Posted: 12/14/20 | December 14th, 2020

Hell is a town called Tulum. enjoyed over by Mayan ruins and buttressed by the ocean, this is a place of pothole-filled streets, overpriced taxis, horrible traffic jams, and out-of-touch yuppies, celebrities, influencers, wannabe gurus, COVID deniers, and well-to-do folks seeking to “find themselves” in overpriced retreats, hotels, and bars.

It is a town where one can overhear tech deals, talk of the “the China flu,” Instagram algorithms, and an upcoming drum circle within the span of a few minutes.

I came here with very low expectations. I’d heard the stories from my friends, seen all those “influencers” on Instagram gushing profusely, read the articles, and talked to other travelers.

Tulum was an influencers paradise, which likely indicated it wasn’t mine.

But I wanted to see what all the hype was really about. maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. maybe I was just being a stubborn old goat.

Nie. Tulum was even worse than I had imagined.

A sleepy little town during my last check out in 2011, Tulum is now a mecca for jet-setting millennials, celebs, hippies, and spiritual types. It is a place where they come to do all the things they can do back home — but without the cost, in better weather, and with much more international people around.

It’s become another Bali or Goa: a relatively cheap retreat where a lot of people come to drop in, drop out, stay in their bubble, eat açaí bowls during the day, and party all night long. Here, in expensive beachside boutique hotels, they eat in Miami-style restaurants while listening to the current EDM music.

They aren’t in Tulum to experience Mexico. They come here for their little bubble.

I wanted to love Tulum. I kept thinking to myself, “What am I missing? What do they see that I don’t?”

Tulum isn’t all bad: the ruins, set above the beach, are immaculately preserved, there are lots of cenotes (sinkholes) to swim in nearby, the beach is genuinely world-class, and the food downtown — especially the taco stalls and seafood restaurants — are excellent.

And the design of those boutique hotels and restaurants, with their minimalist esthetic and use of wood, plants, and lights, is quite stunning. The “Tulum esthetic” as it is called is actually beautiful.

But the reason Tulum is hell is not because of that but because of the people.

There are just too numerous tourists behaving badly here, functioning as if they weren’t guests in someone else’s country. and it kept rubbing me the wrong way.

Travel is a privilege — and the people who come here don’t seem to appreciate that. a lot of are simply re-creating their own cultures rather than trying to delight in Mexican culture.

And, while I did delight in some of those bougie restaurants and beach bars, I don’t travel in buy to just re-create my life back home. I travel to experience a destination. I want to speak to locals who aren’t serving me food, eating a roadside taco stands and hole-in-the-wall restaurants, and just trying to get a sense of life here.

Of course, not all travel has to be deep. often you just want a vacation. often you just want to jet off to a beach destination and drink from coconuts before going back to “the real world.”

I’m not irked by the ones that come to Tulum for that.

It’s the folks who are here long-term, feigning a deeper spiritual enlightenment and extolling the “magic” of this place, that seem hypocritical to me. They come to Tulum and pretend they are on some magical spiritual quest or here to work remote to delight in Mexico. but all they do is stick to their own Westernized bubble.

They then complain about the locals, crime (fueled by their own desire for drugs), and, in the same breath, lament things are changing — even as they’re ecstatic about a new airport and wonder where they can find a whole Foods–style grocery store. (Yes, in the expat group I joined, someone actually asked that question.)

It’s these folks, the ones who make up the majority of Tulum’s visitors, that made me hate Tulum. Especially, now, during COVID.

A lot of people come here because they know they can escape public health restrictions in their own country. In fact, a lot of the “COVID is a hoax” folks relocation here, bars are packed, and group events happen all the time. In fact, the week I arrived, Tulum had a festival called Art with Me, which became a superspreader event.

While I think there is a safe way to travel and am not in the “no movement ever” camp, I think it’s just incredibly reckless to pretend COVID doesn’t exist and go about your business. a lot of of my time was at my Airbnb, around downtown, eating at outdoor restaurants or stalls, and on the beach alone (the public beach is incredible). I got to delight in the best of Tulum away from the worst of it.

After all, the traveler is a guest in someone’s home and must treat that with respect. To fly to a place, attend events that increase the riskCovida, konajte tak, ako neexistuje, odmietnuť nosiť masku a nechať miestnych obyvateľov, aby sa vysporiadali s následkami (alebo ich chytili a vzali späť domov), je len trestuhodnou vecou.

