Introduction
This spring, 12 of us flew to Tulum for a bachelorette weekend. We stayed on Beach Road, visited the best restaurants and clubs, and took a few daytime excursions. The lovely maid of honor planned the entire trip, so all I had to do as a guest was sit back and enjoy!
Getting to Tulum is a bit of a trek involving flying to Cancun Airport, then driving for two hours. There are plenty of shuttle services that take you from the airport to your hotel. We used USA Transfers.
I’d never seen an airport that was more crowded or geared towards tourists. Immediately upon exiting the secure area of the airport, you’re bombarded with different companies trying to sell you tours and transportation. There are two Margaritavilles in the Cancun airport (that I know of) and they’re packed.
The two hour drive to Beach Road was smooth. You’ll know you’re there when you arrive on a sandy street surrounded on both sides by hotels, clubs, restaurants and boutiques.
Table of contents
Restaurants/Clubs
Because a lot of the popular restaurants are also clubs, I’ve grouped restaurants and nightlife into one category.
Must try
Casa Jaguar has a very cool vibe. Dining there is like dining in the middle of a jungle. The restaurant is completely outdoors, very dimly lit and filled with leafy plants. Throughout our evening, a live DJ spun tropical house.
The food at Casa Jaguar was my favorite. The Rib eye a la parrilla and Costillas a la leña (slow cooked pork ribs) were standout – in both cases, the meat was so tender and paired with rich, amazing sauces.
A few of the girls did mezcal shots that came paired with crunchy crickets.
After dinner, we made our way to the back of the restaurant where a small crowd was dancing around the DJ. There were a few dining tables being used for bottle service, but the club area of the restaurant was small and intimate – it felt almost like you were dancing in the backyard at a house party.
Bagatelle was the best food and club experience of the trip. The service was top notch and our server was incredibly attentive. They played the best music out of all the places we went.
The main dining room is open air and opens straight onto the beach where there’s a pool, cabanas, day beds and lounge seating. We had two daybeds for 12 guests, with a $1,200 minimum, which we hit quickly. Compared with most of the other venues in Tulum, the style of Bagatelle is European.
The European-centric menu was good. It wasn’t 5-stars, but it was a nice change of pace from all the great Mexican food we had been having. I don’t know about you, but sometimes when I travel, I struggle with having to eat the same type of cuisine meal after meal.
The servers did a great job of creating a fun atmosphere for all the beach guests. They regularly came out to dance or pull guests up to take shots straight from the bottle. They didn’t hesitate to push everyone to drink more. The upsell here was significant, but it wasn’t offputting. Clearly it was successful – we ended up spending 2x our minimum getting more bottles and shots than we had originally planned because we were having so much fun. This was the only place where they did a great job of making you feel like you were part of one collective crowd.
The showmanship was top notch – the cabana next to us (a table of Germans) ordered a massive Dom Perignon parade, which was brought out with a server on a moped, sparklers, a German flag and smoke being sprayed from a massive blaster.
While they had told us our reservation was only 2.5 hours long, they let us stay throughout the afternoon and we never felt rushed.
Rosa Negra was another very fun spot. We had dinner there on our last night and were seated at a table right next to a large window. The pictures on the website don’t do the restaurant justice – it had a great dimly lit atmosphere and fun vibe.
The servers were attentive and also good at creating a lively vibe. Periodically, they handed out lit sparklers and encouraged everyone to stand up on their chairs and dance. The music was good and the food was solid.
Fun, but not essential
Papaya Playa Project Beach Club
We came to the Papaya Playa Project Beach Club for dancing after dinner.
When you walk through the gates, the first thing you see is a mini open-air market with vendors selling snacks, clothes and jewelry. Interactive art installations are peppered around the stalls. Walking through the bar and the restaurant takes you to the club, which has a large central dance floor. Bottle service tables line the edge of the dance floor and are on the mezzanine above (where we were). Behind the dancefloor, you can walk straight out onto the beach. While the water is blocked off (and guarded), you can walk on the sand and lay out on loungers after grabbing a drink at the beach bar. It’s a pretty cool experience.
The music was tropical house and it was definitely a more mellow vibe than we had hoped for. It wasn’t a place where you’d feel particularly amped up.
