Tulum Travel Guide: Where to Stay and Getting Around

We are such fans of Mexico…it’s become a 2 Girls Who Travel tradition to visit every year – each time traveling to a different city.

After months of consideration, this year we decided on Tulum, a small town in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.

In coming weeks, we’ll be giving you our Guide to Tulum – everything you need to know about visiting Tulum.

In this blog, we will share what area we stayed in and why we suggest it as well as tips on getting around this amazing city! Keep reading to learn more.

Getting to Tulum

More than likely, if you’re visiting Tulum, you’ll fly into Cancun International Airport, which is about a 90-minute drive to Tulum. There’s a few options on how to get to Tulum — private driver, public bus, car rental, etc.

We booked a private driver (not because we’re bougie) but because our flight landed late afternoon and a bus or any other option that involved multiple drop-offs would have sucked up the remainder of our day.

Our Airbnb host helped us book a driver, but there are many reputable companies that offer this mode of airport transfer. Just do a bit of research. For the both of us traveling from Cancun airport to our Airbnb’s front door, it cost 1,500 pesos (about $77 USD), one-way.

Staying in Aldea Zama

When it comes to accommodations, most people traveling to Tulum will opt to either stay near the beach or in the jungle. Aldea Zama is an area located in the jungle which is full of luxury residential areas – mostly new builds with a ton more being built. Basically, everything is brand spanking new.

We chose to stay in an Airbnb in Aldea Zama.

We booked a two-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath condo with a private pool for just about $120 USD per night (including all associated fees). We were very pleased. There was air conditioning in each room, three televisions, Wi-Fi, full kitchen and even two free bikes to use.

And this was just one of many available Airbnbs in Aldea Zama (some were even cheaper). You’ll typically catch a great deal because of construction and the fact that the area is developing, there’s not as much touristy stuff close by.

But there was a pharmacy, small convenience store and a cute cafe all within a few steps of our condo, so purchasing necessities like bottled water and snacks was not a problem.

Seriously, Aldea Zama is soooo much more affordable than staying in one of the resorts by the beach. Granted, if you’re going for the whole beachfront, resort-style vacay, then this may be a non-negotiable for you. But for those who aren’t tied to the beach, you could get an Airbnb for half of what you would pay to stay at the beach.

Getting Around in Tulum

Taxis are plentiful in Tulum and we never had an issue getting one. Taxis to/from Aldea Zama into town or the beach ranged from 100-250 pesos (about $5-$13 US dollars) for our entire stay. Most of the time, our taxi rides were 150 pesos.

Uber and Lyft aren’t currently available in Tulum.

If you’re feeling froggy, you can also bike around Tulum. We saw several people biking from Aldea Zama into town and it wasn’t odd to see people going to the beach on a bike. However, the way the sun was set up and some driving we witnessed, we opted not to take the bikes.

Walking is also an option, but probably only into town if you’re staying in Aldea Zama. Walking to the beach would just be too much of a trek.

So there you have it — what you need to know about getting to Tulum, why Aldea Zama is an attractive option for accommodations and how to get around in Tulum.

Make sure you subscribe to 2girlswhotravel.com so you’ll get each blog delivered straight to your inbox. Next blog, we’ll be telling you the best things to do in Tulum…stay tuned!