The Great Escape: Tulum and Playa Del Carmen
Back in December, my best friend Jasmine (yes, we have the same name) and I decided to grace Tulum with our presence for our 31st birthdays. Our birthdays are 2 weeks apart and we usually like to travel the week in between our special days. #TEAMSAG But honestly this trip was very random. One night in September, Jasmine was looking up flights to Tulum on a whim and found a roundtrip flight on JetBlue for $294. She texted me about it and I was all for it, so she booked it and that was that! Side note this is one of the many reasons why she’s my bestie because we are always on a book now ask questions later kind of time. Our good friend Jared also decided to join us as well and had the great idea of spending our last day/night in Playa Del Carmen since it is in between Tulum and Cancun. FYI, you have to fly into Cancun to get to Tulum.
So let’s get to the cost of this trip! Traveling for work, I get points for flights, rental cars, hotels, and credit card purchases. The rental car was free with my points and we just had to purchase insurance and gas! Win #1!!! The drive to Tulum was a straight shot and took about an hour and 30 minutes.
So far, our total is $294 per person for flights and $105 for rental car insurance.
Next up is the hotel! I am a proud Platinum American Express Card holder. I literally love this card and all its perks. Each year it pays for itself and with this trip it came in handy! I always check Amextravel.com first before booking anywhere and I am so glad I did because they were offering a $200 travel credit because of the pandemic. We decided to stay at Aroma Tulum Boutique Hotel located in Centro which totaled about $300 and some change for 3 nights. So with the travel credit we ended up only paying $100 for the hotel stay in Tulum! Baby!!! Win #2!
As far as Playa Del Carmen accommodations our boy Jared decided to handle that as our birthday present! Thankssss Jared!!! He booked us an awesome Airbnb in the middle of all the action in Playa. We could walk everywhere! It was perfect! Win #3!
So we are at $294 for flight, $105 for rental car insurance and $100 for the hotel stay! Not to mention gas for the entire trip (Wednesday- Sunday) was only $26! Cheapest trip ever!! The Platinum Amex Card also allowed us to visit the airport lounge and have preflight drinks and meals absolutely FREE! #BLESSED
Now it’s time for the turn up.. let’s get into what we did in Tulum and Playa. I enjoyed everywhere we went and want to go back asap so let me rundown quickly the places we visited.
Tulum
Restaurants:
Burrito Amor - Very casual, inexpensive and great drinks. It was a cute vibe and located in Centro.
Taqueria Honorio - A local taco spot in Centro. None of the waiters spoke English but the tacos were bomb. No alcohol and our total for 3 ppl was $10!
Taboo Restaurant - Upscale at night for dinner. Expensive for Tulum but the food was average. I would eat first elsewhere and just go for drinks and a great DJ turn up! Beach side. (Make Reservations)
Rosa Negra - Very similar to Taboo, much bigger and definitely lit. My food was ok but my friends enjoyed their entrees. Dressy attire! Beach side. (Make Reservations)
Bak - This was my favorite nighttime restaurant even though my food wasn’t great I should have listened to my friends and got a steak after all it was a steak house. Great DJ and again very lit! Dressy attire. Beach side. (Make Reservations)
Entertainment:
Taboo Beach Club- They saw us 2 days in a row. This was the only beach club we attended while in Tulum. Thursday was very casual, but Friday was the turn up! We relaxed, ate, drank and partied all day! This was definitely my favorite part of Tulum and what we really came to do! Just vibe!
Mistico Shisha Bar Tulum - This was my favorite hookah bar in Centro. The scenery, vibe and drinks were all A1! I heard the food was amazing, but we didn’t eat. This was our pregame spot! They let the customers control the music as well! So we had a great time I wasn’t ready to leave (Fun Fact: I’m never really ready to leave)!
Makech Hookah Bar Tulum - Also a nice hookah bar on beach side. Great DJ, and drinks. Comes in as a close second to Mistico!
Playa Del Carmen
Restaurants:
Rockas Jamaican Kitchen - Go when they open as they ran out of a lot of food fast. I am not a huge Jamaican food fan, but people raved about them. The drinks were very weak so pregame or bring your flask lol.
Entertainment:
Indigo Beach Club - very chill relaxing atmosphere. Discounted rates and free access with our Airbnb reservation.
Prana Hookah & Drinks - played all hip hop and rap music (lots of Pop Smoke, they love him in Mexico)! Drinks and hookah were very good.
We didn’t do the typical cenotes and Mayan Ruin Tours. It just wasn’t on our must see and do. We really just wanted to relax and have a good time and we did exactly that. I will be returning once the pandemic is over. Let me know in the comments if you have any questions. All accommodations linked above.
Airbnb Sign up Discount Get up to $50 off a stay and $15 toward an Airbnb Experience of $50 or more.
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