MEXICO’S YUCATAN & TULUM STUNNING HIGHLIGHTS IN ONE WEEK

After one week in the Yucatan, I’m here to say that Yu too, can!

When you think of Yucatán, your mind likely goes to Cancun spring-break-mania, with college kids bathed in tequila and sporting fluorescent Borat-style thong swimsuits. And while that may be an allure to some, Cancun and the Yucatán can definitely be a whole other experience!

Beautiful Cancun!

Situated on the northeastern tip of coastline on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, in Quintana Roo, Cancun is a tropical, paradise-location of powder white sand and aqua blue sea. Its temperatures are warm all year around, which makes it a great vacation spot anytime, although some months are a little hotter and wetter than others.  It’s become world renown for its beautiful beaches, luxe resorts, wonderful diving, and a lively nightlife. I had been to Cancun when I was 21 years old, and stayed in a resort in the middle of the strip, and this time I wanted to stay somewhere that felt a little more private, but still with all the amenities, and totally easy access to all of the places in Quintana Roo that I wanted to visit. I also decided to go the second week of October, primarily because that was my son’s fall break off of school, but also because it is totally off-peak season, and a lot of the resorts offer awesome deals, and I knew the attractions I wanted to see would be vastly less crowded (and they were!) October is the end of rainy season in the Yucatan, and can also be a bit hotter than the months of November through May, but it mostly just rained a bit in the afternoons, and it didn’t dampen our overall experience one bit!

But of all the hundreds of incredible resorts, where to stay???

I had gone to a Club Med in Guadeloupe with my family, when I was around 10 years old, and it was an incredibly memorable vacation, even decades later (Thanks, Mom and Dad!) Wanting to give my son a similar experience for this trip, I decided to book the stunning, all-inclusive Club Med property in Cancun in order to mix fun resort activities with cultural trips to ancient Mayan ruins, vibrant little towns, and geological wonders, like the countless incredible cenotes that exist everywhere in Yucatan. (Read more in my Club Med Cancun blog post all about the awesome resort itself, their grounds, and incredible activities.)

Since we were staying an entire week there, we decided to do a mix of half excursion days & half resort-fun days. The first trip we took, was to the most famous of the Mayan ruins. Chichén Itzá is one of the new Seven Wonders of the World, and it’s really a marvel. Built by the Mayans in the 7th Century, the city of Chichen Itza was the largest and most thriving of all of the Mayan cities. It’s about a 1.5 – 2 hour drive from Cancun, and we left the resort at around 6:30am, and planned to stop along the way to see an amazing cenote, right near Valladolid town.  

Getting Around…

Side note: One thing I should mention, is that the drive there is extremely straight-forward, on a smooth stretch of straight highway. You have to pay a toll of about $17 each way, but considering a rental car from Cancun airport is just $1-$2 a day, I’d say that the cost of the road tolls were a non-issue. (And Yes, you most definitely read that right! We paid a total of $25USD for 7 full days, including all taxes and fees for our brand new Volkswagen Jetta from Budget Rent-a-Car. Avis, Hertz, Dollar all cost the same, and the people that work there are very helpful.) Also, driving to the main tourist attractions and towns, and walking around, always felt 100% entirely safe. Cancun has, in recent years, gotten a bad wrap for some excessive crime. The travel alerts have since been lifted, since it was cartel-related, and security, especially in tourist areas & resorts, were increased 10-fold to ensure that Cancun’s all-important tourism industry would stay healthily intact. I would never ever put my son and myself in harm’s way, and I only ever felt entirely safe during the whole trip, whether at the resort, traveling to towns, or walking around.

Once arriving at Suytún, you will easily be blown away!!! It totally looks like something from a sci-fi movie, but this is a real place. It is called a ‘Cenote’, and there are literally thousands of them on the Yucatan Peninsula. They are giant sink holes filled with crystal clear water, and they are believed to have been created when a giant meteor hit Earth (the same that ended the reign of the dinosaurs). These Cenotes are not only beautiful, exotic, and geologically awesome (!!!!), but they have provided thousands of years of civilizations with water for their cities, and a cool refuge in which to bathe, swim, and escape the brutal heat and sun. Many of them are connected & provide miles of underground caves and water-filled passage, and some are so deep that you can find some incredible scuba diving there as well. This particular Cenote, called Suytún, is owned by a family, who created a central platform and staircase leading down to it. It is lit solely by the sun coming through a hole in the earth at the top of the sink hole, and if you feel like it, you can take a dip in it’s chilly waters. We got there right when it opened, and didn’t have to share it with anyone, although as we were leaving, more people started to enter. It has become a popular place recently, and I’ve heard that tour buses visit starting around 10/11:00, so be sure to get there before then.

