THE IDEAL TULUM ITINERARY FOR THREE TO FOUR DAYS.
Tulum – Mexico’s not-so-secret treasure trove of sun-soaked beaches, Instagrammable ruins, and more yoga mats than you can shake a chia seed at.
We weren’t sure what to expect from our visit to Tulum, but in the end, we had a great time. And this guid pulls together all we learnt about how to spend a varied three to four days in Tulum.
We tend to travel on a budget, so, this itinerary is more tailored to that sort of travel style.
Read on to find out how to get the most from your visit to Tulum and the best Tulum itinerary for three or four days.
Tulum top picks 😍
Short on time? Some of our top recommendations for Tulum are:
Accommodation 🏨
- BUDGET – Casa Abanico or The Free Hostel
- MID-RANGE – Huaya Camp
- LUXURY – Hotel Shibari
Tours & Activities🎫
Transport 🚌
Take the Ado bus from Cancun, Bacalar, or Valladolid.
Is Tulum still worth visiting?
There’s a lot out there about Tulum. Has it gone past it’s sell by date? Has it sold its soul to the mass tourism devil? You might be left wondering, is it still worth visiting? Certainly we were when we crafted our Mexico itinerary. In the end, we decided to visit.
What we found, is that Tulum is a town of two halves. On one side, the beach clubs have taken over much of the water front. Bars and restaurants near to the beach are expensive and cater to an upmarket crowd. Downtown however still has some bohemian backpacker charm.
The beaches are glorious and the nightlife is some of the best in the Yucatan peninsular. Overall, we do think that Tulum is worth visiting. Find out a bit more below.
Here’s why we think you should visit Tulum
1/ For nightlife – Tulum has excellent bars, restaurants and late night spots
2/ The gorgeous beaches – white sand and palm trees
3/ Tulum has an extraordinary number of beautiful Cenotes
4/ As a base to explore elsewhere (if you don’t mind paying higher prices for accommodation)
5/ For yoga retreats
6/ If you want a beach resort and don’t want to leave the resort
And some reasons why you may not want to visit Tulum
1/ You don’t like big and busy towns
2/ If it bothers you that downtown is far from the beach
3/ You don’t want to hire bikes or take transport
4/ You want a budget vacation – it is possible to visit Tulum on a budget, but it is geared more towards expensive bars and restaurants. Find our more here.
5/ You’re looking for “authentic Mexico”.
Is Tulum expensive?
Tulum is more expensive than other areas in the Yucatan Peninsular and in Mexico. You can expect to pay around $40 per night for budget accommodation and way more for luxury places.
Prices for food and drink in upmarket bars and restaurants are comparable to New York. And, beach clubs in Tulum often charge an entrace fee of $50 – $100. But, there are ways to enjoy Tulum on a budget.
If you want to know more about visiting Tulum on a budget, you can find more in our guide here.
Can you take a day trip to Tulum from Cancun?
Many people consider taking a day trip to Tulum from Cancun. Honestly, this is really not a great idea – it takes at least two hours to get from Cancun to Tulum by road. That’s a lot of driving time and not much time to see Tulum. Plus, Tulum is a big place and there’s lots to do, too much for one day. So don’t do Tulum a disservice and be sure to visit for more than one day.
How many days do I need in Tulum?
We think that an ideal time to spend in Tulum is three to four days. If you want to take a day trip from Tulum, then four days is really the minimum.
It works very well as a beach town to enjoy for three to four days, or longer if you have time. We had one month in the Yucatan Peninsula, so chose to limit our time in Tulum, but you could happily enjoy a full week here, or more.
Some people choose to use Tulum as a base to explore the wider Yucatan Peninsular.
This is an option, for example if you want to be on the beach but explore Chichen Itza and other areas of the Yucatan using tours, but as Tulum is quite expensive it may not be the best base for everyone. This blog post focuses more on how you can spend three to four days in Tulum and the immediate surroundings.
Below you can find a suggested three and four day Tulum itinerary.
Three Day Tulum Itinerary
Tulum Itinerary Day One: Hire bicycles to explore Tulum Ruins and the Beach Area
Hiring a bicycle in Tulum
Hiring a bicycle is one of the best ways to explore and get around Tulum. For the most part, there are really great cycle lanes. Especially between Tulum and the beach and along the beach roads, cycle lanes make being on a bike feel very safe.
Some hostels and hotels in Tulum offer free or cheap bicycle hire. Alternatively, you can get them from most hire shops (there are lots in town) for around 150 Mexican Pesos Per day. That’s around $8. Once you have your bike, it’s easy to lock them up around town, at the beach and move around easily. Be sure to ask for a helmet, technically it’s a legal requirement to wear one on a bike in Mexico.
