Tulum holidays

Tulum holidays are Mayan-meets-modern. Here, the beaches and buzzing town get just as much attention as the well-preserved ruins.

On the rise

There are few places in the world where you can sunbathe below an ancient pre-Columbian city. Tulum’s one of them. Trace the coast south from Cancun and you’ll hit this seaside spot in just under two hours. Despite its time-stamped ruins, it’s got a 21st-century vibe, with a town full of veggie restaurants, yoga studios and shops.

Scenic sightseeing

You can’t talk about Tulum without mentioning its Mayan ruins – considered some of the most important in Mexico. And settings don’t get much better than this. The ancient walled city crowns 12-metre-high cliffs, above a wave-washed beach. It’s not the only attraction to Tulum’s heavily loaded bow, either. This is eco-tourism territory, so you can fill your days with jungle treks, horse riding or cenote swimming.

Best beaches around

There’s a coconut-white beach tucked under Tulum’s ruin-topped cliffs. This talc-soft stretch rolls on for miles, only interrupted by sprawling jungle. And they definitely weren’t exaggerating when they christened it Playa Paraiso – or Paradise Beach. Plus, Tulum’s one of the nearest towns to Sian Ka’an – a UNESCO-protected biosphere reserve made up of mangroves, lagoons and a barrier reef. Just so you know, beaches along this stretch of coastline can have a build-up of seaweed called sargassum. It’s a natural phenomenon influenced by ocean currents and seasonal weather patterns in the Caribbean, so it can be hard to predict when it’ll arrive. When there’s a lot of sargassum, hotel teams work continuously to keep the beaches as clean as possible.