Tulum Beach & Downtown Tulum - places to eat and drink on different budgets.
Tulum beach is the reason most people decide to holiday here. Tulum beach (also referred to as 'The Beach Road'), is essentially a long road/strip of bars, restaurants, shops and beach clubs. Getting to the Beach Road can take anywhere between 10 mins or 30 mins, depending on where you are going. No matter the time of day or night that traffic is BAD, so always allow yourself extra time to get to where you are going.
Do your research before you go on places you want to visit. Restaurants and bars often have certain nights of the week that they have parties there, so you may see videos of somewhere looking really vibey, but if you go on a different night it can be really quiet. Also bear in the mind that the majority of places on Tulum Beach are really expensive.
Here are the some the places we went in, including some of the best restaurants and best bars in Tulum:
1. Casa Jaguar
We heard good things about here, but I think we went on the wrong night as it was really quiet. The food was very average and quite expensive.
2. Vagalume
This was recommended to us for a night out. When we arrived on the door they wanted to charge us 50 USD just for entry, after refusing they did let us in for free. Vagalume is right on the beach and the decor is amazing, there was a DJ and so much theatrics like fire coming out of statues and at one point it looked as though the DJ booth was on fire. It was fun and a good experience, but drinks are extremely expensive so I would recommend having drinks somewhere else before, or else you are in for a pricey night.
3. Raw Love
We were looking for a healthy breakfast after overdoing it on tacos and enchiladas, so ventured to Raw Love on Tulum Beach. The food was fresh and incredible with lots of options available (including vegan). You can eat in the main restaurant or go down to the beach where they have a small restaurant that is part of a hotel.
4. Boccanera Pizzeria y Cerveceria
Some of the best pizza I've had. So many choices of pizza and it wasn't expensive like most places along the beach. Couldn't recommend here enough!
5. Azulik
Azulik was top of our lists to visit whilst in Tulum. Azulik is a resort with hotel rooms, restaurants & bars and the Azulik design and decor is what brings people here. Azulik is made up tree houses and you can venture up into the treetops and take in the views of Tulum beach. Visiting Azulik was one of my highlights of Tulum Beach.
We looked into ways of visiting Azulik as staying there was out of the question (a room is around £1,000 / 1,200 USD a night) and even just going for a meal at one their restaurants looked extremely pricey. We were then told about the 'Sunset Experience'.
The Azulik Sunset Experience cost 30 USD and it was worth it (and pretty good value compared to most of Tulum's expensive activities)! Included in this price, you get to go up into the treetops of Azulik and experience the magic of this resort. The experience opens at 5pm and you can't book, so I would recommend getting there to queue about 20-30 mins before (they only have a few spots each night). Once you're up the top, you can get a drink from the bar (your first drink is incl. in the price) and get to watch the sunset to a DJ playing. The experience lasts 2.5 hours and is one to remember!
7. Nômade
An eco-friendly boutique hotel set on a white sandy beach. The setting looked insane so we were really looking forward to visiting. Like the other hotels and resorts along Tulum beach, the prices to stay are high, so we decided to go for lunch to experience it.
We had lunch at their restaurant on the beach and the setting is amazing. A lot of places on Tulum beach are covered in seaweed, but Nomade's beach is set on white sand, they spend a lot of time keeping it clean for guests.
For lunch we had some great Tacos and stayed a while having drinks listening to the live band (who were incredible). It's not cheap there, but I'd say the cost of the food and drinks is worth the setting and you can also stay around after on the beach.
Downtown Tulum - Restaurants
Fed up with the over-priced cocktails and long taxis to and from Tulum beach? Head to downtown Tulum where you can find a few shops, restaurants and bars. As four girls travelling, we didn't feel overly safe downtown. Once you're in a restaurant or bar it feels safe, but you have to walk quite a bit in between places, so I would recommend getting a taxi to your destination.
1. Burrito Amor
We wanted somewhere chilled and cheap for dinner and had had Burrito Amor recommended by many people. Bear in mind there is always a queue here, so arrive as early as you can and put your name down and they will shout for you when your table is ready. The queue seemed massive when we got there, but it goes down pretty quickly.
2. Encanto Cantina
Nice vibe and good food. The dishes and drinks are reasonably priced. When we were there there was live music.
Comments