Tulum was high on our wish list when we planned a trip to the Riviera Maya recently. Attracted by its reputation for stylish restaurants and all things bohemian we decided to visit on a day trip, hire bikes and explore on two wheels. It ended up being harder to plan than we thought, so here’s what to see in Tulum if you’re only in town for a day and decide to hire bikes.
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Where is Tulum?
Tulum is in the state of Quintana Roo on the Yucatán peninsula, Mexico. It lies at the southern end of the area known as Riviera Maya on the Caribbean coast, 64 km south of Playa del Carmen and 131 km south of Cancun.
The first thing to be aware of is that Tulum is quite spread out between Tulum town centre and the beach which is 5 km away. The impressive Tulum Ruins in the Parque del Jaguar (Jaguar Park) are at the northern end of the beaches. This affects what to see in Tulum if you’re visiting for a day as you’ll need to use transport for speed. Rightly or wrongly, we chose pedal bikes!
About Tulum
Tulum has an 8 km long stretch of white beach backed by tropical jungle, with a Mayan temple sitting proudly on a cliff overlooking the Caribbean Sea, so the first thing we were expecting was natural beauty, and we definitely got that!
Once a small fishing village, Tulum developed into a mecca of Bohemian glam, with stylish hotels and a focus on wellbeing (yoga, organics, and healing) and spirituality. One of the reasons for the town’s tradition of spirituality is its links to the Mayans who built grand celestial structures throughout the Yucatán, including here in Tulum.
More broadly, the Yucatán peninsula is home to the Chicxulub crater where an asteroid plummeted to earth 66 million years ago, killing the dinosaurs and kickstarting the Ice Age. This asteroid is thought to have created the magical underground freshwater system of cenotes (sink holes) used for swimming today, which the Mayans believe they are gateways to the afterlife.
Instagram influencers have been shouting about Tulum for some time now and it has become incredibly popular as a result, so on top of the natural beauty, we were expecting somewhere cool and hip with a laidback vibe.
Hiring bikes to explore Tulum
We drove from Playa del Carmen to Tulum town, passing the colourful ‘TULUM’ sign by the roadside, before trading in our car for two-wheel pedal bikes at the Tulum Rental Company. The owner of the bike rental company was very helpful and gave us good directions for our trip (although I note on google that the bike shop is ‘temporarily closed’). A good alternative would be nearby Ola Bike Tulum. Find free parking on near your bike rental, rather than using the car parks near the attractions for additional fees.
Cycle to the Tulum Archaeological Zone in Parque del Jaguar
From Ola Bike Tulum, cycle for 3.8 km (12 minutes) to the entrance of the Tulum Archaeological Zone. Note – ask the bike rental outfit for the best route to avoid traffic.
The Tulum Archaeological Zone sits within the Parque del Jaguar (Jaguar Park), a reserve including protected beaches, forest trails and the Tulum ruins and should be top of your list of what to see in Tulum as its incredibly pretty. Jaguar Park is open from 8am until 6pm daily, although the Tulum ruins has shorter opening hours, from 9am until 3.30pm.
Admission fees
You will need to pay two sets of admission fees:
- admission to the Parque del Jaguar is currently 415 MXN (£16.50).
- admission to the Tulum ruins which is currently 100 MXN (£4.00).
- Prices as at February 2025*
Exploring the Tulum Ruins
Whilst Chichén Itzá is officially a New Wonder of the World, the Tulum ruins are also special, being the only Mayan city built overlooking the coast. There are several buildings to explore including:
- El Castillo – Nearly 8 meters tall near the cliff face, El Castillo was one a lighthouse guiding Mayan ships to port. The upper level has small windows which would blaze with light when fires were lit in the evening. It has plumed serpents carved at the corners, resembling those at Chichén Itzá.
- Templo del Dios Desendente – features a relief figure of a Descending God above one of the doorways. At the spring equinox, a ray of sunlight shines onto the image.
- Casa del Cenote – a small water-filled sinkhole as the Casa del Cenote was built on top of a vital water source for the city.
- Templo de las Pinturas (Temple of the Frescoes) – a two-story construction with columns, carvings and frescoes.
- And many more buildings….
Beyond the Tulum ruins
Once you have finished exploring the Tulum ruins, pick up your bikes and cycle south through the Parque del Jaguar, stopping to visit some of the lovely beaches along the way, such as:
- Playa Santa Fe – look for the Faro de Tulum (lighthouse) on the cliff.
- Playa Pescadores – a pretty beach with plenty of seafood and drink options, sun loungers and sunshades for rent. Consider taking a boat trip from the beach for views of the Tulum ruins and a snorkelling stop (300 MXN / £12.00)
- Playa Paraiso – a picture perfect stretch of beach with several beach clubs and opportunities for enjoying the water.
Refuel at Cinco Tulum
Before deciding what to see in Tulum next, we stopped at Cinco Tulum for lunch which is in a lovely spot-on Playa Paraiso. Cinco Tulum offers the full Beach Club option, but we just ate at the restaurant before having a quick dip in the sea before heading off on our bikes again.
Our restaurant table was outside under the palm trees, with a gorgeous view over the white sands to the turquoise water – idyllic! The food options were great, and our lunch of tempura shrimp tacos and Melon Mojitos really hit the spot. The difficulty was getting going on the bikes again afterwards, as we could easily have stayed for a siesta in one of the hammocks or beanbags spread around the premises.
