Must See places and eats

[Mikey von]

We will be headed that way for a playa - tulum - playa trip in a few days. We are staying at Cabanas Copal. We are looking for idea on must see places. We are spending three nights in Tulum. We enjoy walking and will not have a rental car. We do not have an aversion to cabs, buses, or collectivos, but enjoy walking. We are fairly young in our early thirties.

We are planning on checking out the ruins, a massage from Margo for my wife, shopping, and long long long walks on the beach. I am into diving and we are both into snorkeling, but we are not sure if we will be in the water much. I just had a simple surgery that ended up getting infected :mad: and needed more surgery with stitches coming out on Friday. If my stitches are good, I will be in the water. My wife "somehow :p" became unexpectedly pregnant with our third and is about 3 months into it (there goes the tequila :rolleyes:).

I have looked at many a threads and trip reports and have a ideas, but thought I would ask for advice. If you have any good tips on what to do or places we "cannot" miss, we would appreciate it.

[last minute]

Long walks on the beach are definitely in order! From Copal, you can walk either north or south, but you may have to start out on the road. If you want a long walk south, start out on the road and walk south until you are out of the little mini-pueblo there. Once you're near the checkpoint, you can get on the beach and walk for miles and miles! It's beautiful! We walked it (from the south to the north) everyday we were there. If you walk north from Copal, you will eventually get near the ruins. You will have to cut up to the road there too. I don't know; someone on the board with more experience may have to chime in here, but I think you can access the ruins from the beach road?

Speaking of the little mini-pueblo where Copal is situated - you might want to try Trece Lunas for lunch. We had a couple of great meals there, and decent coffee too. Their hours were iffy, but if they're open, they're great!

As for walking into the main part of Tulum - I think that's a long, and not very scenic walk. But it's easy to flag down a cab and it shouldn't be more than 60-70 pesos into town.

[minniemex]

It sounds like you need to relax!! I think you probably have enough planned for your 3 days in Tulum. Walking the beach will take up the rest of your time!:wave:

[mayaflya]

The little pueblo just south of Copal is a lovely low-key destination in itself. We enjoyed walking to Zamas (at the south end of the Pueblita) for breakfast and watching kite surfers, pelicans and fishing/dive boats in the bay, as well as the traffic heading south into the biosphere. After breakfast we'd walk back and watch the small shops open, with their colorful wares...I liked to look for abstract patterns and bright colors to photograph, the wife liked to look at the pareos and skirts and hammocks.

By the time we'd get back it would be time for a nap in the sun on the beach...

[Dale]

We are fairly young in our early thirties.


"Fairly young" :rolleyes::D
Most of us old geezers on this board would love to be "fairly young" again.


Anyway.....I love the isolation of the Sian Kaan beach. It is a "little" hike from Copal...maybe about 6km to the arch, then you have miles and miles of empty beach. I just love that area.


http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a202/Abacodabra/Wavesinthesky.jpg

[Mikey von]

Thanks for the replies! :wave:

Relaxing is definitely in order. We are staying 5 days in playa and will do a tour or two from there.

Zamas is already on our list and we will try and check out Treces Lunas.

I have looked a little into Sian Kaan and it sounds nice. 6 KM (12KM or almost 7.5 miles round trip) will be a little long for my wife to do on top of beach walking. She hikes with me, but that would wear her out. Is it possible to grab a cab out there? How does one get back?

[Dale]

I'm sure you could catch a cab down there, but back may be a problem. I'm not sure.
Someone else will have to chime in on this one. I'm one of the ones that won't go down there without a rental car. :D

[Margoinmexico]

:wave:Look forward to meeting you both! My advise is always to not plan too much and don´t plan anything too far from Tulum! Vacations are for relaxing and reconnecting! :sun: But it is fun to dream about what you MIGHT do!

[Mikey von]

What we are really looking for is long walks on isolated and lonely beaches. Places that look like the one in Dale's pictures. Depending on my how my stitches wounds are healed, I will most likely want to snorkel during the long walks.

[Dale]

What we are really looking for is long walks on isolated and lonely beaches. Places that look like the one in Dale's pictures. Depending on my how my stitches wounds are healed, I will most likely want to snorkel during the long walks.

