Any recommendation for a hotel? Recent nytimes article http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/09/travel/things-to-do-in-36-hours-in-tulum-mexico.html convinced us to go for a long weekend without the baby. So looking for somewhere on the water, quiet, close to restaurants/shopping. Seem to be a ton of nice choices so curious if anyone has any personal recs.
Thanks!
Tulum,the view is stunning from the ruins. The ocean is spectacularly photogenic.
Canât help on places to stay because when we were there, right after the hurricane scrapped cozemel flat, there werenât any hotels down that far. Now playa del Carmen is all inclusives as far as the eye can see.
Itâs a great place to do nothing.
We have rented a house on Soliman bay a few times which is about 20 min North of Tulum. It is a great area the beaches are wonderful. Scuba is really good as is diving/snorkelling in the cenotes. It is very relaxing. The ruins are beautiful and definitely worth the trip. We have gone twice. Make sure to get a guide. I donât know about a long weekend as that seems rushed. It is a 2 hour drive at least from Cancun airport but every one likes to travel differently. Certainly worth a trip.
George
We stayed in/near Akumal which is about 30 mins North of Tulum as I recall. Plenty of places on the water with good snorkeling. As far as being near to restos youâll want to be in one of the beach towns. I imagine there are places very close to Tulum. It is a ways from the Cancun airport so youâll need to decide what is best location wise.
We have stayed at the BarcelĂł Maya Palace several times. The resort is huge ( 5 resorts combined) and it sits on one of the best stretches of beach in Mexico. Tulum is about another 30 miles south. Gran Principe (another large resort) is about half way between, but Iâve never stayed there.
Went with another couple in early November.
We enjoyed out stay at the chic and stylish, yet relaxed, Posada Margarita, on the beach in Tulum. Run by an Italian, with several Italian employees, it was a nice mix of Italy and Mexico. The jungle like grounds are lit by HUNDREDS of candles every evening.
Our favorite meal was at Hartwood, every dish was excellent, with beautiful presentations, in a chic, tropical setting. The âno reservation policyâ is a bit of a pain and strange. It really is a reservation policy that requires you to show up around opening time (6ish) and give your name and required dining time. Even though I attempted to make reservations in advance, I didnât know the real scoop until it screwed us up the first attempt to dine here mid-week. After the first failure I was tempted to blow it off. I am glad we made the effort to drive down to put in our name after returning from the beach, and then return to the hotel to get ready for dinner.
We planned on one dinner at Posada Margarita, but due to the unexpected closing of El Tabano and shopping in the boutiques until past their closing times, we had a second dinner at our hotel. Great pasta and really fresh seafood (we saw the lobster and red snapper come in with a fisherman on the spear from the water in the later afternoon and ate it a couple hours later). My only quibble is the extremely limited menu (which hasnât changed since they opened 14 years ago), make it difficult to eat here repeatedly during one visit. Also enjoyed the fabulous breakfasts every morning, sipping great coffee and gazing out at the sea.
Fun evening at Cetli, in an old home in the town of Tulum, which was a nice change from the beach area restaurants. Five of our six dishes were excellent and the sixth was good. I expected traditional food, but some of the dishes (especially the awesome salads) were a nice fusion of old and new. Great chili en nogada. Couldnât ask for friendlier or more attentive service.
Good, not great, dinner at Casa Banana which was a last minute substitute when we couldnât get into Hartwood. The cocktails were excellent and beautiful. We felt it was overpriced and the automatic tip added to the bill promoted poor, inattentive service in this tourist location. I had planned for it to be just a spot for cocktails, but several locals (who appeared to have good taste) recommended it so it became a back up.
Good lunch at El Carmello, nice fish tacos, shrimp ceviche was just OK with those little micro-shrimp. For some reason, I expected more. No where close to El Cangrejito or Wayanâe in Merida.
OK lunch at Mateoâs, after I couldnât find a couple of preferred lunch options.
We also had a couple of decent beach lunches at the little hotel next to Posada Margarita, Hotel Playa Kin-Ha, sipping great mezcal and tequila with the sea in view. Friendly staff. Very convenient to walk next door for a change of pace for lunch from Posada Margarita.
The wives loved a vegan lunch at Restaurare (while the guys were drinking tequila and eating seafood at Kin-Ha).
Hartwood is a must. Even if it is a hassle.
Resurrecting this ancient thread as we are planning on heading to Tulum next March. I am primarily interested in asking for recommendations for places to stay, preferably a more boutique place (quiet and beautiful are a priority). As a reference we are currently looking at Xela and a few others. As for food, Looks like Hartwood needs to be on our list.
Thanks in advance!
We have been in Tulum for several days at the La Zebra resort. Itâs very nice, small (~30 rooms), family-oriented, and right on the beach. Itâs very comfortable and the staff is excellent. During the day they play a loungy downtempo electronic playlist over the beach but they cut that short around 8:00pm. The restaurant is decent and does a good breakfast. The sister resort Lula next door also looks nice and is modest in scale. You can easily walk to some of the more heralded restaurants in the area.
We ate at Hartwood tonight. It needs to be on your list: it certainly is the best place we ate. The menu changes daily so any recommendations are pointless, but the food across the board is fresh and delicious. Weâve been in Mexico for two weeks (Mexico City, Merida, Tulum) and have been eating very well, and Hartwood was a highlight. Itâs not cheap but the quality and the vibe justify it.
I would skip the overhyped Arca - meager portions that are absurdly expensive, plus I dislike any dinner billed as an âexperience,â as our waiter introduced the place. The food is very good but the pretense is beyond Miami levels.
In another thread @Robert_Dentice cited Taqueria Honorio. Always trust what Robert recommends. Great f-ing tacos, from lechon to cochinita pibil to (my new favorite from this trip) poc chuc.
Also whatever you do, do not miss on some kind of cenote tour. We hired a private guide who took us to two cenotes, one of which, Cenote Nohoch, involved ranging well underground into pitch black caves. Amazing.
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I went to your link and thought the vibe seemed similar to the place we just yesterday booked for Thanksgiving, and found they are part of the same family of hotels. Ours is called The Bespoke: https://thebespoke.com/
Iâm only sharing, not recommending since we havenât been yet and we have never traveled to Tulum.
Thanks for others for the recs on this and other threads. Making Hartwood reservations and cancelling Arca (we needed a reason to pare down the list).
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Luca, did you end up staying at Xela? How was your overall experience?
We did stay at Bespoke and loved it. Itâs definitely off the âstripâ with itâs own very quiet beach and would require some effort and $$ if you were interested in hitting some of the beach clubs that have become famous for their party scene. Not our style. If anyone is considering Bespoke, I can add many details.
We are heading back for a somewhat spur of the moment trip in July (assuming no hurricanes!), but will try a different place just for variety, La Valise. It is on the strip, but on the quieter end and also very small. Itâs part of the same business group as Bespoke and Xela.
We like Tulum for itâs ease and proximity. But, I do feel very separate from the crowd that has made it a hip place over the past 5-10 years. We are part of the chill group. Iâm hearing that tourism is way down in Tulum, so the party crowd may have moved on. If itâs receding, there will be a wake of over development left behind that could leave it ugly.
Sadly we ended up not going to Tulum at all, but Iâm glad to hear you had a good experience. Still hoping to make it there relatively soon.