5 Day Tulum, Mexico Itinerary
Tulum Mexico has always been a bucket list location of mine.
Tulum, Mexico has always been a bucket list location of mine. After doing some research on travel hacking through credit card points, I found the gorgeous Papaya Playa Project hotel on Tulum beach. When my boyfriend & I found out we could stay at this incredible property at zero out of pocket cost to us, we were sold!
Papaya Playa Project is a beautiful resort owned by Marriott, where you are fully immersed in the Tulum jungle. My boyfriend & I combined Marriott points he had earned from traveling for work with points transferred from my Chase Saphirre Preffered card to completely cover the stay. At the time we were planning our trip, Chase was running a 1:1.5 transfer bonus, so highly recommend looking for those promotions in order to get a better bang for your buck.
A 5 night stay redeemed for one of their Ocean Front Cabanas ended up being 166,000 points. My boyfriend has Marriott Gold status through his American Express Platinum card, and we were able to receive a complimentary room upgrade to one of their Jungle Casitas with a rooftop pool. This room would have cost us nearly $4k out of pocket, so having the loyalty staus really comes in handy when redeeming points for hotel stays.
Personally I don’t feel like the hotel would have been worth paying for out of pocket, but if you are looking for a place to redeem credit card and/or Marriott points, this is a great place to do so!
Day 1
After flying into the Cancún airport, we got picked up by a representative from EasyWay Car Rental to get our Jeep Renegade rental car. We chose this company based on the good reviews we saw online. They include the required 3rd party liability insurance in pricing, which is one of the main reasons I was drawn to their services.
The cars are a bit older, and we did have a few mechanical issues with our car, but after giving them a call they were able to get our car replaced in Tulum for no extra charge, which was greatly appreciated. We had no issues with representatives trying to get more money out of us, which seems to be a common issue while renting cars in Mexico.
On our way to Tulum from Cancun, we stopped in Playa fel Carmen a some much needed lunch. We got some tacos at Cocina Los Sabores de Mexico.
Once we arrived in Tulum & after we checked into our hotel and got settled, we headed to the beach club on property for a quick swim and margaritas.
For our first night, we wanted to start off with a bang so chose RosaNegra for dinner, a spot I constantly see on TikTok. This place definitely fills up on a Saturday night, so expect to wait a bit for your table. If you are looking for a fun party vibe though, this will definitely satisfy your needs! Servers will hand out sparklers to all guests multiple times a night. Service was pretty meh and food was not super exceptional.
After dinner we headed back to our hotel, which hosts huge bechfront parties every Saturday, with admission included for hotel guests. Expect DJs playing house / EDM music & dancers performing throughout the crowd.
There are also street food vendors, body painting, and other activities available on the property. If you choose to stay at Papaya Playa Project on a Saturday, it is definitely worth stopping by. The party is open to the public, but non hotel guests do have to pay a cover to enter. The party starts at 8pm and goes until 3am.
Day 2
I started my morning walking around the property and stopped at the 24/7 coffee shop for an iced latte and conchas. The coffee shop also offers fresh juices, smoothies, and other pastries.
For brunch, we stopped at Potheads near our hotel for a breakfast burrito & chilaquiles. This place is definitely walkable from Papaya Playa Project, but there is a paid parking lot next door if you need it.
After breakfast, we spent some more time exploring the property at Papaya Playa project and found a second, hotel guests only pool area with an infinity pool, bar service, and loungers. This area is much quieter than the main pool & beach area and there’s no music playing in this section. We found that drinks were not as good as the main beach club area however.
For lunch, we headed into Tulum town to check out some lower cost options. One great thing about staying at Papaya Playa Project is that it is one of the first hotels on the beach from the main road, making the trip into town very quick.
We first stopped at Taqueria La Chiapaneca, where we ordered tacos al pastor & asada, guacamole, and sopes. This place became a staple during our trip for a low cost snack while walking around the town.
After our tacos, we also stopped at Buritto Amor. We had heard this place serves the best burritos in Tulum, so we gave their chicken burrito and egg & ham burrito a try. I also tried their energizing smoothie which I really enjoyed.