Not much snorkeling down there, but its beautiful and your stitches can get a lot of sun.....no matter where they are. ;)

[PhyllisB]

What I'd probably do is find a cabbie at some point and make arrangements for him to pick you up at the arch or at a property nearby to take you back. You could take a cab to a property closer to the arch, have some food, start your walk from there, then have the cabbie pick you up at the same spot several hours later. The only problem is that sometimes things come up, and you are on Mexico time, so I don't know how much faith I'd put in a cabbie to be somewhere at the exact time and place down to the minute.

I think Margo knows a few cab drivers that she likes a lot - you might ask her. Copal might also be able to arrange it for you.

La Zebra might be a good place to start out on your walk, but I'm terrible at knowing my distances and remembering where things are. But they have a restaurant -- and if I'm "using" a property to get through to the beach, I like to have a little snack or meal there.

There are also some "beach clubs" too.

Check out todotulum.com for a map.

[PhyllisB]

Also, just an FYI. The Sian Ka'an beaches are not necessarily all pristine and gorgeous. It depends on if there is a property there, and the owners/managers clean the beach. In the deserted areas, there is a lot of trash. It's unfortunate, but I wanted to warn you in advance because some people come back disappointed.

Trash washes up on the beach that comes in from the ocean - maybe from cruise ships, maybe from other sources - and it isn't routinely cleaned up unless there's a property owner around.

There can be cut glass (watch your step!), shoes, plastic bottles, combs, you name it.

Not to dissuade you - there are beautiful stretches of beach past the arch as Dale can attest! And there are properties down there invested in cleaning their beach. But there are also areas that just don't look all that pretty. Just want you to be aware so it isn't a shock when you see it.

Phyllis

[PhyllisB]

For a snorkeling fix, if you're able, you might head to Gran Cenote, if you haven't been there before. It should show up on the todotulum.com map. It's on the road to Coba, maybe 15 minutes from Tulum???

[Dale]

Phyllis is correct in telling you about the trash on the beach. It's not just a Mexico thing. I've seen in on deserted beaches all in the Caribbean. Actually, sometimes you can find some interesting stuff!!! Anyway, we tend to walk until we find a spot that suits us, then I do a little cleanup and landscaping and......Wow!....we have our own private oasis!!!!

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a202/Abacodabra/331f8f2f.jpg


As far a snorkeling, check out Akumal.....Yal Ku and Half Moon Bay

[Mikey von]

I unfortunately know all to well about mans ability to leave trash (or dump it in the ocean and have it wash up) all over Earth. We live, camp, hike, hunt, and fish in the beautiful mountains of North Eastern California. It amazes me after bushwacking (tough tough work) through thick manzanita for 4 hours to bag the peak of some unnamed hill or mountain that I find trash at the top :mad:. It happens an untold number of times.

After I got my boys in bed last night, I did some searching. There was a thread about snorkeling off the beaches in Sian Kaan. Someone (i think it was margo) said something about the reef being "discovery channel" nice. Is this not true?

The cabbie seems like a good idea. We understand "Mexico" time (we have been to costa rica, tahiti, and galapagos). It seems like it is more of an non-US time rather than just "Mexico" time. We just want to be safe and not have to sleep in the jungle, lol. :)

This is my first trip to Caribbean side of the tropics. Brianne (my wife) has never been to Mexico, but has done a cruise to Jamaica.

[PhyllisB]

Oh good, sounds like you'll do just fine then, and you'll like the SK.

I don't know about the beaches further down in the Sian Ka'an, but along the main stretch of Tulum beaches the reef is pretty far out.

Drop a PM to Margo -- or maybe she'll weigh in here if she isn't having too much fun with Beachreader! -- she can provide some guidance. I think some people have a boat take them out to the reef. But in general, the surf in Tulum is rough and not really ideal for snorkeling.

Snorkeling is VERY good much further south, towards Punta Allen & Xcalak.

[Margoinmexico]

There is great snorkeling in Tulum, as I am fond of saying.....

Not much time right now, but will comment more later...

AND YES; I did have a bit too much fun last night....!:beerchug:

Peace

[Mikey von]

OK we are off on a 3.5 hour car ride to drop the kids off at grandmas and then another hour to the airport! we will be in tulum after a few days in playa.

[Margoinmexico]

OK we are off on a 3.5 hour car ride to drop the kids off at grandmas and then another hour to the airport! we will be in tulum after a few days in playa.

SEE YOU VERY SOON!

Just a note, Ida was nice enough to kind of clean the beaches for us, the trash is now up toward the dunes.....many of the beaches are pristine white sand right now.....but some people got a lot of sea grass wash up in the bargain.....;)