Hey y'all. I'm looking for activities to do in Tulum. Staying at the new Secrets for a wedding and have a day or two to get out and about (but need to be back by 6:00). Anyone have suggestions for a guide to take my to Chichen Itza? A loaded bus full of strangers doesn't sound appealing. What about other cultural ruins tours in the area? Other ideas? I'm not a drinker or a shopper, and we already have a planned day of sitting at the beach. We may also dive cenotes, depending on what all is available. Any help is much appreciated.

definitely recommend cenotes; wasn't a huge fan of the ruins, though it wasn't terrible (if i recall fyi, couldn't take photographs at least where we went). Hopefully you get great beaches - seaweed was so bad when we went it seemed like crystal beach. Felt bad for the workers trying to clear the beach for a wedding that evening

We live here part time. Actually, right across from Sandals in Aldea Zama.

Kaan Luum Lagoon - it's like $200 Mx to enter
Mayan Ruins in Tulum - $200 Mx to enter for non local
Mayan Ruins: Coba / Chi Itz - I prefer driving vs a shuttle but there are several great tour operators.
Cenotes: the best aren't really in Tulum. You have dos ojos north, you have jardin del Eden in Xpu Ha, Zacil Ha outside of Tulum (not as crowded), Corazon del Paraiso, and if you go to Kaan Luum, theres a great spot right down the highway : Xa'ay Ha.

Which beach are you supposed to go to? We like Cinco (north) Coco Tulum (central) and Dos Ciebas (south). They have very reasonable prices for day passes. I'll ask my other half about some other recs too.

Food: Alfonsina, la pizzine in la veleta, tu Tulum, gloria de don Pepe, suko Thai, the dumpling place (I can't think of the name), Alma Verde, Burrito Amor, and the pizza place next to the market in aldea Zama right across from the hotel is really good too. Carusa also has amazing fried and baked empeñadas. Wang is the name of the amazing noodle / dumpling place.

If you don't want to drive around town for food use tomato.mx. It's the local version of Uber eats.

Edit to add the Sarg won't be bad until later in the summer. It's been pretty clear the last couple of months. It usually starts to pickup mid June but that's becoming earlier each year. Luckily we don't get it nearly as bad as PDC and Cancun.

You could do a sound healing / cacao ceremony. Those are super cool. Om Collective does sound healings on Wednesday nights. Holistika runs some pretty cool activities too.

Also the snorkel / turtle swim tours and the Jungle ATV tours / zip lines are a lot of fun too.

I have a company I work with all the time with clients for private Cenote tours or the ruins. My contact info is on my bio. Would love to help arrange this for you

Great info. Thank you. Debating whether or not I want to drive to Chichen Itza or take a tour. I figure I'd get more knowledge from a tour (possibly).

We prefer Coba to Chi Itz.

First, it's WAY closer
Second, it's smaller but far less crowded
Third, it was a far more important Mayan city than Chi Itz. Not only that but it's actually a classic Mayan town. Chi Itz is a Mayan pre Colombian but wasn't built until around 1200 BC. Coba was one of the most important classic Mayan towns (pre 900bc) and we actually the town that Tulum was built to serve as a port for the obsidian trade. So, if you're in Tulum, Coba has a more direct relationship than Chi Itz.

The city of Coba also has some of the best markets for mochilas etc. Most if not all of the touristy for sale items are available in Coba for 1/3 - 1/2 of the price as what you'll find on Avenida Tulum or along La Quinta in PDC.

You'll also find some amazing cenotes that direction.

When will you be in town? We will be there April 26th - End of June. I'm happy to show you around if you're here at the same time. One thing I will say about Tulum is that there's a tourist price and a local price for almost everything. If you find something that looks fun through the hotel, etc, I probs know the person or family that runs it locally and can get you in for the local vs the tourist price.

Eid to add: do your best to not buy anything in Aldea Zama. The stores are SUPER expensive. There's a Chendraui supermercado on Coba Sur between Avenida Tulum and the turn off of Coba Sur to enter Aldea Zama. You'll pay 1/2 or less at Chendraui vs the local markets for things like sodas, waters, sunscreen etc.

