Tulum Town

One morning, the skies were overcast and the threat of intermittent rain showers loomed beckoning us away from the beach.  We spent a couple of hours catching up with Joe's Grandma and Great Aunt who, by the way, are both avid travellers.  We laughed as they told us about getting soaked while taking in the Panama Canal and listened in awe as his Aunt casually mentioned her trip from Beijing to Europe via the Trans-Siberian railway.  If that doesn't inspire you to leave the resort, I'm not sure what does.

Joe's cousins had already caught the Collectivo, a public transport system, into Tulum town and we hoped to meet up with them somewhere along the way.  We had heard there wasn't much to do in town although prior to our trip, I did come across a few articles and blogposts chronicling Tulum's rise to popularity with it's sustainable, low-key and hippy-esque vibe.  Our taxi deposited us in the centre of town, along the main strip which was chalk full of tourist shops filled with knickknacks.  We sauntered up and down the street, occasionally peeking into the shops but mostly just taking in the surroundings: a couple of cars driving slowly through town with a man on a loudspeaker and a girl in a bikini draped across the hood, dreadlocked men walking down the street barefoot, a variety of tourists haggling in shops.

Eventually, we found a little more of what I was expecting - one block off the main road we landed in Batey's.  It was a funky, little place that smelled delicious.  We hadn't known this when we were there, but apparently, they're the place to go for mojitos.  Everything that came from the teeny, tiny kitchen out the back looked fresh and yummy but we settled on some homemade guacamole and a couple of beers although that didn't stop us from salivating every time we saw something else make its way to another patron at another table.

Had we not been at an all inclusive up the road, we might have come into town more often in search of those little restaurant gems.  I suppose that's one of the downside of resorts - food and drinks are included in your rate and it seems wasteful not to use what you've paid for yet, in turn, that means you're missing out on all of the little opportunities for great dining elsewhere.



-Some restaurant/hotel recommendations in Tulum town
-Travel and Leisure's take on Tulum