One of the Seven Wonders of the World…

After that, we continued on to Chichen Itza, getting there also before it got too crowded, at around 10:00. It’s hot, and there isn’t much shade, so be sure to wear lots of sunscreen, a hat, and bring water! Also, bring some little cash, as the tree-lined shady spots on the pathways that connect the ruins, are also lined with dozens & dozens of merchant tables, eager to sell you some of their mayan crafts. We found some incredibly cool carved animals that can also create the sound of animals (like jaguars and birds) when blown into. The kids thought these were awesome! Luckily though, they were equally impressed by the Castillo step pyramid, which is the central focal point in the 4 mile square complex of multiple stone buildings. All the buildings have unique stories, most specifically the ball court where losers of the game were often sacrificed! Again, fascinating to the kids, who had tons of questions after that! When I visited Chichén Itzá about 20 years ago, I was able to climb up the steep, narrow steps to the top to see the whole view of all of Chichen Itzá, but after a fatal accident in 2006 (when a woman fell), they no longer allow visitors to climb.

But during the spring and autumn equinoxes, the sun creates the illusion of a snake ascending or descending the stairs of the Pyramid of Kukulkan (the name of the Castillo), an awesome phenomenon that attracts thousands of people. And also, Chichen Itza hosts an incredible light show every night after dark, with images projected onto the pyramid that tells the story of the ancient Mayan civilization. You’d have to visit at night to see this (it is a separate entrance ticket and fee), but I have seen many images & videos, and it is spectacular.

After walking around Chichen Itza, and working up a substantially wet sweat, we decided to hit some cenotes to swim and cool off. But first, we opted to have a bite in the beautiful little nearby town of Valladolid with its colorful, colonial buildings. We had an amazing lunch (in one of the oldest buildings in the town, called Hostería del Marques), including fresh guacamole, made tableside, fueling up before heading off to the rest of our adventure day.

Next stop was Cenote Zaci. This incredibly refreshing cenote is smack in the middle of the city of Valladolid. Surrounded by buildings and businesses, it is a hidden underground oasis that one can easily miss and mistake for a simple park that’s about a city block large. The entrance to the cenote is a staircase in a cave through the ground, that’s just about a 4 feet wide by 6 foot high hole. We jumped in to cool off after lunch and a steamy stroll around beautiful Valladolid town. There’s a 30 foot ledge you can jump off from, and my crazy child did it!

After spending about an hour in this cenote, we decided to head off to see another one, that was close-by, and that I had seen photos of on instagram. Cenote Oxmal was incredibly awesome, and the kids’ absolute favorite. It is the clearest definition of a ‘sinkhole’, where you can peer down into it’s pit from a 20 foot diameter hole in the Earth. After walking down the stairs, you can enter the water via stairs, or a rope swing managed by one of the Oxmal staff, whom you can tip if you’d like, which I always strongly encourage! We all swung more times than we could count. It was a definite adrenaline rush!! A few things to note about getting to this cenote: It is a very remote, single-lane, unpaved, pot-hole dotted, bumpy road to get there from Valladolid center. But it is only about 10-15 minutes, so if you don’t mind a few bumps, I would say it’s definitely worth it. Plus the estate area has a hotel, pool, restaurant, in addition to the cenote, and it is extremely lovely there, once you’ve arrived!

TULUM!!

Our next day trip, was south of Cancun, and also very easy to access via a straight-shot highway with very well marked-signs. About a 90-minute drive from Cancun, is beautiful Tulum. We decided to start the day with a cenote, very close to central Tulum town, after being in the car for 1.5 hours, and also because I had read that this particular one was very beautiful & very popular, so we wanted to hit it early to beat the crowds. Grand Cenote is its name, and it is popular for a reason. Its waters are so crystal clear that being under water doesn’t seem like you are. The unfiltered photo below was taken on the more secluded, shallow side, but if you swim under the cave to the main section, the water goes quite deep, but still stays just as clear. We got there right after it opened, and so we didn’t have to share it’s beauty with too many others… except the teeny turtles swimming around with us. 🙂 Afterwards, we decided to get a smoothie at Raw Love, a restaurant and retreat on Tulum beach that has a bohemian feel-good vibe. I found the amazing art installation I had been searching for (more info below), and after our smoothies, we walked a bit of Tulum beach to check out the other retreats. One bit of helpful info- a lot of the hotels/resorts in Tulum (an area also known as the ‘Mayan Riviera’), are adult-only, with no children allowed on the grounds. This is a nice option for travellers who would like a bit more of a quiet, grown-up, exclusive experience. I didn’t get to check it out, as I had kids-in-tow, however one of the incredible ones of note is Azulik. If you go to Tulum sans-kids, check it out!