Just an example: I bought a 6oz sunscreen the other day that the local market. It was $380 pesos. That's over $22 USD. That same sunscreen was $180 pesos at Chendraui.

Black Shroom has amazing breakfast options and smoothies. It's attached to Chendraui.

One thing I will say is that Tulum and the surrounding area is much easier and more friendly w a car. I've never once had any issues w rental cars here. One thing I will say is that it's WAY better to have an SUV even if it's a compact SUV over a car. The streets here SUCK and a road may be dirt pot holes to china one day and magically paved 2 days later. It's just the state of the town. The streets between Aldea Zama and La Veleta are especially bad.

If you don't get an SUV, DO NOT try to use ANY navigation system as it'll be a nightmare. You'll end up on streets that you cant drive because of the condition and very very limited cell service in some parts of town. Not to mention its pitch black across town at night. I always rec downloading directions because you may not have cell service. I'd also recommend taking Avenida Tulum and Coba Sur as much as possible. It's WAY easier to take them and add on a couple of minutes vs getting stuck in the side streets like escorpio sur or Orion sur etc.

Oh yeah and if you get a rental. Make sure you document any damage and make sure the matricula isn't expired. That's the fastest way to get pulled over and if the title is expired, it's almost a guaranteed tow. I've had it happen one time and luckily the policeman was related to one of my friends in the car and let us drive home while he followed us and promised to not drive it until the issue was resolved. Also know they don't have green arrows protected left turns here. Most of the left turns are protected but yeah if you wait for a green arrow, it'll never come

JustPanda said:

---

We prefer Coba to Chi Itz.

When will you be in town?

Eid to add: do your best to not buy anything in Aldea Zama. The stores are SUPER expensive. There's a Chendraui supermercado on Coba Sur between Avenida Tulum and the turn off of Coba Sur to enter Aldea Zama. You'll pay 1/2 or less at Chendraui vs the local markets for things like sodas, waters, sunscreen etc.

Black Shroom has amazing breakfast options and smoothies. It's attached to Chendraui.

---

Hmmm, good stuff again. maybe we'll save Chichen Itza for when our son comes with us on future cenote dives and do Coba this time. He's been to Tikal so we can do both Coba and Chichen Itza next time.

The 25 and 26 are the days we have open to tour. We have wedding events the rest of that weekend (and diving a cenote or two the morning of the wedding). I appreciate the offer though. In fact, I think the 26th is a beach day for the wedding guests so probably just the 25th to tour Coba is what it's sounding like now.

We're big fans of Chedraui. We always shop for groceries there when in Isla Mujeres or Cozumel.

If you'd like, I can give you my partner's What's App #. She will be there and know there area super well. That's another thing - everyone will communicate through what's app or instagram. If you need a quick response use those platforms over trying to call from an American cell.

Oh yeah and if you like Kombucha, there's an amazing Kombucha store right off Av Tulum. They make like 40 Kombuchas in house. Probs the best homemade Kombucha I've ever had.

The Gypsy Market (I swear that's the name) is a great spot for honey, cacao, and other holistic foods to bring home too.

For rental cars we usually go with Alamo or Hertz or National or Enterprise or Localiza. We stay away from the local MX companies and Europcar and we charge them onto a card that provides collision protection etc so that we don't have to buy Mexico coverage at the counter. There's an Alamo on Coba Sur almost across from Chendraui has solid day rates too if you're wanting wheels of a day or less. Also, if the hotel offers bikes, it's much easier to get through Tulum beach or Tulum town on bikes than a car because they RIP tourists on parking and there are a lot of one way streets that aren't labeled as one way until you're face to face w the oncoming car (mostly the side streets I advised to avoid earlier). You gotta remember it's MX lol. Last month they did construction on our road and the only way in was the wrong way on a one way street… so yeah be prepared if you're driving to not hold yourself to the same rigid American standards lol.

The paella at Gloria de Don Pepe is some of the best I've ever had and I'm 1/2 Spanish. If you have the chance to go there one night for lunch/dinner, it's totally worth it. It's also right off Av Tulum so if you want to go somewhere to eat thats close to the Av to walk around afterwards to shop or grab Aldo's, it's a great one.

Its the only place I'd say to not order off tomato because you don't get the crunchy bottom crust when you order to go.