Mexico Trip : Tulum + Bacalar
I started writing this as a newsletter about 2 months ago, life took over, and before you know it it's weeks down the line and here I am. Being a mama is my priority, and nap times go as fast as lightning..! But as I promised back in April when we flew to Mexico for L's birthday as a last-minute trip, I will share our itinerary, and some of the places we slept at and ate at..! I’ve decided to share it now as a blog post so everyone can access it easily.
I'll try and keep it simple with a list below, and then at the end summarise our trip and things we'd maybe do differently, or things we loved. I'm being very honest in my reviews below, it was our personal experience, and yours might be different, just a gentle reminder. For now I’m leaving you with Part 1 which is the start of our journey with a 3-day stop in Tulum, followed by 3 days in Bacalar.
Just as an FYI you can fly direct to Cancun from London, we made the mistake of not doing that on the way and flying into Mexico City and then doing an internal connecting flight which was much longer. It’s worth the extra cash. We flew direct on the way back, it’s about a 10-hour flight. I’ll share my tips for traveling with a toddler in another post…! We rented a car at Cancun airport for the entirety of our trip (we went with a cheap-ish car that looked very much like a local car which was a bonus - a lot of the more expensive rentals really stood out, do read reviews before renting to find a trustworthy company) we had the car for the whole trip which gave us flexibility and overall was much cheaper than getting taxis everywhere, and as you’ll read down below it meant we didn’t ever feel ‘stuck’ in one location, which when you have a toddler is definitely a bonus, we traveled with our ‘travel’ car seat, so here we go :
TULUM
About a month before we left I asked you guys on Instagram any tips and recommendations from your trips in the Yucatan peninsula. The resounding word was to NOT go to Tulum… haha From what I gather it was amazing about 10 years ago, but become overly popular and got crowded, loud, and very expensive. A lot of you said that even 5 years ago it was unrecognizable.. which is terribly sad.
Now I heard you all, but we made the decision that we'd still like to go, but not stay on the main stretch on the beach, and go a little bit more in land. Which paid off! It was one of our favorite parts of the trip. We landed late in Cancun, rented a car and made our way down to Tulum, a good 2 hours south of Cancun. It was magical to wake up in the jungle and we loved our stay. It was made especially special because the day we arrived was Lyla’s 2nd birthday.
I'll list our favorite spots below, but our feelings about it were that yes the main beach stretch felt like Disneyland, it was crowded, loud and a little sad to see the jungle taken over like that, and all the generators powering all those beach resorts was for sure a downside. We decided to stay closer to the ‘main’ town, a little on the outskirts for peace and quiet, but still easily accessible to go eat all the yummy food. We did beach trips on a couple of days, but mind you the beach is a good 30min drive from town, as it gets busy and the road is slow. So if you're staying a long time and want to just be on the beach, maybe rethink your strategy here… or read on below for other places to go!
Hotel Tiki Tiki : This is where we stayed, and we loved it! Such a lovely boutique hotel, a quiet location, a beautiful pool, great for kids as it always had a bit of shade and had shallow large steps. The rooms were lovely, simple, beautiful clean design, with our own hammock in the room, and our own little terrace. The only downside was the included breakfast was very simple (fruit bowl with granola, coffee or tea, toast) and not that amazing. but luckily it is right next door to :
Holistika : A beautiful hotel, with an amazing vegan/veggie restaurant called Tierra where we ate breakfast every morning, and had one dinner there too. I would consider staying there also (a little more expensive though) they had an amazing “art walk” through the jungle which we loved, the staff was so kind, the food was amazing (have the chilaquiles, and try all their smoothies!)
Casa Vegana : lovely rooftop restaurant, breezy, lovely at lunch, wholefoods plant-based menu, their ‘chorizo’ tacos were amazing. Great fresh juices too.
Pizza Papi Tulum : it was one of the most recommended places in Tulum, I'm always against eating another cuisine in a country with it's own amazing cuisine, but you can't beat a pizza. We actually had it delivered on our first night at the hotel as we were all jetlagged. It was great, not the best pizza of my life, but it hit the spot, I think would be best to eat there!
Vegan Tacos El Bajon : Ok this is a MUST! Best tacos of our entire trip. It's a tiny little hole in the wall, in town, has 3 tables, we ordered the entire menu, and had zero regrets. Fresh, delicious! Have the tostada, it was my favorite! They also have fresh juices from the health food shop next door.