When I first saw photos of this sculpture (below), as part of Tulum’s ‘Art with Me’ collaborative project last year (to raise environmentally conscious awareness for the area), I knew I wanted to find it and see it for myself. This amazing art Instalation, created by Daniel Popper, reminded me so much of Burning Man— The idea of giving, loving, and opening yourself to other ideas and thoughts you might not have been open to receiving before. Even though the exhibit was over, I was stoked to find that this particular piece was kept by Raw Love. I didn’t have as much time as I would have liked to have enjoyed it more, but looking up at it from underneath as you walk through, it really is a gorgeous reminder that to be vulnerable and open your heart wide, is an incredibly beautiful thing. I got serious feels.

After Raw Love smoothies, and still feeling hungry for some real Mexican eats, we decided to stop for lunch at the beautiful, colorful, and casual Zamas hotel & restaurant, when its vibrant colors caught my eye as we were approaching it in our car. They were very welcoming at the restaurant, and helpful in explaining things to the kids, and I had the tastiest tacos that I can remember— with carnitas, grilled pineapple, pickled onions, and a creamy spicy mango drizzle. Yummmmm! Highly recommend popping in, even if just to see the colorful beach chairs! After having eaten lunch at Zamas, and walked around the cute little shops a bit, we decided to head towards the 6th and last Cenote.

Our last stop on this day trip was to the Cenote, Cristalino. It is actually one of a group of three clustered Cenotes, and I believe you can buy access to all 3, or just one. We opted for just one, as it was getting later & it looked like it could rain. This is an open-air cenote with lots of little off-shoot smaller natural pools, and the water is of course, crystal clear blue. Some of the fun novelties of this cenote are a 10 foot jumping platform, which again the kids loved, and the au-naturale ‘fish spa’ where tiny fish will nibble the dead skin off your feet in a free, albeit semi-creepy pedicure! Lots of people were taking advantage of this nature-made service, but I just watched from the safety of the platform. But for a total cost of 150 Mexican Pesos entry fee for the cenote ($7.50USD), leaving with silky smooth, soft footsies, is a definite bonus!

XPLOR Park…

The last excursion we did, was purely for the kids, (although we had a great time too!) It was an adrenaline-filled day at Xplor, a themed park, about 45 minutes from Cancun, that combines the diverse ecosphere of the area with thrilling rides through the heart of it, to explore it all. The highlight was definitely the ziplines, with about a dozen combined high-flying lines, some of which end through waterfalls & into water. They are definitely not for the faint of heart, but if you like that sort of thing (which my son & I do!), then your heart will be happy there! We also drove fun rugged-terrain buggy vehicles through the jungle (through caves and water pits too), and took both a raft, and swam through the water-filled cave tunnels that drip with amazing natural stalactites and stalagmites that are millions of years old! It’s got a bit of a hefty price tag ($120 per adult, $60 per child), but with a full all-you-can-eat buffet lunch included in that cost, in addition to as many rides as you can possibly do, it is worth it for a full day of non-stop entertainment and activity. And the best part- your kids will be so wiped out from all the fun, that they will sleep GOOD afterwards! You can use your own GoPros, cameras & phones to take photos, or you can buy a package from them, where their strategically and abundantly placed cameras will snap photos of you enjoying the activities through the entire park. The cameras know it’s you because of a strategically placed micro chip in your groups’ mandatory safety helmets that you wear throughout the park, so when you’re done with your day, you can collect all your group’s photos conveniently online using a personal code you’re given. Brilliant!

But my absolute favorite part of Xplor? Was getting to hang with the Coati. Don’t know what that is? Join the club! This adorable unusual creature surprised the hell out of me when I took a break from all the zipping to get a mid-morning snack of coffee and cookies at the gratuitous smoothie bar, in the middle of the park. It turns out, I wasn’t the only one wanting a cookie, when a fuzzy little anteater-raccoon-fox-monkey-looking-thing came right up to me to see what goodies I had. Wha?!?!?!? Shy little animals, but brazen enough to sneak a peek at what food you might be handing out, they are part of the raccoon family, I learned, and are called Coati. The babies came up to me too, and licked my GoPro lens, no doubt hoping it was chocolate-flavored! I could’ve watched these little cuties for hours, but they eventually scampered away back into the jungle where they live freely. Soooo fun!!!! Take a look at this video….

Until next time……. Aloha, Yucatan!

