Tulum, Mexico on a budget - Guest Writer & Travel Photographer Tamea Agle.
Hello friends!
Last month I ventured to Tulum, Quantana Roo, Mexico and I did it on a budget! I'm happy to share my ideas to keep it your trip budget friendly and you can avoid some of my mistakes.
Getting to Tulum is a bit round about!
Landing in Cancun, many of your fellow travelers will be staying there. Cancun is beautiful, but it is more resorts and tourism than what I was going for. There are plenty of shuttles that are $60 plus each way ($120?! no!) to get you to Tulum, but I suggest ADO bus! It'll save you more than enough to make it worth it. You can book your round trip for about $35. I've been told you can book day of (the girl at the kiosk was pretty helpful) The ADO bus website itself will not take non-Mexican credit cards, and it wont tell you this helpful tidbit till you enter all of your information. SO! Go to this lovely site to book your tickets.
I landed at about noon and booked the 2:25pm bus ride, because that customs line is no joke. It was a particularly busy week, but customs took about 2 hours, so give yourself some time!
Budget savings so far: $120 turns into $35! Well done!
Accommodations can always be a massive money saver so I went for this budget airbnb. I Know that there are options of all ranges in Tulum. You can go for luxury resorts, luxury airbnb, but as always budget and safety were two of my main concerns. My Airbnb was about 2 miles from the beach (bikes! I'll get to that in a bit). One of the huge plus sides of this location was constant fresh water. Do not drink the tap water in Tulum if you want to avoid "Montezuma's revenge". You do. You do want to avoid it. So, getting an airbnb or hotel with fresh water in the description was a huge plus and a big money saver. Bring your trusty nalgine bottle and fill it up to save on your bottled water and rest easy knowing that you're drinking purified water. Another perk, the coffee shop downstairs is great and where I started most of my days.
Next! Saving money on seeing a wonder of the world!
Ok! On this one, I wasn't extravagant, but I did want to see Chichen Itza alone so I could see the pyramid without the crowds. There are a few ways to do this. You can get an additional hotel closer to the site and go on a sunrise tour. I've been told this is amazing! If you will not be going this route, I recommend renting a car and going early! The day tours that will get you to Chichen Itza from Tulum range from about $90 to a couple hundred $ US. Renting the car was about $60 and the entrance ticket (which I bought in advance) was $35. It was a bit more expensive than buying at the door, but the lines were long from hours before opening, so get that skip the line ticket and run by for your solo tour of the ruins. Getting to Chichen Itza is about a 2.5 hour drive and you till be told to take the toll roads. Be warned though! These tolls end up being approx $60 each way! $120 for 5 hours of driving total was a little crazy to me. I would suggest taking the slightly slower option that will take you through the small towns in the Yucatan state of Mexico. The road is fine, the towns are great to see, and you'll save some cash. While I was driving through the towns, I got a small glimpse of life. Kids walking to school, some locals setting up their cocos frescos stands, and a boy riding his bike with a beautiful horse running along side. That was a beautiful moment I still have questions about. If you do decide to take the toll road, please know that they only accept pesos, no foreign currency and no credit cards. So I recommend taking the slightly longer scenic route. Leave Tulum around 6am and you'll have a great time! To see photos from my time there, check them out here!
Beach time!!
You cannot go to Tulum and not visit the beach! (the ruins are an inexpensive and beautiful thing to check out too.) There are plenty of free beaches. If you go to the resorts, they are expensive unless you are a guest. So, when you get to the coast off the main road, you can go right and pay a bundle (as far as I can tell up to $50 USD), or you can go left into the nature reserve and it is free and absolutely beautiful. If you want solitude, go in the early am and enjoy!
Saving a little more than me can also be achieved by avoiding this one annoying mistake. If you rent a bike, and you should, bring it inside overnight. I rented a bike from one of the many places within a block or two of my hotel and locked it up with two locks that I thought were pretty heavy duty. The bike thieves in Tulum are not playing! When I went outside to get my bike to the beach for sunrise photographs, it was nowhere to be seen. I wanted the photos, so I jumped in a cab and got to the beach, for my photos check them out here.
...but I also lost my deposit on the bike and that set me back. So learn from my mistake and don't trust those bike locks, take your bike inside your accommodations. Consider that saved money, time and frustration!
(A quick note about the cabs!)
Negotiate cost of your trip before you get in. Tell them where you're going and a quick "Cuánto cuesta?" (How much?) and go from there. It was $100MX (about $5 USD) from my hotel to the beach and from my hotel to the Gran Cenote as well.
Ok guys and girls! Save on your transit to and from Tulum, Save on your accommodations, and you'll have a bit left over for your trip to Chichen Itza where you can save by avoiding those toll roads. Have a blast and let us know how it goes!
Tamea TameaTravels.com
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