Even Miami, not one my favorite cities list, has hostels or budget hotels in South Beach.  Part of what makes the public beach areas of Tulum (Sante Fe and El Paraiso) so great is that they have some jungle realness.  There is no development on those beaches.  Further south with the fancy resorts that all of wealthy Brooklyn goes to, the resort development is meant to resemble ecotouristic jungle buildings. That part of the beach is technically public too, but there is no entry from the main road so it is basically private.  This is the Tulum of the New York Times. The hostels of Tulum are all in El Centro, the downtown. People who stay in El Centro use Sante Fe and El Paraiso.  This is the other Tulum.  El Centro resembles an ad hoc mishmosh of a traditional Mexican puebla with the architecturally disastrous mistakes of an unplanned town thriving on energy and a constant stream of new backpackers.  Power lines all over the place, no abandoned storefronts, clubs, bars, cafes, street food and bikes.

El Centro

El Centro has a main strip, Avenida Tulum, and a restaurant row of sorts.  The shops mostly cater to locals or perhaps I just don’t see the tourist stores anymore.  There are some tourist places to book excursions and buy surf gear.  Everything else is up for grabs.  You will find locals and gringos mixing.  Some restaurants seem like they are trying to be trendy, some have the typical “tourist trap” thing with the giant menu outside and guys on the street wooing you in, and other restaurants are classic old school Mexican joints.

Before staying in El Centro, all I knew was that Tulum was hipster Brooklyn on the Mexican beach and it was prohibitively expensive.  When I found Hostel Che Tulum for $11 USD/night, I was intrigued.  The photos on Hostelworld looked awesome.  What I discovered was a second, undocumented Tulum.  The prices in El Centro are in line with Mexico City and other Mexican towns I have visited.  (That’s a good thing). It’s very affordable.  The “tourist trap” restaurants I went to were literally fucking great.  I cannot think of more literary words to describe this; maybe “surprisingly good”, but that doesn’t have the effect of the incredible satisfaction I experienced.  One place made perfect fried eggs and mango smoothie for breakfast and the other place I went to twice.  They have two menus: one for Italian food and one for Mexican food.  I had a Caesar salad and shrimp ajillo the first time.  The second time I had an avocado salad and seafood linguine pasta.  You know as a Staten Islander, I know good Italian food.  These guys aced it completely.  At the same time, Mexican-Americans in the US often make great food from other cultures and this experience just gave me more reasons to love Mexican culture and people.

Resort Zone

I went to the Papaya Playa Project’s Full Moon Party to meet up with Amanda and Greg and to dance the night away.  Amanda warned me that it was soooo Brooklyn the night before.  The Brooklyn vibe did not disappoint.  I’m quite glad I went because I got to experience the Tulum that Amanda and Greg were living in.

Tulum’s resort zone has a nestled in the jungle vibe with a unique element: between the entryways to the resorts are bars and restaurants tucked into the books.  It ends up creating a seemless strip, another downtown avenue.  There are no sidewalks and the road is very narrow.  I saw a car accident on my way there.  The taxi driver told me it happens all the time.  The drink prices at the full moon party were about twice what we paid in El Centro.

The next evening, we dined at the award-winning Hartwood. The New York Times busted a load on this place a while back.  The food prices are in line with a completely different economy, that of Manhattan.  I found the pricing incredibly offensive.  Someone is making incredible amounts of money from this venture.  Needless to say, it is affordable to the people it attracts.  Most importantly, the food was incredible, gourmet and extremely well-prepared.

We did some bar hopping afterwards.  We had specialty cocktails.  We ended up in a bar that has a cenote in it.  It resembled a very pretty pond.  Pretty cool concept.  Inside was a mix of locals and Tourist Hipsters. 

But Cancun Has Two Cancuns Too, You Aren’t Pointing Out Anything Prolific

Yes, Header Text, you are correct. 

Thank you.

Ok well listen, my point might not be prolific but it is important to point out that there is a public bus in the Cancun Zona Hotelera that takes you to El Centro.  Even though the two zones are not integrated into the fabric of a city, they are connected via public transportation. 

Fine Jon, worth pointing out.

Tulum has no public connections between El Centro and the Resort Zone.  Not even the collectivos (vans) go there, just taxis.  It's two completely different towns.

(Sorry for the fight with Header Text above. Sometimes he likes to start fights with me and it’s easier to just agree and make my point rather than fight.)

When staying in El Centro, you can rent a bike to get around town and to get to the beach.  The ride isn’t pretty and is sometimes on the main avenue which turns into the highway.  There is a bike path on one side the eventually starts. It winds around oddly like an obstacle course, as if a straight path might not keep cyclists on their toes?

The food available on Sante Fe beach is remarkably affordable.  Quesadillas at the Sante Fe beachfront restaurant are $140 MXN pesos.  That’s about $7 USD for beachfront food.  It’s double the price in El Centro but about half the price of quesadillas on any beach in the US or Europe (can you get quesadillas on the beach in Europe?  Euro beach culture can be really snotty...)

The best part of Sante Fe beach is the view of the ruins.  As mentioned earlier, there is no development. It’s a natural beach and you feel like you are in a place removed from the rest of the world.  It’s also not that big.  When Amanda and Greg came to meet me and my hostel friends, I spotted those gringo motherfuckers right away.

My next beach stop will be Playa del Carmen.  I’m very curious to see how this more urban beach city handles its  public beach situation and if there is any beach in Playa were there aren’t giant hotels behind you.

Tulum Beach Photos