Tulum in Mexico is found on the Yucatan Peninsula, and has become a hot spot as tourists head further south from Cancun to get a little more seclusion. We recently spent one week in Tulum during our Honeymoon and absolutely loved it! One week in Tulum was the perfect amount of time to spend there, having time for water sports and days out, but also days spent by the pool at our hotel! Tulum is also a heaving foodie scene, with amazing cafes, restaurants, and hole-in-the-wall hot spots all over – making one week in Tulum the ideal amount of time to eat your way through the area!
We had the perfect week in Tulum so keep reading on to find out what to add to your bucket list for one week in Tulum.
How to get to Tulum
After we landed in Cancun and grabbed our bags, we headed outside into the blistering heat to catch the car rental mini-bus and picked up our wheels for the next 2 weeks! After leaving Cancun Airport, the trip to Tulum was easy. 2 hours south on the highway you will find Tulum. However, driving in Mexico is quite strange!
The highway has huge speed bumps every so often – so you can be driving 100kmph and then all of a sudden the traffic come to a halt. You cannot drive more than 5mph over the speed humps, otherwise you may damage your vehicle! Upon reaching Satellite Road you will be in Tulum’s Centre. To get to the Hotel strip, you take a left at Satellite and follow the road until you find your hotel on either side of the road.
I found this blog post from Eternal Expat really helpful before we travelled to Mexico to have an understanding of driving there!
To note: The Tulum Hotel Strip takes at least 30 minutes to drive along – it is HUGE! Keep this in mind when booking hotels or activities! Tulum town is a 5 minute drive from the first hotel on the hotel strip.
Where to Stay for One Week in Tulum
I did a lot of research when it came to where we would stay on our honeymoon! Our one week in Tulum needed to be so many things! We wanted the hotel to be small and boutiquey, with great views, definitely a pool or two, great food and even greater staff. And O’Tulum was exactly that!
I found O’Tulum on Instagram, actually. It popped up in the #tulum search and I thought the hotel looked incredible! I did my research and read a whole swag of reviews on the hotel before it became my number one choice! I then did a bunch more research on other cool and beautiful hotels in Tulum. However, I just couldn’t get past O’Tulum for the amenities for the price tag! So – we booked our week-long stay at this wonderful hotel!
There’s 12 hotel rooms at O’Tulum, so a maximum of 24 people can be staying there at any given time – which was perfect for us! There is 3 separate pools, 2 on beach level and one on top of the restaurant roof overlooking the ocean! We also had our own private plunge pool on our balcony/patio which was fantastic on those warm Mexico evenings.
O’Tulum Restaurant
Now, the food and drinks. Every morning we had breakfast included in our stay which was fantastic! We got juice, coffee, a bowl of fresh fruit, and our choice of any breakfast dish on the menu. I have tried the acai bowl, the pancakes, huevos rancheros, chilaquilles, and molettes during our stay and everything was amazing. Sitting by the pool, overlooking the beach and ocean, in the breeze whilst enjoying an epic breakfast was the perfect start to each day!
Cocktails were of course, to die for, as well as the dinners we ate at O’Tulum. Tuna steaks, salmon, tacos, tostadas, burgers, steak – everything we ate was exceptional! I really can’t rate the chef at O’Tulum high enough! But what really makes O’Tulum stand out is the staff. A great group of people work at this hotel, making you feel welcome and like family during the entire stay.
On our first day we were greeted with decoration in our hotel room – congratulating us on our wedding and honeymoon. But those welcomes came every day in the form of a nice chat at breakfast, helpful tips as we were heading out for the day, curious and excitedly welcoming us home in the evenings finding out about what we had done that day – they were just lovely!
O’Tulum Location
Lastly, O’Tulum is located on a dirt road off of the highway, right on the ocean. What’s great about the location is it is not-touristy at all, and it is private and quiet! We noticed on the main hotel strip of Tulum it is extremely touristy and instragrammy. Having some space between where we stayed and the hotel strip was brilliant.
We really miss O’Tulum and when we head back to Mexico – which I’m sure we will since we absolutely loved it – we will stay at O’Tulum again! A home away from home. It was the perfect hotel for our one week in Tulum.
Want to stay at O’Tulum on your trip to Mexico? Click on this link to check out prices for O’Tulum on Booking.com!
Our One Week in Tulum Itinerary at a glance
Day 1
- Lunch in Tulum
- Pool afternoon
Day 2
- Pool day
Day 3
- Xel Ha
- Tulum Dining Experience
Day 4
- Tulum Ruins
- Turtle Bay
Day 5
- Pool day
Day 6
- Casa Cenote
- Tulum Beach
Day 7
- Laguna Kaan Luum
- Azulik
What To Do During One Week In Tulum
There’s so much to do during one week in Tulum, Mexico! But here’s what I think is the best activities to split your time between.