DAPHNE’S TOP 10 THINGS NOT TO MISS IN THE YUCATAN:

1. Chichen Itza. Without a doubt. How can you come to the Yucatan, and not see one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Along with the Taj Mahal, Great Wall of China, and Machu Pichu, it’s in good company. Arrive early to beat the heat & crowds. Don’t miss seeing the ball court, and observatory, and read the stories that go along with the buildings- incredibly interesting!
2. Playa del Carmen – a charming beach town, about 40 minutes from Cancun, with colorful restaurants and colorful people. You can buy cute, local wares from the street merchants, and try some tequila tasting at one of the bars. Make sure you definitely stroll down Avenida 5 Norte (the pedestrian street in the heart of the town, that is the most popular location). It is full of restaurants, bars, shops, and exudes the real local flavor of the fun, hip beach town.  We stopped here in the evening, after leaving a full day at Xplor theme park, to walk down the street, shop a little, and grab some cool drinks before heading back to our resort. 
3. Tulum. If you can stay here for part of your trip, do it! Part of the Mayan Riviera, Tulum is chock full of gorgeous bohemian resorts, many of which are adult-only, for a more exclusive experience. If you cannot stay, definitely do a day trip & visit the beautiful Castillo ruins, oceanside (early), and then rent a bike and pedal down the one and only route 109, that runs parallel to the ocean, and gives you access to the entrances of every hotel, restaurant an shop. Make sure you take a peek at Raw Love, with its stunning entrance, designed as part of an art installation by Daniel Popper. Gorgeous!
4. Grand Cenote – located near Tulum, about a three minute drive, this is one Cenote that is very popular, but very worth seeing. Try to arrive early for a more quiet, private experience. Swim through the caves, and dive underwater to see the incredible clarity!
5. Valladolid – this beautiful, colorful colonial town is on the way from Cancun to Chichen Itza. If you can time it right, you can stop for lunch after Chichen Itza, on your way back, and combine lunch at one of its authentic restaurants, with a cooling dip in one of its nearby Cenotes….
6. Cenote Zaci – this one is located right in Valladolid town, about two blocks from the church. It’s entrance is through a small stone stairway through a hole in the ground, and you would never know this sprawling, beautiful Cenote was there, but for the signage that points the way downward, and the entrance kiosk, where you can pay the minimal entry fee.
7. Cenote Oxmal – a short (and VERY bumpy) drive from Valladolid, is Oxmal Resort & Cenote. With hotel accommodations, a full restaurant, and pool, this hidden gem is more than a cenote, but the cenote is the best part. With a very fun rope swing, managed by the staff for safety, you can easily spend an hour or two here, having fun cannonballing into the deep pit of clear water, hamming it up for as many videos and photographs your heart desires! No need to pay for each swing, it’s included in the price of entry, but you are encouraged to tip the rope attendant upon leaving.
8. Cenote Suytun – You can swim in this one too, and it is also very close to Valladolid, but this one is mostly just for the Wow! factor and gratuitous stunner photographs.  It’s a pretty amazing, alien-like sight, and missing seeing this specific cenote would be a bummer, as it really is quite unlike the rest. We hit this one on the way to Chichen Itza, and just stopped for about a half an hour to gaze with dropped-jaws, and take some fun alien-abduction photos. Which was perfect timing, because the first few of many people started to arrive right as we were leaving!
9. Xplor Park or Xcaret Park – depending on your level of thrill seeking, a day trip to one of these parks is pretty high on my list, if you have the time. Both created and run by the same company, they offer different levels of adreneline-releasing activities, but both are environmentally inclusive, and were created to have visitors interact and feel immersed in the unusually unique and incredible ecosphere of the Yucatan. Xplor is more about fast & high zip lines and jungle dune-bug, all-terrain vehicle rides to get your heart pumping, where Xcaret is more for the slower-paced, lazy river adventurers. I had been to Xcaret on my last trip to the Yucatan 20+ years ago, and loved it! You can swim through natural caves and cenotes and snorkel with beautiful fish. This time around, with adventure-seeking kids in tow, I did Xplor Park, and had a great time as well! The stalactites & stalagmites in the never-ending series of caves and cave-rivers, were amazing to walk or swim through, and the zip lines that fly you over the jungle canopy were so much fun! Plus you got overhead views of giant iguana sunning themselves on the tippy tops of trees. Incredibly cool!! Not to mention getting my first glimpse of the Coati, which to me, was a highlight of the day!
10. Isla Mujeres and Cozumel. Although I didn’t get to do them on this trip, I would definitely recommend trips to these islands, if you have the time. I went on my last trip, and since that was 20+ years ago, I cannot write about them in this blog post, as things have changed. But renting a scooter and exploring Isla Mujeres was a highlight of my last trip to Cancun, and I har that the diving in Cozumel is still as gorgeous as ever. You can read up about them both in various Pinterest posts, and I think they are definitely worth a look!