Visiting Tulum Ruins
First cycle down to the Tulum ruins. You can take your bike right up to the ruins entrance, past the ticket barriers. It’s best to park at the entrance as you can then grab your bike when you exit and head straight down to the beach for more exploring.
We had read that the Tulum ruins were a “must visit”, but we were a little disappointed by the experience if we are completely honest and wouldn’t recommend it if you were only in Tulum for one or two days.
There’s very limited information (just a few boards), so it’s not the best visitor experience as you walk around. We probably spent around 30 minutes walking around too, so it doesn’t take long. However, if you do have three to four days in Tulum and if you’re not planning to visit any other Mayan ruins in the area, then you may want to explore Tulum ruins on your first day.
Eat at a Taqueria
A taqueria is a restaurant or kiosk specializing in (you’ve guessed it) tacos. What’s great about taquerias is that you can find them anywhere in Mexico and they offer inexpensive meals. Even Tulum, which seems to be full of expensive restaurants offering all sorts of weird and wonderful concoctions, has many good old fashioned taquerias. The food in taquerias is probably the most authentic offering in Tulum.
Some of the most popular in downtown Tulum are Taqueria Honorio, Taqueria El Sabor, and our personal favorite Taqueria La Chiapaneca where we enjoyed seemingly endless tacos and beers for around $13. Expect to pay around 20/30 Pesos per Taco and 40 pesos for a beer.
Bateys Bar
Batey’s bar is a stalwart of Tulum, so much so that friends of ours who visited Tulum nine years ago remember going to this bar. On first look, you might think Batey’s is a bit of a dive bar. In fact, this is what attracted us to enter – John loves a dive bar and they were serving beer on draft.
However, Batey’s isn’t exactly what it seems from the outside. In fact, what’s quite clever about Batey’s is that it attracts an eclectic crowd. It offers something unique in that it appeals to men (with the aforementioned dive bar aesthetic and the draft beer), but also appeals to women with an array of cocktails and the famous homemade sugar cane which is the basis of their house Mojito.
The prices are reasonable, food good and the atmosphere is always fun. Especially with live music kicking off at 19:00. Come for one, stay for a few. It’s that sort of place. For your first night, be sure to visit Bateys for fun times!
Tulum Itinerary Day Two: Yoga and Cenotes
Yoga class in Tulum
It wouldn’t really be a visit to Tulum without checking out a Yoga class. For many years, Tulum has been synonymous with yogi culture. Today, you can find many different options to suit yogis in Tulum. I loved the Om Colletive Studio – a donation based yoga class. But there are lots of others, such as Jungle Yoga and classes held in the lovely Shala at Huaya Camp.
If you want something more “out there” you also find millions of different spiritual ceremonies. Sound healing, flotation therapy and even toad ceremonies can be found in Tulum – check out Bufo Alvarius Sanctuary for more information.
If yoga isn’t quite your thing, but you want to do something active, you can find a few gyms around Tulum, including the cleverly named Jungle Gym and a Crossfit studio too.
Brunch at Burrito Amor
Burrito Amor is one of our favourite down town brunch spots in Tulum. It’s a really lovely aesthetic cafe serving vegan, gluten free and healthy juices. Their coffee selection is also interesting, including CBD coffees and various other unusual ways to serve up a caffeine hit.
Tulum cenotes
There are many cenotes in Tulum, I wanted to write about the best cenotes in Tulum but the reality is, it’s very hard to see them all during one vacation. When it comes to visiting Cenotes in Tulum, we would recommend picking one, or maybe two, but don’t try to see them all!
Personally, we prefer the smaller cenotes in Tulum as opposed to Ojo Rojo or Gran Cenote. The larger ones tend to be crowded and quite overpriced. Whereas the smaller cenotes in Tulum are very serene, uncrowded and feel like better value for money. The larger cenotes are also out of town. Instead, we recommend sticking to the closer ones.
If you’ve hired a bicycle you can get to Cenote Cristal and Cenote Esconido fairly easily, or you can take a Colectivo bus there. These two cenotes are across the road from each other and cost 150 Pesos. They are both “open cenotes”, meaning at ground level and they have hammocks and picnic benches in the grounds, so you can spend a few hours there relaxing with drinks.
Tulum Itinerary Day Three: Relax at a beach club
Beach Clubs in Tulum
If you want to spend a full day on the beach in Tulum, a beach club is the best way to do it. That way, you can enjoy the best spots on the beach from the comfort of a sun lounger and with a cocktail in hand. Some of the most popular beach clubs in Tulum are Rosa Negra, Papaya Playa Project and Mia Beach Club (part of a Selina hostel.)