For dinner, we stopped at Bagatelle. While the interior of this restaurant is gorgeous, this is not the best place to go on a weekday. We went on a Sunday and we’re one of maybe 4 tables in the entire restaurant. While this did lead to good service, the overall experience was lacking, and while the food and drinks were good, it was not worth the price. I would only consider going back on weekend when the crowd would be more livelier.
Day 3
On day 3 we stopped at Kin Toh at AZULIK for breakfast. For breakfast, they have a minimum spend of 600 pesos per person. We were able to order their pancakes, waffles, omelette, and avocado toast. We had to pay 10 pesos out of pocket & tip at the end, so expect to pay about $85 for 2 people for breakfast.
Breakfast is available until 10:30am, and you are able to explore the Instagramable nest tables & lobby once you are done with your meal.
After seeing multiple reviews saying how expensive this place was for small portions for dinner, we felt going for breakfast was a great way to see the space at a much better price & receive more food than if you went for dinner. They also offer an evening experience on their roof where you pay an entrance fee that includes 1 drink and let’s you spend time on their roof which we wanted to do, but unfortunately the rainy weather didn’t allow for it during this trip.
After brunch, we had to hit up the Instagram famous Tulum Jungle Gym. The entrance is actually located on the beach, so in order to access the gym from the main road you will have to walk through one of the nearby hotels or beach clubs. Note that they are cash only & day passes cost about $30ish a person.
The gym does get busy, and expect more people to be taking photos than actually working out. The gym is located within walking distance from popular beach clubs like Taboo & Tantra, Mía, and Bagatelle, so you can definitely hit up a beach club afterwards if that’s your cup of tea.
Instead of going to a beach club, we instead went to Raw Love nearby for smoothie bowls to fill up after our workout. Portion sizes were pretty large, and it was nice enjoying them on the beach at this location.
For dinner, we went to ARCA, which was honestly the highlight of our Tulum experiences. This restaurant has been named one of the best in Latin America, and once you eat here you will understand why!
The ambiance is beautiful, set in the jungle with an open kitchen where you can see the chefs cooking all of your dishes and a cozy bar area. We paid over $250 for our meal, but in comparison to other restaurants in Tulum, we felt the experience was worth the price.
For dinner, we ordered the Mitake Tlayuda, Suckling Pig Roulade, Scallop Crudo, Roasted Bone Marrow, and Octopus Al Pastor. To drink we got the El Solar & the Rum Punch.
Day 4
For Day 4 in Tulum, we decided to take a road trip to Chichén-Itzá and to the cenotes nearby. The drive is about 2 hours. We did get stopped after we crossed the border from the state of Quintana Roo into Yucatán to ensure we had not run into any issues with the cartel.
While we did personally feel safe making the drive ourselves, there’s many tours available that offer transportation included from Tulum to the locations we stopped at.
On our way to Chichén-Itza, we stopped at Delicia de mi Tierra for breakfast. This place doesn’t seem like much from the outside, but they serve incredible authentic Mexican food for very cheap prices. We fell in love with their French toast, and also really enjoyed their chilaquiles verdes with chicken & egg and their hurache this morning.
Once we got to Chichén-Itzá, our Google Maps actually took us to a hotel called Mayaland instead of the official parking lot. However this ended up being a win, as they offer free parking, transportation to the ticket center, and skip the line tickets as well as transportation back and lunch. The price was slightly more than what we would have paid directly at the ticket center, however the official parking lot was an absolute nightmare as well as the line to purchase tickets, so we felt like the extra cost was worth it.
We did not feel like hiring a tour guide of Chichén-Itzá was worth it, as it was very easy to explore on your own. Be mindful that the site is filled with hundreds vendors trying to get your to buy things, something that I did not expect based on my past experiences at other Mayan ruins.
We then drove the short, 5 minute drive to the Ik Kil cenote. This cenote is beautiful with vines hanging down and platforms to jump off if you desire. The water was nice & refreshing, and there were changing rooms, lockers, and life jackets all included in your entry price.