*This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you buy something through one of those links, you won’t pay a penny more, but I may earn a small commission, which helps me keep this website running. So, thank you!!!

TOP YUCATAN TIPS IN PLANNING YOUR TRIP:

• If you can, book off-season, and early! We got a special rate of 1/2 price for a child because we booked several months out.
• If you are going to rent a car, do it pre-paid online. We used Expedia, and went with Budget-Rent-A-Car, because it had the best ratings of all the companies for service and convenience at the Cancun Airport. And true to reviews- they were very friendly and easy to work with, once we arrived. Pay with your best credit card, if you have one, that covers rental car insurance in other countries. My card, Capital One Venture Card, which I love (!!!!) covers my rental insurance in Mexico (I called to make sure), so we did not need to purchase any additional insurance, which they will try to up-sell you on. So I ended up paying only $25 TOTAL for a week-long, mid-sized VW Jetta. Amazing! Make sure you do not upgrade cars there either, as they can get you with hidden fees. Just stick to what you purchased to rent online, and you will be golden!
• Get cash – you will definitely need cash to pay for things like the Cenotes. Entry fee at each is only a few dollars, but most of them only accept cash at the entrance, so make sure you have enough cash to at least cover however many you want to visit.
• ATM Machines- try not to use an ATM at the Airport, or at a resort, and don’t change $ at your resort, unless it’s a last resort. Haha! But seriously, they charge incredibly high fees. The ATMs at convenience stores (similar to 7-eleven) at gas stations, gives the correct exchange rate, with non-inflated fees. Your bank may charge fees for withdrawing from an international ATM, but at least the ATM fees themselves are low. 
• Bug Spray! Bring some! See my recommendation below.
• If you want to beat the crowds or the cenotes, try to get there right when they open, or visit later in the day, before they are closing. Chichen Itza opens at 8:00am, and a lot of the denotes open at either 8:00 or 9:00. Some say 9:00, but if you get there early, and someone from the grounds is there, they may open early to let you in. 
• Prepare for heat!  Bring loose, comfy, lightweight clothes, as it really does get HOT! And always keep a spare swimsuit with you, as there are tons of places to jump in the water if you just need to cool off. Even if you are visiting places like land-locked Chichen Itza or Valladolid, every area, town, and attraction, has a bunch of cenotes right next to them for cooling off.
• Barter – depending on the merchant, you can definitely negotiate on prices, if it is a market stand, single kiosk, or small self-owned shop. I bought a beautiful woven bag at a street stand in Playa del Carmen, and was able to get him down in price simply by mentioning that a woman was selling similar bags down the way for a lower price. Be reasonable and polite though. Don’t insult them with prices waaaay below their asking price. 
• Parking in public places – if you are parking near a cenote for example, or in a small parking lot in a town, you can expect to have a local guarding the lot, approach you and tell you they will watch your car for tips. This is very common practice, and it’s recommended that you pay them a a couple of dollars when you return, for peace of mind about your vehicle and its contents, while you are away.

DAPHNE’S YUCATAN TOP PACKING LIST ‘MUST-HAVES‘:

1. Stylish Water Sneakers! If you are planning to go to cenotes, these are awesome! In fact, they are great for any trip where your feet may get wet. I used them in Iceland, and I have used them in Hawaii when hiking to waterfalls. They are easy to hose off, and dry quickly, and they are comfortable to wear just walking around, and stylish enough not to look out of place if you go from a wet adventure into a restaurant. I got a children’s pair for my son as well.
2. Bug Spray!!! This deserves several exclamation points, especially if you are like me, and contain mosquito-luring blood in your veins. There are a lot of mosquitos in Mexico, especially near all the cenotes. This particular bug spray is my favorite. It is travel size, so you can even take it on airplanes in your carry-on, it smells nice (really!), and it is definitely effective. Bring several bottles, as you will go through them!
3. Travel towels – Chances are, if you are staying at a hotel or resort, they will give you bath towels. But these are bulky, and take up a lot of room, and you don’t want to be hauling them around on your cenote, beach, or waterpark outings, especially if you have to carry several for various family members. I use Anaskela travel towels on all my trips. They are soft, beautiful, dry quicker, fold up super small, and are made from recyclable plastic bottles (wha?!?!?), and will last you forever. I take mine everywhere.