Tulum & Laguna Bacalar.
Chilling out, maxing and relaxing after exploring Mexican cities.
1. Tulum beach.
Tulum beach is gorgeous; palm trees, beautiful blue sea and the nicest sand I’ve ever walked on. The beach seems never ending lined with classy resorts and endless people watching opportunities.
We went amidst a ‘seaweed crisis’ and watched as locals donned high-vis jackets to clear up the pesky stuff. We spent 2 days on the beach: one had seaweed and one didn’t, it made very little difference to us!
Some of the resorts let you use their sun-beds and facilities as ‘beach clubs’ (for a minimum spend – basically lunch and some drinks). We went to two beach resorts for the day: NEST and Villa Las Estrellas. NEST wins for cheaper drinks, good food and super nice staff – they were both amazing to be honest.
At sunset we had happy hour drinks at Diamonte K which were delightful.
We had a fancy meal at Kitchen Table to celebrate Tom getting a job (whoop whoop!). The restaurant is in the jungle, everything is powered by solar and there are no fridges (just cool boxes) which means all the food is super fresh. We ate octopus and tuna, it was delicious. Plus brilliant cocktails. (Fun fact you can pay in bitcoin if you wish!)
2. Tulum town.
Tulum is split into the town and beach area and the best way to get around is on bikes, it’s a 20 minute ride between the two. The town had a proper holiday vibe with loads of restaurants, bars and shops. Unless you’ve got big bucks (the beach resorts are pricey) I’d recommend staying in town with days at the beach and nights in town – best of both worlds!
Food wise there are a loads of options on the main strip. My favourite is Burrito Amor, it’s on the edge of town and has amazing cocktails and cheap food (for Tulum!), well worth visiting.
3. The Gran Cenote.
I’d never heard of a Cenote before coming to Mexico (where there are loads!). It’s a cave-like sinkhole filled with fresh water from underground rivers and streams, and they’re pretty epic.
The water at the Gran Cenote was beautifully clear, we snorkelled through stalagmites and a cave with bats fluttering around to get to the second sinkhole. There were also a load of turtles in a cordoned off area!
4. Tulum ruins.
A beautiful setting of ancient Mayan ruins with the backdrop of the Caribbean, also filled with iguanas! It was well worth a trip but go early as there were a lot of tour groups. We cycled down to the nearby beach afterwards for a drink.
5. Boat trip on Laguna Bacalar.
Laguna Bacalar is known as the Lake of 7 colours because the water has so many different shades of blue. It’s stunning.
We had one sunny day and one less so sunny day in Bacalar. Of course we did the boat trip on the latter, it was quite the contrast watching the moody skies turn to sheets of rain! The boat trip stopped off for a dip, then went into Cenote Azul and bird island. We snorkelled at the Cenote Azul and it was fascinating as the floor just dropped into nothingness.
6. Bacalar.
The town itself is chilled with a laid back feel, and it’s only a 3 hour bus from Tulum! Internet was almost nonexistent when we were there because of poor weather.
Food. Mr Taco. The best fish tacos yet. A super small (and cheap) ‘restaurant’ on the main square you sit on plastic seats with condiments taking up half the table. Mango y Chile. A (very good) veggie break from the taco and cheese diet of Mexico. La Playita. Right on the Laguna with amazing views and a jetty to swim off, we spent a whole afternoon here!
7. Accommodation.
Finding reasonable accommodation in Bacalar and Tulum was tricky. (Tulum was by far the most expensive place we went in Mexico.) In both cases we stayed slightly out of town to make it more reasonable. In Bacalar we stayed in Gran Balam which has super nice hosts. In Tulum we stayed downtown in an Airbnb which was worth it with free breakfast in Estancia Jujeña on the main strip!
We visited Tulum and Lake Bacalar in November 2018.