Would skip
The Tulum outpost of the Tribeca NYC bar is one of the most popular spots on Beach Road, but our experience there was the worst of the trip. It started when we were told we had a required minimum spend, even though prior email conversations with the reservationist confirmed we didn’t. The bouncer told us there was a $150 minimum per person, then the hostess told us he was mistaken and the minimum was actually $250 per person.
On a Friday night in a group of 12, we didn’t think it was likely we could find another place to eat, so we bit the bullet. Once seated, the service was consistently terrible throughout the evening. It took forever for our order to be taken and to get the check at the end of the night. The food was decent, but not as good as any of the other restaurants we went to.
We struggled to hit the minimum even with a 4 bottle champagne parade and had to take an extra unopened bottle home. The delivery of the parade was disappointing. They handed out a handful of sparklers, then tried to light sparklers attached to the bottles, but when they wouldn’t light, they gave up and just served the champagne instead. This seems like a minor issue, but when you’re being forced to pay a few thousand more dollars than you expected, you want at least a few details right.
All of that aside, the vibe is cool, although not as cool as Casa Jaguar. Gitano channels a similar jungle vibe, but the music is a bit too loud and the area we were seated in was cramped and poorly ventilated, making it really hot.
After prime dinnertime, the center of the restaurant becomes a club, and on our way out we spent a few minutes on the dancefloor.
Culture
Tour of Tulum Archaeological Site and Cenote Taak Bi Ha
Anyone who knows me knows I hate doing anything in the morning, but getting up at 6:45 am for this tour was definitely worth it.
At 7:30 am, our tour guide picked us up in a private bus and drove us 20 minutes to the Archaeological Site. Because it was so early, the site was basically empty. The ruins sat across a large swath of land, which overlooked the beach. The guide gave us a quick history lesson as he took us around the ruins.
Next, he drove us 20 minutes away to the cenote. Instructing us to leave everything except for our swimsuits, towels and a couple of phones for the group, we followed him to a steep and narrow staircase leading into a cave. Inside was a beautiful pool of water. Once again, because it was relatively early in the day, we were the only ones there! It was the perfect photo op.
Our guide passed out scuba masks and made us follow him through the cenote so we could familiarize ourselves with all the narrow parts and deep parts, then let us swim around for as long as we wanted. Our guide described the water as “refreshing”, and while it was initially hard to get in, he was definitely right.
If you’re not a very strong swimmer, you don’t have to worry because all of the guides come equipped with life jackets and will even pull you along on a floatation device if that’s what you prefer.
Tulum Beach
While we were at Bagatelle, we took a dip in the ocean. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a beach quite like it – the sand was SO soft, there were no rocks anywhere close to shore and the water was genuinely warm. The only thing is that the waves were quite aggressive, so get ready to be splashed.
Shopping
Cute boutiques sit between the hotels, restaurants and clubs on Beach Road. Before dinner one evening, I took a quick stroll to check them out. Don’t expect to find any deals. The shops were cute, air conditioned, and high end. A few of them were selling jungle-themed collections of US-based brands like Retrofête.
Private sail and snorkel
I woke up the morning of the snorkeling tour feeling a bit nauseous, so I decided to skip it and sleep in so that I could go out later that night.
The others were picked up and driven to a dock where a private catamaran was supposed to take them on a 5-hour excursion to snorkel, paddle board, drink and eat. Unfortunately, the water was really choppy that day. 20 minutes in, enough of the girls were getting seasick that they decided to turn around to dock in calmer waters. Apparently several other boats had to do the same. They spent the rest of the excursion in calmer waters eating and drinking.
I think the boat staff had asked the group whether anyone was prone to seasickness before heading out, but they definitely failed to communicate the magnitude of the waves that day. Definitely a bit unfortunate, but good to keep in mind if you’re planning on replicating this part of the trip.
Accommodations
The Kanan Tulum
Rooms
The highlights were that the beds were comfortable, the air conditioning worked well and we had a large terrace with plenty of seating that looked out into the ocean. A fun aspect of the room was that by the door, there was a little cubby that could be opened from inside the room and outside so that the staff could leave room service for you.
The drawbacks were that the rooms at the Kanan (and maybe a lot of the hotels in Tulum) were definitely geared towards couples. A massive wooden bathtub stood in the center of our double room. The sink was in the bedroom room and two stalls – one for the toilet and one for the shower – took up one side of the wall.