Note – As Cinco Tulum sits within the Jaguar Park, you need to have paid entry fees to the park before visiting the restaurant, but on this ‘what to see in Tulum’ itinerary you will already have done this.
Mirador del Jaguar (Jaguar Lookout)
After lunch cycle for 1.7 km (5 minutes) south to Mirador del Jaguar Tulum. Stop off to visit this viewpoint and enjoy the views over the town and jungle trees before exiting Parque de los Jaguars.
Explore the Tulum Hotel Zone
From Mirador del Jaguar Tulum, cycle south into the Tulum Hotel Zone, a 6-mile strip of hotels along the stunning Caribbean coastline. A single narrow road runs through the Hotel Zone, parallel to the beach and lined with trees, shops, and hotels.
The Good news is that the Boho vibe is strong in this area, and so we were able to just pull over when something caught our eye, which was often. The shops were full of boho attire under thatched roofs – lots of linen, crochet, macrame and neutral pallets. So, shopping can be high on your agenda for what to see in Tulum.
There are plenty of Instagram worthy sights along the way, including:
- Ven La Luz – the iconic sculpture by artist Daniel Popper, near the Delek Tulum Hotel. It sits within a small Art Park which costs 100 pesos (£4.00) to enter and features a wooden figure opening its chest to reveal a jungle view, symbolic of the connection between humans and nature. You can take a picture from the side, or queue up with the hard-core Influencers to be photographed with the sculpture in front of Ven.
- Matcha Mamma – a cute pink, green and white Matcha coffee bar with swing seats outside and a surfboard painted with “I love Tulum So Matcha”. The Mango Acai bowls made a refreshing snack.
- Angel wings – place yourself in-between the wings for a pretty shot.
- Cool traffic signs – by artist Olivia Steele who has made a collection of ‘Public Displays of Awareness’ offering thought provoking messages displayed as traffic signs. We were looking for the famous “Follow that Dream” sign but think it may have been removed. Instead, we spotted a “Love is the Answer” sign along the route.
The Bad news is is that there is no dedicated cycle path on this stretch of road and the road can be busy, with speed bumps and pot-hole hazards. We just took our time and stopped to let traffic pass if we were concerned, but it wasn’t too bad overall.
Lack of beach access in the Tulum Hotel Zone
A bigger issue was realising that there’s a distinct lack of public beach access in the Tulum Hotel Zone. You can’t access the beach unless you’re staying at one of the hotels or pay to base yourself at one of the beach clubs (like Ziggy Beach or Taboo), paying a premium for sun loungers and drinks. This gives the illusion of exclusivity, or maybe it’s just part of the money-making machine here?
As we had enjoyed such a lovely time at Cinco Tulum on Playa Paraiso, then we weren’t too bothered, however it would have been nice to have popped out to the beach to have a look and take some photos!
Making it to the end of the Hotel Zone strip
If you have enough leg power to get down to the end of the strip, you will be rewarded with:
- Nomade Tulum – this high-end hotel looks incredible on its website with a focus on wellbeing in and spirituality. It is very stylish and looked to sum up what I had been imagining Tulum to be like – think sunbeds surrounded by hanging macramé! Their beach restaurant La Popular is open to the public but watch the minimum spend if you want to use a sunbed.
- Casa Malco – Paulo Escobar’s Tulum mansion, with curtains made of wedding dresses. Note – apparently, they charge a fee to enter and to take photos! We didn’t make it that far down the strip when we visited.
Obviously, the further down the Hotel Zone strip you cycle, the longer your cycle back, so keep this in mind with how far south you cycle for. Also, even in February, it was very hot in the afternoon so the heat might cause you to tire more quickly than usual.
Returning on the cycle path
Whenever you have had enough, then retrace your journey through the Tulum Hotel Zone to the Mirador del Jaguar, and then turn left up Av. Coba, away from the coast, on the designated cycle path and back to your bike rental drop-off.
Refresh at a local cenote
It’s likely that you will be very hot and tired when you reach your car again, so you might fancy cooling off at one of the local cenotes, such as the Gran Cenote or Cenote Calavera.
Note on the turtle spotting boat trips at Akumal – just north of Tulum is the beach stop of Akumal, known for its population of sea turtles who feed on the abundance of sea grass here. I originally hoped that we might do this, and all the kids were keen, until I read some articles about the lack of care for the turtles in this area – too many boats at any one time and people disturbing the turtles and trying to touch them. It didn’t sound as well organised as it might have been for good eco credentials (with Costa Rica setting a high bar in this department), so we gave it a miss.
The reality of our visit to Tulum
In terms of what to see in Tulum, we felt like our day in Tulum was a day of two halves – a beautiful experience in the Parque del Jaguar exploring the stunning Mayan ruins and visiting the white sands and turquoise waters of the pretty beaches. We even had a glimpse of boho Tulum at Cinco Tulum.
However, the second half of the day involved a semi-stressful bike ride on the busy road through the Tulum Hotel Zone. Once upon a time, this road would have been much quieter and full of charm – back in the early days of Boho tourism, when Bali and Goa were popular, Tulum was probably at its best. However, with the development of the motorway from Cancun to Tulum, tourists have come in their hoards, but the local road is tiny and full of traffic.
There were glimpses of its boho and wellness credentials, but it was difficult to fully experience without staying overnight in one of the hotels. However, staying in Tulum is very expensive, without any guarantee that you’d find the peaceful, spiritual experience you were hoping for inside the hotels.
In conclusion, I enjoyed my day in Tulum but fear we visited too late – we should have come 20 years ago!
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