Nomade Beach Club : we loved our day there, it is however very expensive (I think about 80USD minimum spend per person, but if you spend all day, you can spend that on food and drinks, the location, aesthetics, vibes whatever you want to call it are dreamy. Best sunbeds, amazing staff, and delicious food with some great vegan options (their guac is beyond) (of course if you have the budget consider staying there haha)
Real Coconut Kitchen: We loved this spot! Especially for breakfast, we went into their town location first, a must-visit, so peaceful and quiet, spend time in the gardens, it's beautiful. Their smoothies were the best, everything was delicious. We ended up spending a whole day at their beach location, and went to their beach club ( we met a lovely family there which was the best!)
Other places to consider below, M was in charge of restaurant research, so this is all thanks to him! He makes a list and we try and hit as many as we possibly can, but we were only there for 3 nights and you can only eat so much. I'll share some other spots on our list, I can't vouch for them but I'd trust that they'll be great!
La Vegan Taqueria, Suculenta Tamaleria, Vegan Tulum, Laylo Vegan Lounge, Perro no come perro vegan tacos (proper food van! - evenings only), Casa Vegana (all day), Raw Love Town,
Tulum Beach - pricier: Raw Love Beach, Habitas beach bar, Ziggy Beach, Macondo (Middle Eastern plant-heavy menu), Nü Tulum (decent vegan options), Kin Toh (Mayan fine dining.)
ps: We made the mistake to not do more cenotes when being in Tulum, we went to Cenote Crystal on our way out of town, and loved it, but it ended up being the only cenote we did as we then went more in land where there were less. So go explore the cenotes!
BACALAR
We ended up here thanks to you all! Everyone said to skip Tulum and go to Bacalar instead. You were right! It's such a gem. Bacalar is not on the coast, but it is located on the most beautiful crystal blue freshwater lagoon. It's magnificent and such a lovely change from the sea.
We stayed at the hotel Akalki Holistic Centre – they are in the most amazing location, right out of town (10min drive) they have their own secluded spot on the lagoon, where you feel totally alone, they have two amazing decks from where you can swim, with paddle boards and kayaks to use…for the location alone I'd go maybe for the day. I think you can go for a day pass.
Let me explain, the hotel felt like it had huge potential, but was badly managed. The food was just bad, they had almost no veggie options, and what they had was not good, for the price of the hotel (the most expensive one of the trip) I expected so much more. The rooms were fine but lacked attention to detail. I just want to be honest, because it was quite expensive and not worth it in my opinion. One of the problems was that you were out of town (which was also a plus as the lagoon was all to yourself), luckily we had a car to go and eat out, but had we not, we would have struggled with their food alone (plant-based or not the food looked bad regardless…)
Luckily Bacalar had plenty of lovely options, and we had delicious food. Here were our favorites (a lot of them were found thanks to the app Happy Cow if you’re vegan or veggie or simply want to find healthy options, this app is a gem, it has worked for us all over the world)
Agni Vital Kitchen: Some of our favorite food was eaten there, the most amazing staff and experience, they really look after you and you’re served extra food and drinks as part of the experience which is always such a treat. Open kitchen with AC inside and a lovely terrace outside just off the main square. We went there for a delicious lunch (we had so many courses!) and then breakfast on our last day. Amazing juices and smoothies too, all freshly made. These guys were so great.
Mango y Chile: A fun healthy fast food burger joint with beautiful views over the lagoon, we loved it so much we came back twice! Their milkshakes were unreal (as you can tell from L’s face below). Loved all the burgers too. An easy spot for a relaxed dinner or quick lunch (their salads were amazing too!)
Tierra Ixim: One of our favorite finds this whole trip. And also they get the award for the best tortilla of the trip which is saying a lot..! Food made from local produce, they work closely with local corn farmers who grow ancient species of corn. The chef was so wonderful, all open-air kitchen, we saw them make the tortillas, the best one was with the pink corn..! Such a lovely spot too, especially in the evening. They also sold a few local artisan products, and I regret not getting one of the beautiful linen aprons they had there. Must go, it’s quite new and I highly rate it.
In the evenings we loved hanging out on the main square where locals were hanging out with music, and food and we ate many many mango flowers on a stick with Tajin… Found lots of cute little shops too and enjoyed popping into the local grocer for some fresh coconut water.
Up next : Merida and Isla Holbox..! I will share both in part 2 very soon. In the meantime, if you have any questions please ask below and I’ll do my best to answer as many as I can. Make sure to check out my Mexico highlight on Instagram also.