We then headed to Cenote Suytun, which is about an hour from Cenote Ik Kil on the way back to Tulum. This Cenote is very different, with a traditional cave appearance and a platform in the center that makes for a great photo opp. We got there right before closing at 4pm, and we did not have to wait in any line to get our pictures. There is an area to swim if you’d like as well as seating areas.
After exploring the Cenote, we quickly drove through the nearby city of Valladolid. If we had started our day earlier, we would have grabbed something to eat and spent more time here, but we wanted to get off the roads before the sun set.
Once we arrived back in Tulum, we stopped at Encanto in Tulum town. This spot has a gorgeous terrace and is a great spot to grab cocktails and a bite to eat. I got the shrimp al pastor and really enjoyed them. Prices were a little more expensive than I was expecting since we were in town, but still cheaper than a lot of the restaurants on the beach side.
Later that night, we hit up some of the rooftop bars in Tulum town. The sweet spot for when the bars started to get busy was around 11:30-midnight. Osmio Lounge was the best spot this night, with good quality drinks and a DJ who played a mix of reggaeton music and American music.
Day 5
For our last full day in Tulum, we went back to Delicia de Mi Tierra for some more of their amazing French Toast and also tried their avocado & poached egg tostada, which was also delicious.
We then spent the rest of the day hanging out at the beach club and main pool at Papaya Playa Project. If you are not staying at the hotel, you are able to pay an entree fee to access the facilities. There is food available for purchase from the main restaurant as well. We ordered frozen margaritas which cost about $18 a piece, and found the passion fruit margaritas to be our favorite.
After a day at the beach, we spent our last night in Tulum at Mamazzita. This restaurant offers Mexican food with live entertainment every half hour. While this restaurant wasn’t super busy, it didn’t have the same empty & sterile feel we experienced at Bagatelle and instead felt cozier.
We ordered the buratta with mole, wagyu meatballs, barbacoa tostadas, chicken with mole, & cochinita pibil. We felt we could have just ordered appetizers and drinks here and skipped out on main entrees as those were our least favorite.
We finished the night back at the Tulum town bars. This night we went up to the roof at Santino. We arrived at around 12:30, and did have to wait about 20 minutes to be let up on the roof, so arrive a tad bit earlier so you don’t have to wait, but not too early as the bars here are pretty dead until midnight. We found the bars in town played primarily reggaeton music and had more of a college town bar vibe. Drinks at Santino were incredibly cheap- with 2 margaritas costing us about $10.
Day 6
We finished our time in Tulum with a trip to Taqueria Honorio before heading to Cancun for a few days. We had read multiple articles claiming these were the best tacos in Tulum, and they were not wrong. We tried the cochinita pibil, lechon, & poc-chu tacos, which were all delicious, and super cheap.
My final takeaways from Tulum? It is definitely a city worth experiencing, but make sure you do research so your expectations are set ahead of time.
• The busy season in Tulum is October - January, while the off season is June - August. If you travel here during the off season like we did, do not expect every place to be a huge party, even the hot spots everyone talks about on social media.
• The seaweed is the worst during off season, and is present even at the expensive beach clubs
• If renting a car, expect to pay $200 pesos to valet or park in a lot at most major restaurants on the beach. Street parking is free in town, but you have to parallel park in most areas.
• Many restaurants will show both a peso & USD amount on the bill and ask which one you want your card to be charged. We noticed that the conversion was off and we would be paying about $30 more if they charged the USD amount. Make sure you bring a credit card that has no international fees.
• Bring cash! We ended up using more cash than I was expecting during this trip, so make sure you take out cash for valet, parking, excursions, & restaurants. Bring both USD & pesos to make your life easier
• Bug spray is an absolute must. Bring lots of it and reaply frequently or else you will get eaten alive! A lot of the restaurants are outdoors so make sure you spray yourself before dinner
• Drink lots of water. Yes, ordering bottled water can get annoying at restaurants, but you need to stay hydrated in Tulum with the heat!
The home for unique & authentic travel
