Hello there, did you all have a great start of 2018? I'm back on my beloved island Mallorca by now enjoying the mild climate and being with my boyfriend.
Today I have a new post for you with some pics of Tulum. Lean back and make yourself comfortable, it's a long one ;-)
Lately, everyone seems to be going to Tulum, especially bloggers. I see it all over Instagram - photos of its white beaches, mystical ruins and cute cafés. Since it was on our way to our next stop Valladolid we decided to spend a few days in Tulum too.
We arrived in the morning after a three-hour bus ride from Bacalar and Miguel quickly found a nice hotel where we would stay the next two nights. Our hotel Casa Rosa was right behind the bus station and we had a spacious, colorful room with a huge and comfy bed. It wasn't really expensive, we payed about 300 Pesos per night, 15 Euro more or less.
We spent the afternooon strolling through the town, eating and buying some souvenirs for our loved ones at home. Tulum is devided into two different parts. There is the original, more authentic town with all its shops, restaurants, affordable hostels and hotels and the playa, the beach strip, where you will find one luxury hotel next to the other mixed with hippie shops, hip cafés and restaurants and stylish people on bikes. Both parts are pretty laid-back which is why I loved Tulum so much.
Later that day we decided to explore the beach area a little. The girl working at the reception of our hotel was super nice and left us some bikes because the beach was about 5 kilometers away from the town. I loved the playa, its relaxed atmosphere, the shops with their beautiful boho clothes and the trendy food places in the middle of what felt like a jungle. However, I was a little disappointed by how touristy and limited the area was. You can't access the beach unless you stay in one of the expensive hotels or resorts - what a shame, especially for the locals. We spent only one hour in the beach area of Tulum and then headed back to our hotel to do some food shopping for the next day.
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| Our hotel, can you tell why it's called Casa Rosa? |
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| The town of Tulum |
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| Heading to the beach |
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| The cute Matcha Mama café, one of many hip places in the beach area |
On our second day, we decided to visit the famous Tulum Ruins.
We got up early to avoid the tourist masses and took a 'collectivo' there, which is a shared van mostly used by locals and the ideal tranport for people traveling on a budget. We paid only 20 pesos for a 10 minute ride. The van dropped us off at the main street from where it was an easy walk to the entrance. We paid the 70 Pesos entrance fee and explored the ruins all morning long. The archaeologcial site was not the biggest one we visited in Mexico but its location was absolutely beautiful. The ruins are located right next to the paradisiac beach of Tulum so you have amazing sea views while traveling back in time and soaking in the Mayan culture.
After exploring the Mayan ruins for a few hours we needed some refreshment and found the perfect place for a nice bath. You can actually swim right next to the ruins, there is a public beach on the archaeological site but we found an even better spot. Only a five-minute walk further down that same beach was totally empty. There were only a handful of tourists and vendors - lucky us, we basically had the whole beach for ourselves. We spent the next few hours chilling in the sun, going for a swim, having lunch and just enjoying the white sand, the crystal clear water and the sounds of the palm trees in the wind. Awww, Tulum, you're so beautiful!
