Have you watched the series Narcos: Mexico on Netflix? Well, that’s how I got more familiar with this North American country and it certainly tainted my perception. Back then, I used to relate it with everything I saw in this series. Fast forward to the present day, I just can’t stop reminiscing about our recent vacation here.
My husband and I spent 5 days in Mexico in April of this year and just fell in love with this country. It’s enormous and endlessly captivating. If you really wanted to soak in the different things it has to offer, you could go for 1-2 weeks. Even that may not be enough depending on what you want to do. But we could only afford 5 days in Mexico, given our busy work schedules. But those 5 days were just so incredible that we didn’t realize how quickly it all got over.
Anyway, enough about that. Here’s our 5-day itinerary covering all the nitty-gritties to help you plan your travel. We split our trip between Cancun and Tulum and spent the first 3 days in Cancun.
Day 1: Reach Cancun and check in at the resort
The first question in my mind when planning the trip was where to stay. Having heard our friends’ experiences and read in a few blogs, we decided that staying in the hotel zone would be the safest and most convenient option. This is the safest zone in Cancun for tourists, plus it’s closer to all the nightclubs and flea markets that you’ll most likely end up visiting. So we stayed at the Grand Fiesta Americana Coral Beach Resort and man, oh man, we just loved it. The property is stunning and they have everything you can possibly imagine for a vacation. They have 3 outdoor pools, all big enough. There’s plenty of restaurants and cute cafes for food and alcohol. The beach has private access, and is just a few steps away from the resort. They have events every other evening for the hotel guests.
We stayed in an ocean front room and couldn’t have asked for anything better. Day 1 was all about relaxing in our resort and soaking in the incredible views of the bay. During the day, we indulged ourselves in food and drinks, followed by pool therapy and a nice evening walk around the beach. We hung out at the beach for sunset and it was just so surreal. On our first night in the resort, they had live music so we just stayed back and decided to enjoy the whole vibe.
Day 2: Day trip to Chichen Itza and Valladoid
This was one of the most awaited days of our trip, because who doesn’t want to check out a wonder of the world? There’s many ways of getting to Chichen Itza from Cancun. Easiest is renting a car and driving there on your own. That gives you the freedom and flexibility to follow your own plan. However, since it was our first time in Mexico and we didn’t know our way around, we decided to just go with a guided group tour.
The upside of taking a guided group tour is that you get to have fun with the group while exploring and learning the rich history of the place. Since the group tour also includes stops to other famous places on the route such as the Cenotes and the city of Valladolid, you get to cover a lot in one day. However, the downside is that it takes longer when picking up and dropping off everyone. An important tip – Make sure to check the itinerary and read the reviews. We booked ours through Viator and while there’s a lot of tour companies that you could book through this website, just be sure to check their ratings and go with a good one. We paid $118 for 2 people and our tour covered stops at the Cenote Maya Park and the town of Valladolid.
There’s a separate blog on my website that serves as a helpful guide to Chichen Itza. It includes tips on how to plan, what to carry and what to expect on the day of so be sure to give it a read.
I’d 100% recommend adding this to your itinerary because it’s completely worth it. We later also stopped at the Cenote, which is one of the most popular activities in Mexico. There’s so many Cenotes here and they have a very religious significance to them. We loved the Cenote where we stopped because the water was turquoise and so calm. I would definitely recommend adding this as well to your itinerary.
Final stop for the day was the cute town of Valladolid. We walked through the Main Square Parque Francisco Canton and were lucky enough to witness the traditional Mayan dancers showing off Jarana, a traditional dance in the Yucatan.
We then headed back to our resort as we had our reservation for Coco Bongo. This nightclub is, hands down, my best nightclub ever. You can make an online reservation ahead of time or just go in there and buy your tickets. It’s usually best to go between 9-9:30pm because they have shows that keep running between 9pm to 12am so you don’t want to miss them. Even if you’re not a party person, you should definitely make your way to this club because this is one experience you wouldn’t want to miss.
Day 3: Day trip to Cozumel Island and Playa del Carmen
Day 3 started early for us as we had a day trip booked to the beautiful island of Cozumel. There are many ways of getting to this island and we opted to go through the ferry. There’s two ferry companies – Ultramar and Winjet that run daily ferries from Playa del Carmen to this island. These ferries run every two hours so there’s many flexible time options to choose from. We booked through Ultramar and opted for first class seats. We booked the ferry for 10am since we also had to account for the time in getting from Cancun to Playa. We took a taxi from our resort in Cancun and reached Playa in about two hours to take the ferry from the ferry terminal.
It’s roughly a 30 minute ride from Playa terminal to the island, and is pretty smooth for the most part. But if you have sea sickness, then I’d recommend carrying medicine for motion sickness. Getting around the island is easy if you rent a car, bike or a scooter. We booked a scooter from a rental company at the ferry terminal at Playa and then picked it up at the island. They also provided a map so that made our navigation much easier.