Both the shower and toilet stalls had sliding glass doors that were frosted in the middle, leaving your head, and feet visible to anyone else in the room. A light, but not fully opaque, curtain could be drawn for added privacy. The sliding glass doors did not go up to the ceiling. The opposite wall of the stall was a window looking straight out onto the hallway! Fortunately, a fully opaque curtain could be drawn closed on that side. While the room was beautiful, it wasn’t exactly the best room to be sharing with friends…or maybe with anyone at all, ha.
Service
The service was decent. We received a really warm welcome at check in and a member of the staff took us directly to our room to point out all of the amenities, but I was surprised by a few of the rules – no stains (including make up) could be left on the towels or you would be charged, and we were only allowed one key per room – a bit tough for a room of four. If you lost it, you had to pay $10 USD. Other than that, the housekeeping was pretty quick and decent.
The hotel struggled to accommodate asks that were outside of their standard service hours. For example, the restaurant doesn’t open until 7:30 am, and prior to that, the most you can get is coffee or tea delivered to your room and maybe only if you request it ahead of time. It seemed like they could only handle a certain capacity of coffee/tea deliveries so if you were one of the later guests to ask, you wouldn’t be able to get it.
One night, music was playing in the restaurant until 2 am and was completely audible in my room even when I had the hotel-provided ear plugs in. On the brightside, the hotel was virtually silent until about 11 am each morning. If you’re on the Tulum party circuit like most other guests, this probably isn’t as much of an issue.
Common spaces
The hotel had several beautiful common spaces that we unfortunately didn’t have much time to spend in. On the ground level, the hotel opens straight out the beach where there are beach chairs and bean bags to lounge on. A lot of other seating is sprinkled throughout space.
The roof of the hotel overlooks the ocean on one side and the jungle on another. You can sit and have drinks in one of the several “nests” perched on top of the views. Definitely a gorgeous space to spend time in.
General tips
It is really hard to manage food allergies in Tulum. A friend on the trip and I both have peanut allergies, and while we shared this with the waiters at each restaurant multiple times, for two of three dinners, there were peanuts in the dishes on the table. The first night at Casa Jaguar, after telling the waiter multiple times we had an allergy, a dish was still served with a peanut sauce (which they at least pointed out to us). But, then we unsuspectingly both ate churros and had an allergic reaction to them when they failed to mention peanuts were one of the ingredients. On the second night at Gitano, we once again let the waiter know ahead of time that we had a peanut allergy, but several dishes were served with peanuts and they only told us once I triple checked with the waiter. At the other table, a waiter told my friend to avoid a dish that had peanuts only to tell her five minutes later that he had been mistaken.
A lot of people will try to extract money from you. It felt like because we were going to the major restaurants and clubs, the staff did not hesitate to try to extract as much money from us as possible. I referenced our experience with Gitano above, but separately, when we were closing out at Bagatelle, our waiter told us that the 15% gratuity did not lead to any gratuity to him. I’m skeptical of this – how does that make sense? Regardless, he was either dishonest, or Bagatelle is being dishonest by not sharing the gratuity fairly amongst its staff.
Restaurants and nightlife are very walkable if you choose a hotel on Beach Road. That was definitely a huge benefit. Not having to worry about organizing transport was helpful, especially since there’s no access to Uber in Tulum. While there are many cabs nearby and some taxi stands around, our group only organized transportation with a tour guide or our hotel. When we needed a shuttle to take us to Papaya Playa Project Beach Club on the last night and didn’t know what time we would be done, our driver gave us their phone number and told us to send them a Whatsapp message 30 minutes before we wanted to be picked up.
You’ll be offered drugs at some popular restaurants. I was surprised that inside a few of the restaurants I was asked whether I was interested in buying cocaine on my way to the bathroom.
Itinerary
After a long day of travel, we checked into the hotel and had dinner at Casa Jaguar.
My favorite day of the trip started with a cultural tour of the Tulum Archaeological Site and the Cenote Taak Bi Ha, followed by a very fun afternoon at Bagatelle, and dinner at Gitano.
The others started the day with a private sail and snorkel, then we kicked off the evening with bachelorette games before dinner at Rosa Negra and bottle service and dancing at Papaya Playa Beach Club.
AMANDA'S CHANTICS 