Traveling Mexico II: Tulum

I often arrive and depart places in the dark. There’s a simple reason for this: flights are more affordable when they’re getting you in and out of cities at dawn or in the middle of the night. When we arrive in Tulum, after a 2-hour journey from the closest airport in Cancun, the sky has melted from pastel blue to inky black. 

Tulum

Sandy streets lead to the hotel zone, an area brimming with bright lights that spill out of still-open restaurants and beach clubs hoping to attract tourists visiting in the quieter off-season. 

The car slows as our driver turns onto a dimly lit path to let us off at our destination —DELEK Tulum. 

A porter takes our bags, and we are greeted by the friendly concierge in an office bathed in soft amber light. He offers us glasses of mezcal cocktails, and takes us through the quick check-in process, punctuating important questions with casual conversation: asking where we are visiting from, and whether this is our first time in Tulum. We read and sign a paper contract, receive access to a virtual concierge via WhatsApp, and then walk through a short sandy path to our cabin. 

Warm light like the one from the office fills our room. In the center, a wooden four-poster bed draped in still-tied mosquito nets is decorated with a dusting of crimson rose petals, white towels shaped into a pair of swans, and a glinting ice bucket that chills a bottle of Prosecco. 

I turn to LB, who’s wearing a small satisfied smile on his face, to find that I am the only one shocked by this setup. While I was blissfully unaware, he had written to DELEK to let them know we were celebrating our anniversary; the romantic bedroom display is their way of acknowledging this. I pull out my phone to take a picture of the untouched space. I want to remember the details. 

Moments later, we change out of travel clothes and try to call an Uber into Tulum town for dinner, only to find that the ride service doesn’t work in Tulum. In place of Uber, a white taxi, ordered with a phone call, shows up to take us into town. We negotiate a price of around $35 for the 15-minute ride, which is exorbitant but commonplace in Tulum. 

In between bites of pizza and pasta at a casual Italian restaurant, we make plans for the rest of the weekend: a road trip to Chichén Itzá and Valladolid on Saturday, and a relaxed beach day on Sunday. 

Chichén Itzá 

Early in the morning, while it’s still quiet, LB and I stroll to the windy beachfront to watch the sun make its gradual ascent. As gentle waves wet the sandy shore, tall palm trees sway in the wind. We sit shoulder to shoulder on an empty lounge chair and watch sunlight brighten the sky. 

The night before, we used the WhatsApp concierge to hire a driver for the trip to Chichén Itzá—an ancient city that was occupied by the indigenous Mayan population of the time. Hector arrives at 8 am to pick us up for the 3-hour journey, except when we arrive at the city’s entrance, we have only been driving for an hour and a half. We check and double-check our phone clocks, shocked at how little time has passed, but happy nonetheless, as we were both reluctant to spend a significant part of our day in transit. 

Chichén Itzá is sprawling. Giant stone pyramids sit majestically under the sultry afternoon sun. Crumbling ruins surround the pyramids, interrupted by trees and well-tended shrubs. Under the tree shade, vendor’s tables are decorated with handcrafted items. “Only a dollar, only a dollar” the vendors call out to passersby, eager to make a sale. 

We stroll the city’s perimeter, stopping to take photos and read the bits of history displayed on plaques in front of some of the ruins. Tourists have started to arrive in droves when we wrap up our tour and head outside to find Hector. 

Our next stop is Valladolid, a colorful city 30 minutes drive from Chichén Itzá.

Valladolid 

Valladolid is immediately reminiscent of cities I’ve visited before; places like Old San Juan and Cartagena, where colors from the paint on building walls and leaves of flowering plants brighten the streets.

We stroll through the park in the main square and along narrow side streets and stop for lunch at a Mexican restaurant called Los Portales. We sit outside facing the street and share steaming plates of chicken fajitas and Pook Chuuk—a local Yucatan dish made from grilled pork and served with seasoned beans and a mild tomato salsa. 

At a tequila store next to Los Portales, we taste pours of flavored tequila ranging from coconut to mango, pineapple, and coffee, and settle on two bottles of a coffee-flavored one, wrapped protectively in newspaper for our return flight. 

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Later in the evening, LB and I sit for dinner at Arca Tulum, an outdoor restaurant my brother recommended, serving contemporary iterations of traditional Mexican Cuisine.

Our plates come out one after the other, each accompanied by an oral description of its ingredients and how to pair the food on the plate. There is a buttery sea bass served with fresh jicama salad and a chili pepper mole, a succulent roasted bone marrow served with a chargrilled piece of toast, and sweet plantain cubes served with tasty pieces of suckling pig and chicharron crisps.  

At the end of the meal, we thank our waiter, letting him know it was excellent, and walk back onto the main street, which is quieter now than when we arrived for dinner. 

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Good To Know

We flew Aeromexico from Mexico City to Cancun and drove to Tulum. We booked a car and driver here: Cancunshuttle.com

Taxis in Tulum -particularly when shuttling between town and the hotel zone- are expensive. Consider renting a car if you anticipate frequent travel between Tulum Town/Tulum Hotel Zone.

Food in the hotel zone is priced at a premium, and much more expensive than food in Tulum Town.

In late October when we visited, there was very little rain and mostly warm sunshine! Although October is considered rainy season, it is also a good time to avoid crowds in the popular resort town.

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This story for Tulum got longer than I intended, so I have split the Tulum piece into two. Click the subscribe button to receive an update when the next part is published. 

Traveling Mexico is a monthly series chronicling my time in Mexico last November. I lived in Mexico City for one month, and it felt both restorative and exciting.

As always, 

Thank you for reading!

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Same Footprints, Different Sands