We spent about 4-5 hours on this island and did a lot of driving around the island. There’s a lot of water sports like scuba diving, surfing and snorkeling that you could choose from if you decide to spend good time here. There’s many famous beach clubs here that provide rentals for water sports for an entry fee. We decided to skip the water sports and rather spend time exploring the island, shopping, spending time at the beaches and taking lots of pictures. Read my blog here to learn more about things to do, what to carry and how to plan your day trip to Cozumel.
On our way back from Cozumel, we decided to spend some time in Playa del Carmen before making our way back to our resort in Cancun. There’s a very lively area around the ferry terminal that you won’t be able to miss. We were lucky enough to catch a dance performance by some locals just by the famous Parque Fundadores. We then also walked around the area through the beautiful market. Quinta Avenida is also a must-see street in Playa del Carmen. It is a lively and colorful 5 km long pedestrian street, lined with stores, souvenirs, cafes and restaurants.
Day 4: Head to Tulum
After relaxing and enjoying our time in Cancun, we decided to spend the next two days in Tulum. Tulum has been on my list since the longest because of its vibe. It has so much to offer, whether it’s the coastal nature, or the jungle vibe, or the amazing food, or the rich nightlife. Oh, and not to mention, those beautiful boutique resorts that’ll transport you into a completely different world.
We left from Cancun in the morning after breakfast and reached Tulum in about two hours. We checked into our beautiful boutique resort called Naay and settled in. After a short rest, we then got ready and headed out to explore the town.
One important tip – If you’re wondering how to move around Tulum, then you might want to consider renting a bike, scooter or car. We rented a scooter instead of a car because I had read in some of the blogs that the tourist places in Tulum mostly have narrow roads so there’s high chances of being clogged up in traffic or having difficulty finding parking. And since most of the spots on our itinerary were within a 10-15 minute drive, we decided that a scooter would be our best bet.
The first stop we hit was the Mayan ruins. What was great about this place was its location i.e. right next to the beach. So after spending some time exploring the beautiful ruins, we also got to hang out at the beach for a bit. Keep in mind, though, that the weather is warm and there’s not much shade so make sure you’re prepared accordingly. Or try going in the evening, a little before sunset so that you can also catch a good sunset.
We then ended our day by spending time at the Tulum downtown. We drove through the beautiful street arts. One of the famous streets in Tulum to see street arts is Calle Sol Oriente. You can start from the far end of Sol Ote, where it meets the Coba road and then make your way down this street. After a quick drive through this street and soaking in all the beautiful art, we then made our way downtown. Let me warn you that Tulum downtown is not like the usual downtown, which you’d expect to be a bit more upscale. It’s definitely lively in terms of the crowd and nightlife, but it has a very local feel to it. We parked and explored the downtown on foot. We walked around 1-2 blocks and stopped at some local stores for shopping. We then grabbed a quick bite and made our way back to our resort.
Day 5: Explore Tulum beach strip
Our last day in Mexico was all about exploring the beach strip. We wanted to start our day with a nice breakfast with a view of the ocean so I made a booking at the Papaya Playa Project Beach Club. There’s many beautiful beach clubs to choose from and all boast incredible views. I chose this one because it had great reviews and I loved the whole vibe of this resort. We sat down here for a scrumptious breakfast and drinks.
The next part of our trip was more sightseeing and touristy stuff. So we made our way to the famous Ahau Tulum Sculpture Park. There’s a parking lot right across so you can safely park there while you’re here. This park has an entrance fee and that can get you access to one of the most Instagrammable spots here. After spending a while here and taking lots of pictures (yes, lots!!), we decided to take a stroll along the beach strip. On the way, we stopped at a few boutiques for some shopping and stumbled upon this really cute boutique called Isuju. This boutique has amazing collection of clothes and accessories so if you’re a fashion junkie like me, you’ll love it here. Here’s there instagram page to give you a sense of what I mean.
Anyway, after some walking and shopping, we got hungry and decided to stop at the Raw Love Cafe. I’d read so much about this cafe and their extensive plant-based menu that I just couldn’t miss this. And undoubtedly, they lived up to my expectations. Their menu had such unique items to choose from and everything we ordered was so delicious and fresh. I’d highly recommend making a stop here for a meal.
We then head back after lunch to get some rest. The warm weather didn’t really help so we wanted to escape the heat and instead spend some time in the pool of our resort. And thats exactly what we did. We headed out again in the evening, a little before the sunset for dinner and to explore the nightlife that I had heard about so much.
If its your first time in Tulum, my top 5 recommendations for restaurants/bars you need to try in Tulum are,
You don’t have to do all of them and you could choose depending on their menu, prices and the whole vibe. We tried Funky Geisha and loved their food and drinks. As I mentioned before, Tulum has a great nightlife scene and every club here is so full of life that you’ll just not want to end the night. So set aside one evening to just soak in the nightlife and have a fun night.
Just writing about all this brings back fond memories from this trip. So you can only imagine what it would have been like saying goodbye. However, I am glad to have ended this trip on such good note and glad to have brought back all the memories and experiences.
Hope you enjoyed this itinerary! Let me know in the comments below.
For some helpful travel guides to the famous tourist spots in Mexico, refer to the below links,
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