If you’re on a budget in Tulum, it may be best to skip expensive beach clubs. Many along the coast charge a cover fee (of around $75), or impose a minimum spend (normally around $30 – $50 per person.) There are a couple that allow you to enjoy facilities so long as you’re buying food and drink, with no minimum spend, but the prices are still high. Coco Beach Club and Ziggys are two examples of free beach clubs in Tulum.
Salsa at Palma Central
Palma Central is a collection of food trucks and drinks stalls in Down Town Tulum. It’s a fun place to visit of an evening and popular with families, as there’s a great selection of food to suit everyone and a kids area. However, on Tuesday’s things get a little more spicy with salsa dancing.
If you happen to be in Tulum on a Tuesday, we would recommend going along to Palma Central, enjoying a few cocktails and getting into the salsa spirit.
Four Day Tulum Itinerary
Tulum Itinerary Day Four: Take a day trip
If you have four days in Tulum, you’ll probably be ready to take a day trip out of the town. Tulum is really well placed for a fair few day trips. Three of the best are:
1/ Coba Archeological Site for History Lovers – take a colectivo to visit Coba ruins, a large Mayan ruin which is really popular to visit but less crowded that Chichen Itza and a little more interesting than Tulum ruins.
2/ Sian Kaan Biosphere for Nature Lovers – find our more about visiting this beautiful nature reserve from Tulum here
3/ Akumal for Beach Lovers – Akumal is a beach town and nature reserve 30 minutes from Tulum, known as an area to swim with turtles. You can find our more about Akumal here.
How to get to Tulum
You may have heard about the Mayan Train – a project to connect Tulum and various other tourist sites in the Peninsular by rail. Currently the only section of the rail open is from Campeche to Cancun, but in 2024 further sections should open up. There is also an international airport due to open in Tulum too.
Until then, you have a few options. Firstly, you can hire a car to get to Tulum – just be sure to check that your hotel has parking.
The drive should take around 90 minutes in clear traffic. Otherwise, you can take an Ado Bus from Cancun Airport directly to Tulum. Buses run regularly and take around two to three hours. You don’t need to book, but you can do so via the Ado Bus website.
If you’d prefer to book bus tickets in your own currency, you can also use Bus Bud – a handy booking site that operates for all Ado buses in Mexico.
Tulum is also well connected by Ado Bus to Cancun, Bacalar and Valladolid. Colectivo buses (local mini buses) run between Tulum and Playa del Carmen too.
Finally, you can take a taxi from Cancun airport, or book a group private transfer through Get Your Guide.
Where to stay in Tulum
In Tulum, you have to choose whether to stay at the beach in the hotel zone or down-town. Budget travelers and anyone who wants to be close to down-town nightlife should choose the town, but others may prefer to be close to the beach.
BUDGET:
We stayed at an excellent B&B style hotel in town called Casa Abanico. It looks just like a house from the outside, but has a few budget rooms and a pretty garden. Bonus, there’s also free water and coffee (excellent for budget travellers in Tulum.)
Another option is to pick a hostel, there are many with dorm room beds for less than $10 or private rooms available for around $40 per night. Try The Free Hostel (so called because it offers free drinks every night) or The Chill Inn, a pretty hostel popular with solo travellers.
MID RANGE:
Tulum offers a number of mid-range options, some near to the beach and others closer to town. Two good options are Selina Tulum, which offers downtown accommodation but with a swimming pool and excellent facilities. For something a little different, Huaya Camp, is a boutique eco camp offering yoga classes and wellness activities.
LUXURY:
Luxury hotels are plentiful in Tulum. But, the one that stands out from the crowd is the spectacular Hotel Shibari. A 5 star, immaculately designed hotel near to the beach. Not only is it close to the water front, but it has it’s very own Cenote. Not something that many hotels can claim.
Where to next in the Yucatan?
- Cancun – beaches & food
- Tulum – beaches, yoga and nightlife
- Holbox – island paradise
- Bacalar – paddle boarding and relaxing
- Celestun – flamingos & laid back beach
- Progreso – fun beach town
- Sian Ka’an – nature reserve
- Merida – gastronomic city & culture
- Campeche – glamorous historical city
- Valladolid – history & culture
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3 responses to “Budget-Friendly Tulum Itinerary for 3-4 Days”
[…] If you’re looking for alternative places to enjoy the beach in and around Campeche, you can try Progreso (near to Merida). Or, of course the coast of Quintana Roo such as Holbox and Tulum. […]
[…] Assuming you land in Cancun, we recommend getting out of the city as soon as possible and heading to Tulum – a short bus ride or drive away. Find out more about how to get to Tulum from Cancun here. […]
[…] miles from the town and many bars are in fact overpriced. But, nearby Sian Ka’an was special, the cenotes out of this world and we found a few bars and restaurants that we loved (and on a budget […]