!

Where to Stay

Tulum is divided between beach accommodation and town accommodation. As expected, the beach accommodation is more expensive than the town accommodation. However, you can find places to stay all the way from budget to luxury. MayaYoga Hostel is one of the more popular options for budget accommodation, and there are plenty of AirBnb’s to be found throughout the area.

As per usual, we opted for an AirBnb near the center of town. It was affordable, quiet, and everything we needed for 3 nights. If you’re curious where we stayed, click here.

If you have any questions or comments let us know & if you enjoyed this post, please share it with your friends! Enjoy Tulum!