Relax by the Pool
First things first – relax! Yes, day one in Tulum for us was spent chilling by the pool at our hotel. We drank beers/cocktails, we pent our time lazing on the sun loungers and hanging out with other hotel guests. The main activity was drinking mexcal margaritas and Mexican beers, eating yummy tacos and getting tanned! We had 3 pool days in our one week in Tulum, which was the perfect amount of time to relax and read!
Tulum Ruins
The Tulum Ruins are one of the main tourist sites people visit on any trip to the Yucatan Peninsula. And as Mexico is VERY hot, it’s best to go to these ruins in the morning! There is very little shelter from the sun whilst visiting the ruins so make sure to wear a hat and bring lots of water.
It costs just over €3 (70 pesos) to get into the ruins, and our visit was about 1 hour.
Swim with Turtles
Being able to swim with turtles was an experience I hoped to achieve whilst in Tulum – how cool, right?! Who doesn’t love turtles?! Anyway, we headed one afternoon to Akumel, which is a 20 minute drive north of Tulum, and the bay which is known for its turtle population. After parking nearby to the beach entrance, we grabbed our gear and headed on down to the beach.
Unfortunately, to get onto this beach, you must pay. Once entering, you must wear a wristband to show you are allowed to swim. To be able to swim in the water, all you need is the wrist band. However, to swim in the designated turtle areas you need to also pay to do that! We started to feel annoyed and swindled once we found this out – as we hadn’t read about this online before coming to swim. Soon we had booked our guide for our swim, and scheduled our time-slot. It cost us €18 (400 pesos) each to swim for an hour in the turtle zones.
After lunch in the beach restaurant we headed down to the beach, locked up our possessions and swam! Fantastically, we saw 9 different turtles on our swim! Seeing the turtles was super exciting – sometimes we spent 10 minutes just hanging out with a turtle under the water!
Swimming with a guide was helpful though as he knew where to find the turtles and recognises them even when they are camouflaged by the sea grass which they are eating!
Dine in Tulum Hotel Strip
Eating in Tulum is luxurious – there are just so many options! And the food is insanely good. If we had more time, there are so many places we would love to eat at that we never got to! One week in Tulum just wasn’t enough! I guess that means we need to head back to Tulum!
// Gitano // offers a shared dining menu within a cosy hip jungle atmosphere. They also have a killer mezcal cocktail menu – from which we each took 2 different cocktails. The food was fantastic but maybe the cocktails were even better.
// Tatewari // We came to watch the Champions League final but what I remember most is the food. We had insanely delicious tacos for lunch, along with fried calamari and guacamole, paired with numerous mezcal margaritas. The thing about mezcal margaritas is you can never have just one! After lunch and the game, we spent time on the beach lazing, reading and napping before realising it was time for dinner. We had the tuna dish to share so that we could feast on ice cream afterwards. I wished we hadn’t done that because I’m still, 2 months later, dreaming about that tuna dish!
// The Dining Experience Tulum // This unique dinner party was a GREAT way to get acquainted with the flavours of Mexico from a non-TexMex perspective! We learnt about mole, the differences in salsas, how to make a mean cocktail (with mezcal, obviously), what even is mezcal, and how to eat a taco properly (yes this one is key!!) We also made pals along the way to getting very drunk over 5 courses of delicious food from the Yucatan! The host was funny and knowledgeable which made the evening light and it was easy to get into the party mood! Highly recommend doing this if you are in Tulum!
Make your booking on their website!
// The I Scream Bar // This place was turned up the night we went! It was actually after about 5 cocktails at the Dining Experience that we decided with another couple to head there for ice cream and another cocktail! We ended up just drinking some more and watching the barmen turn into strippers, dancing on the bar!
Xel-Ha
The Yucatan has no shortage of things to do! And there’s also no shortage of water parks! Xel-Ha is a natural water-park filled with lagoons, snorkeling spots, restaurants, water slides and more! We arrived at Xel-Ha just after it opened, which I recommend as there’s so much to do! After buying our tickets – which aren’t cheap (€90 per person) – we entered and bought an optional activity to do a bicycle zip line!
After booking our time-slot for the zip-bike (another €28), we headed into the park and placed our belongings in a locker. I recommend unless you have an underwater camera, don’t bother taking your phone – even those water proof bags aren’t always 100% waterproof. And for my phone – we used a waterproof plastic bag to take photos, but it messed up because of the humidity, so it’s really not worth it!
What did we do at XelHa? We went down the tower waterslide, went zip-biking over cenotes and gorgeous scenery, floated down the lazy river through the mangroves on a blow up donut, snorkeled, ate our all-you-can-eat-lunch, swam with dolphins and saw manatees. The drinks and food are all-inclusive. So you may go whenever and to whichever restaurant through out the day without paying. The bars also give any kind of drinks, beer and cocktails as part of the all-inclusive price of the park. So, no need to bring snacks!
