I recently traveled to Tulum with one of my best friends, Kim for one of our “BFF Trips”. We’ve done these occasionally since college when we realized we both had a desire to travel both near and far. We’ve done the Bahamas, the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Miami, Los Angeles/Santa Monica and New Orleans. We had to take a little intermission during the pandemic but now we are working to make up for lost time. This year we decided to go to Tulum, Mexico. Tulum has been on our list for a while and we decided that we would go in November right before the holiday hustle and bustle. In this post, I thought it would be fun to journal and share what I spent in one of our days in Tulum. Here we go!
Saturday, November 18
BREAKFAST
We woke up with big plans to visit the Tulum ruins. At least that’s what we discussed the evening prior but after waking up we decided that we just wanted to spend time at the beach most of the day. So we got dressed to start our day and started with breakfast at DelCielo. I ordered the “English” which is 2 eggs sunny side up served with bacon, baked sweet beans, roasted potatoes and our homemade pork sausage, a Gitano iced coffee and the Coco lime brioche French toast to split with Kim.
Total: Around 432 pesos (this doesn’t tip)
In Mexico, we found that it was customary to tip around 10-15%.
After breakfast, we popped into a few local shops but didn’t buy anything because it all seemed a bit overpriced. Once we were done growing, we drove towards the Tulum strip. We parked in a nearby parking lot that seemed pretty safe since it had a few attendants.
Total: 200 pesos
ALL DAY BEACH ACCESS
The day before when we were riding around Tulum we parked at a beach club called Bagatelle, we decided that we would give them a try for our beach day. Bagatelle requires one entree and one drink per person. The beach club has beach loungers, a pool, a restaurant, larger sections/cabanas and an overall nice vibe. We arrived there around 10 am and got loungers right on the front row with a beautiful view of the beach. We stayed there until around 5 pm so we definitely got our money’s worth. While there, we ordered about 6 drinks, water, the Ravioles (truffle ravioli) and Gambas marinées (prawns). The food was sooo good! It was definitely one of my favorite meals on the trip.
Total: 2,075.11 pesos (includes gratuity and tax)
TACOS, TACOS, TACOS
After we left the beach club we had a taste for the tacos that we had a few days before so we walked a few blocks down to Pinches Taco Shop. These were some of the best tacos that I’ve ever had – so simple and authentic. I wasn’t very hungry since we just had a full day at Bagatelle so I ordered just two tacos, the pastor and pescado tacos. I also had a passionfruit cocktail – this made me realize that I may not be a passionfruit fan, I didn’t like the cocktail much and found the taste a bit overwhelming. Pinches is a must visit if you go to Tulum and please please order the guacamole.
Total: Around 400 pesos (this didn’t include tax+tip)
CLOSE CALL!
Our final adventure for the day was venturing through downtown Tulum to find empanadas and churros. We found a few empanada and churro spots on Google that seemed promising but when we arrived at the address for the empanadas we could not find the location. We drove around a little bit more trying to find it but got nervous and gave up, since it was getting dark we didn’t want to stay out wandering for too long.
We decided to pursue the churros since we couldn’t find empanadas and decided that if we couldn’t find them within a reasonable amount of time then we would go ahead back to the hotel. We drove and drove and finally spotted the churros on a small food cart (Churros la lupita tulum.) The churros were being sold by a sweet family – a husband, wife and young son. The son was actually acting as the translator. We ordered the assorted churros that had the white cream, chocolate and dulce de leche dripped over them. We tasted one of the churros and immediately melted, they were the absolute best dessert. They were crispy on the outside but the inside was soft and sweet yet – they were made perfectly! Since they were so freaking good, we decided we needed another batch, so yes we jumped out the car to get another order of churros. We came back so fast they thought something was wrong. LMAO!
Total: 50 pesos I paid for an order and Kim paid for one
After an adventure of a day and being in a churro coma, we decided to go back to the hotel. At this point, it was very dark and we were ready to get back. On the way back it was so dark that we actually passed our hotel entrance a few times because the hotel didn’t have clear signage and that was very problematic during the dark. This was our first time driving back in the dark so we were a bit unnerved when we couldn’t find the entrance. We finally found it and were so very happy to be back in our space. We showered and hopped in the bed for some well-deserved rest.
Total spent for the day: Around 3,157.11 pesos or $181.99 USD
This was one of our most expensive days. Most days we spent around half this amount. In my opinion, we spent more in Tulum than I thought we would but I think that’s because of where we stayed (wellness resort – Wakax Hacienda) and where we went. If we stayed at a pretty simple hotel and ate in the town of Tulum more we would’ve probably spent on average $50 USD per day. We also wanted to do some of the wellness activities in Tulum but found those pretty pricey, so if that’s on your bucket list, bring extra cash!
