Tulum’s spectacular coastline – with all its confectioner-sugar sands, cobalt water and balmy breezes – makes it one of the top beaches in Mexico. Where else can you get all that and a dramatically situated Mayan ruin? There’s also excellent cave and cavern diving, fun cenotes and a variety of lodgings and restaurants to fit every budget.

From Cancun, it is only a two-hour bus ride to Tulum. Some may be put off by the fact that the town center, where the really cheap eats and sleeps are found, sits right on the highway, making the main drag feel more like a truck stop than a tropical paradise. But rest assured that if Tulum Pueblo isn’t to your liking, you can always head to the coast and find that tranquil, beachside bungalow, though it’s gonna cost you.

We took the comfortable ADO bus from Cancun to Tulum, with our hotel located only five minutes walking distance from the Tulum bus terminal. Cost: 190MXP ($13.90) per person. It was a Sunday morning when we arrived in Tulum and we tried to find a laundromat to wash our increasing pile of laundry but to no avail. As we were leaving Tulum early the next day, we would not be able to get back our laundry in time. And also most of the laundromats were not open on Sunday.

Tulum ruins

The. number one site at Tulum has got to be the archeological ruins. How to get there? We hopped onto a minivan en route to Playa del Carmen and the van dropped us along the highway where we walked in to the main entrance. Alternatively, you can get a private taxi from your hotel to the ruins, but that would cost more.

The ruins of Tulum preside over a rugged coastline, a strip of brilliant beach and green-and-turquoise waters that’ll leave you floored. It’s true the extents and structures are of a modest scale and the late-post-Classic design is inferior to those of earlier, more grandiose projects – but I can imagine the ancient Maya occupants must have enjoyed every sunrise at this sacred site. In the past, visitors could walk down the stairs to access the private beach at Tulum, but now it is out of bounds to all, probably due to some mishap which happened.

The ceremonial complex of Tulum, built on a 12 metre high limestone cliff, was surrounded on three sides by fortification walls, while the fourth side faces the Caribbean Sea. Indeed, the very name Tulum is a colonial one and means ‘wall’. The original local name may have been Zama meaning ‘dawn’ in reference to the site’s position facing east across the sea.

Just like Cancun, there are several cenotes sprinkled around the Tulum area. It is more convenient to go on an arranged tour with transport included or to have your own rental car. Since we did not have a rental car nor enough time, we skipped the cenote and decided to chill by the beach instead.

We walked from the ruins along a small road to one of the nearby hotls along the sea. Having lunch at the hotel restaurant allowed us to enjoy the deck chairs at Villa Pescadores Tulum (Address: Carretera Tulum Ruinas a, Av. Boca Paila Km.0.5, 77780). One night at this hotel cost $360 per room, and they have direct access to the beach. Our lunch cost us 700MXP (S$49) with two main courses and two drinks. After which, by showing the receipt that we paid for lunch to the staff, we lounged at the deck chairs by the beach. We felt safe to leave our belongings there and also went to take a swim in the sea. The waters felt so relaxing. There were people playing beach volleyball and others taking a stroll along the beach.

We had a relaxing afternoon by the beach. After spending a couple of hours swimming and suntanning, we went back to our hotel. The next day, we got ready to cross the border to Belize, where you can read more in the next article. If you are staying in Cancun, you can also choose to visit Tulum on a day trip, with total journey time about four hours for the return trip. Do make time to visit the Tulum ruins and one cenote, of which you can arrange with a local tour agency to reduce the hassle.