Casa Cenote
This cenote is just 2 minutes down the dirt road from our hotel! What makes this cenote particularly amazing is how big it is! It takes about 30 minutes to swim the route from start to finish with a guide, who will show the wild life of the cenote to you. BUT – the coolest thing about Casa Cenote is that an alligator named Panchito lives in the cenote! Yep – you can share your swim with a friendly alligator.
For me, this was a frightening thought! During our swim, I was fairly worried and on edge until we reached a point where we spotted Panchito in the mangroves. He was chilling, and not swimming in the open water. Once I saw the alligator, I was able to swim calmly and take in how cool the cenote was! The waters are SO CLEAR it’s insane! There are a lot of cenotes all over the Yucatan Peninsula but seriously, the Casa Cenote was so amazing I really recommend it!
Tulum Town
Tulum’s main town is built on either side of the highway. There isn’t much tropical look to the town, which is very much covered in concrete and painted buildings. When we first arrived, it was so incredibly hot that we did NOT understand why there was a distinct lack of trees for shade. It also didn’t look like the most appealing of towns. However, don’t just a book by its cover, Tulum certainly has a charm about it – and some seriously good food!
// Burrito Amor // This was the very first place we ate in Tulum and it seriously did not disappoint! Another fact of this – it was the only time we ate burritos in Mexico! It’s something we hardly ever came across on menus the whole two weeks, so I figure it is a bit of a TexMex food. These burritos were super tasty and very UN-TexMex style! This cool little place has a great vibe, nice margaritas too, and fits perfectly into the Tulum scene.
// La Flor de Michoacan // This under-the-radar place sells delicious fruit ice poles which are a must-have when in the crazy heat of Tulum!! They are known for selling the best in the area, so naturally we came to try. They were so good, and we felt healthy having them since it is purely fruit on a stick!
// Farm to Table // This cosy restaurant has an interesting (and totally Tulum) concept. They have a farm outside of town where they grow everything which will then go onto your plate! The menu changes daily and is written on chalkboards so you never know what you’ll get. They also turn their organic waste into compost. Basically, if you love the planet, go eat here!
// Del Cielo // We LOVE this cafe! This seriously cool cafe is found on Satellite road. We grabbed takeaway sandwiches for our trip to Laguna Kaan Luum one morning along with iced latte’s and quickly realised that we would love to eat breakfast lunch and dinner at Del Cielo, every day!
Visit Azulik
Azulik is an extremely hip and expensive hotel on the Tulum beach strip. It’s also gotten quite pretentious due to it’s severe fame on Instagram! That being said, there’s a reason why people love flocking there to check out how cool it is. Because it’s pretty f*cking cool.
We visited the art gallery first which uses the same style of architecture as the hotel, and is free to visit. However, it’s a little harder to get into Azulik’s hotel! You need to make a reservation at one of their ridiculously expensive restaurants to get those Insta-worthy shots.
Otherwise, you can do what we did and book a canape’ & cocktail on a viewing deck space to overlook the jungle and feel like you’ve visited Azulik. It cost $25 each for a cocktail and the view, which, by Mexican standards felt quite expensive! But if I go to a fancy cocktail bar in Amsterdam, I pay the same.
Laguna Kaan Luum
This, my friends, is a non-negotiable. Laguna Kaan Luum was such a highlight of our time in Tulum! As I’ve mentioned, Tulum is fairly touristy. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. There’s a reason people are flocking to Tulum in droves and that’s because it’s a stunning part of the world! So, if you are looking for a place that hasn’t been discovered by many of the tourists yet – it’s this lagoon! When we visited, 95% of people there were Mexicans, and 5% were tourists. The feeling we had at the lagoon was a bit special, that we had gone somewhere the locals love.
It’s a simple place. The lagoon itself is a stunning blue colour, and incredibly warm. The sand is a white muddy texture which you can use to mudpack yourself! Just like the waters of the blue lagoon in Iceland, the waters and sands at Laguna Kaan Luum offer the same remedies. What you can find at Laguna Kaan Luum is just a pier for you to place your bag, and the gorgeous natural surroundings. Bring your own lunch/drinks/snacks as you wont find any shops!
A small entrance feel of 100 pesos per person applies – and no droning – unless you pay extra to do it!
That’s it for my recommendations for what to do with one week in Tulum! Both my husband and I agree that Tulum is one heck of a place to spend one week on vacation. It was especially nice as honeymooners, too! With so much great food, great scenery and a very relaxed vibe, Tulum is the perfect destination for your next holiday! Now – are you going to book your trip?!
Heading for one week in Tulum? Let me help you plan it!
Make sure you get the cheapest flights via Skyscanner!
Need accommodation? Get your place booked on Airbnb! Or more of a hotel person? Search Booking.com!
Let me know if you are heading to Tulum and if you have any questions for me!
Feel free to share your adventure with me via social media – too!
And above all – have fun!
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Australian expat, married to a Dutch guy, living in Amsterdam. Previously lived in London for 3 years, too! Lover of travel, coffee, brunch, beaches, fresh flowers, and family. Now a new mum, navigating life with a baby!