***
Je zrejmé, že nie som joga/horák/poďme hovoriť o tom, ako je Chakras. A mám veľa kamarátov, ktorí milujú Tulum a vrátia sa znova a znova. „Scéna“ v Tulume jednoducho nie je pre mňa. Je tu príliš veľa neudržateľného rozvoja ľudí, ktorí sa „starajú o životné prostredie“, ale sú príliš radi, že zostanú v predražených hoteloch, ktoré musia neustále prevádzkovať generátory, pretože hotelová zóna nemá infraštruktúru.

Pred rokmi som povedal, že sa nikdy nevrátim do Vietnamu. Vek a skúsenosti mi ukázali, že som sa mýlil, že som pri prvej návšteve posudzoval Vietnam tak tvrdo. Každé miesto by malo mať druhú šancu.

Ale potom, čo som videl, čo sa stalo Tulum, pochybujem, že sa Tulum pozriem po tretíkrát. Možno, ak sa stanem veľmi bohatými a môžem si dovoliť tie hotely Bougie 800 dolárov za noc alebo sa rozhodnúť, že v skutočnosti sú pre mňa skutočne bicie kruhy.

Takže, drahý cestovateľ, ak ste ako ja a cestujete, aby ste sa dozvedeli o krajine, ktorú navštevujete, predĺžená kontrola na Tulum pravdepodobne nie je pre vás. V predražených butikových hoteloch, drahých obchodoch, centrách ústupu alebo reštauráciách, ktoré predávajú pizzu, Pad Thai, misky Açaí a džúsy, sa nenachádza veľa z Mexika.

Príďte na rýchly výlet do senzačných zrúcanín, plávajte v niekoľkých cenotách, zjedzte úžasné pouličné jedlo, najesť sa na diere v miestnych reštauráciách v múre, radosť z úžasnej pláže a putujte po centre mesta.

Potom odíďte a preskočte zvyšok bez výčitky.

Pretože zvyšok je neudržateľnou a prehnanou pekelnou dierou falošných vplyvov, rádoby celebrít a ľudí, ktorí strhávajú raj.

A nestojí to za váš čas.

Zarezervujte si cestu do Mexika: logistické nápady a triky
Zarezervujte si svoj let
Na nájdenie lacného letu použite SkyScanner alebo Momondo. Sú to moje dva obľúbené vyhľadávacie nástroje, pretože vyhľadávajú webové stránky a letecké spoločnosti po celom svete, takže vždy viete, že žiadny kameň nezostane nezostáva. Začnite s Skyscannerom najskôr, pretože majú najväčší dosah!

Zarezervujte si ubytovanie
Svoju hostel si môžete rezervovať s Hostelworld, pretože majú najväčší inventár a najlepšie ponuky. Ak chcete zostať niekde inde ako v hosteli, použite Booking.com, pretože neustále vracia najlacnejšie ceny pre penzióny a lacné hotely.

Ak pôjdete do Tulum, zostaňte v hoteli Ginger. Je to malý hotel prevádzkovaný najsladšou rodinou. Miloval som tam svoj pobyt.

Nezabudnite na cestovné poistenie
Cestovné poistenie vás chráni pred chorobami, zraneniami, krádežou a zrušením. Je to rozsiahla ochrana v prípade, že sa niečo pokazí. Nikdy som nešiel na výlet bez toho, pretože som ho v minulosti musel používať mnohokrát. Moje obľúbené spoločnosti, ktoré ponúkajú najlepšie služby a hodnotu, sú:

Bezpečnostné krídlo (pre všetkých pod 70)

Zaistite moju cestu (pre tých nad 70 rokov)

Medjet (pre ďalšie pokrytie repatriácie)

Hľadáte najlepšie spoločnosti, s ktorými ušetria peniaze?
Pozrite sa na moju stránku zdrojov, kde nájdete najlepšie spoločnosti, ktoré môžete použiť pri cestovaní. Uvádzam všetky tie, ktoré používam na ušetrite peniaze, keď som na ceste. They will save you money when you travel too.

Want much more information on Mexico?
Be sure to check out our robust destination guide on Mexico for even much more planning tips!