A great place to enjoy a wonderful beach, with a coastline that seems infinitely long and a nature that is not urbanized and often unspoiled. Tulum has the status of a nature reserve, so the beaches and nature here are not much developed.

If I wanted warm sea, palm trees, beach, I would only go here. Our 7 days spent in Tulum and on its coast were unforgettable.

How to get to Tulum

If you’re traveling from Cancun (which is most common), there are several options for getting there:

1.   Comfortable ADO buses directly from Cancun Airport or the Cancun bus station. All the buses are air-conditioned and new. From minuses I would name the price, in our case there were 6 people and the price of cab was almost comparable with the price of bus (difference in 10 dollars in favor of bus, read more here >>>).
2.   Cabs are quite expensive, especially if you take a cab from the airport. Cabs in the city won’t be very cheap either. I think cabs here are even more expensive than in the US. Read more here >>>>
3.   Uber is a great solution, but it only works if you are traveling from Cancun city or from the coast, immediately exclude the airport and other cities, read more here >>>.
4.   Rent a car – not a bad option, we did so, though not in Cancun, but still on a rental car we reached Tulum. Read more here >>>>

If you go to Tulum from Playa del Carmen, you can get there by these options:

1.   ADO buses.
2.   Official cabs.
3.   Rent a car.

Where to live in Tulum

There are 2 main options where one chooses to live in Tulum: in the city or on the coast.

Apartments in the city limits of Tulum

As I’ve already mentioned, we didn’t manage to book an apartment on the coast itself, but I would have chosen to go there, as the entire coastline is completely taken up by private beaches, and public access is possible on the protected beaches. True, we passed many private beaches as well, read here.

In the screenshot you can see that the right side of the coastline is exactly those private beaches. By private, I mean beaches that are occupied by hotels or apartments (if you can call it that). But the left side of the coast of Tulum is the protected beaches.

Here there are hotel complexes, but these are not large hotels or huge high-rises in the understanding of the complex, local buildings are very different from Cancun, where buildings on 20-25 floors on the coast. Hotel complexes are more like campgrounds with small bungalows or a small building on the 2nd floor for 6-10 rooms.

The pros of an apartment in an urban area:

1.   A large number of supermarkets are available
2.   Small fruit stalls are available
3.   Large selection of housing and complexes with swimming pools
4.   There are restaurants
5.   Close to the highway and travel to attractions.

Minuses of apartments in the urban area:

1.   A lot of construction, a lot of dirt, dust
   
2.   All the complexes are closed because of security, you are safe, but you often get the impression that you are in an elite ghetto among the slums.
   
3.   It’s not really comfortable at night if you’re out for a walk.
   
4.    Here there are no sidewalks, on which you could walk (they really do not exist and on the beach part), this is the difference between Tulum and Playa del Carmen.
   
5.   It is far to the beach – 3 – 7 km, yes, that’s right. You can get there by car, bicycle, motorbike….. But on foot is definitely not an option, it will not work.

My experience

We managed to book an apartment in the urban part of Tulum (it’s touristy, but urban part). I don’t know why, but at the moment of booking on Booking.com we didn’t get any option on the coast, we looked not only us but also experienced guide, so we chose from the city apartments. The second time, we would definitely go to the coast.

In our case, we drove about 7 km, one way, daily to the beach. We visited both protected beaches and private beaches, read about that below.

We used a rental car, which we rented in Playa del Carmen and returned at Cancun airport.

Apartments on the coast of Tulum

As I’ve already mentioned, we didn’t manage to book an apartment on the coast itself, but I would have chosen to go there, as the entire coastline is completely taken up by private beaches, and public access is possible on the protected beaches. True, we passed many private beaches as well, read here.

In the screenshot you can see that the right side of the coastline is exactly those private beaches. By private, I mean beaches that are occupied by hotels or apartments (if you can call it that). But the left side of the coast of Tulum is the protected beaches.

Here there are hotel complexes, but these are not large hotels or huge high-rises in the understanding of the complex, local buildings are very different from Cancun, where buildings on 20-25 floors on the coast. Hotel complexes are more like campgrounds with small bungalows or a small building on the 2nd floor for 6-10 rooms.

The pros of coastal housing:

1.   The sea is right a few meters away from you.
2.   Vibe of the sea and nature.
3.   Sunbeds and other things can be already included, there is no cost for that.

Minuses of beachfront housing in Tulum:

1.    Parking difficulties or pay about 200 pesos a day ($12-13 USD), there may be hotels already with parking included.
2.    Practically no supermarkets – there is one and that is a small store, did not check it for prices and all depends on what part of the coast you live in, perhaps this store will be from you in 3-5 km distance, which will never be in the city apartments.
3.    Mosquitoes – there are a lot of them here, not like on the Azov Sea, but still, compared to the city, they are there and there is no way without reagent.
4.    Restaurants are more expensive than in the city, you will eat in them, because from the “submarine” there is nowhere to run to.
5.    Definitely more expensive than a city apartment.

Although I have listed more minuses than pluses, if I were going for the sea, which is why you will be going to Tulum, I would still choose by the sea.