Tulum Beach Vacation for the Holidays. If you are thinking about going to Tulum, Mexico which is right outside of Cancun Mexico this resort season on vacation there are some things you should know before going. We really loved our trip and stayed at a VRBO where we ended up on a beautiful private beach with 3 homes on it. We went with family and really enjoyed the time together on our private beach. As much as I loved our private beach there are items that people should note when renting a home on VRBO sites from private homeowners.
Here is a list of items that I would think about when renting a home from a VRBO – Vacation Rental By Owner Site in the future:
1. See if the owner will take 50% of payment up front like a hotel and you pay the rest 25% during the middle of your stay and 25% at the end. This way you can control what happens during your stay if things aren’t going as planned.
2. If they say you have full time help or a full service VRBO on site that you pay for – make sure to be very specific – ask what the hourly rate is for the cook or cleaner if you actually have one and what they can make for you to eat. You don’t want to get there expecting hotel quality service if there is only a caretaker on site and the market is 20 miles away.
3. Ask if there are people you can speak to who have stayed there in the past either through email or phone.
4. Research the area where you will be staying and read Tripadvisor to find out what other people say about the area to find out about items such as excessive bug bites, septic tank systems, and general conditions of roads.
5. Find out what the local areas definition of Eco Reserve means – does that mean there is no flushing of toilet paper down the toilets, generators that run the electricity on the property, no air conditioning?
6. How many people have complained about the same items in the same area so you can prepare ie/ road conditions or bugs
These are just a few of the tips. We personally had a great time, but did learn a few very important lessons on our trip and will plan differently when taking a vacation outside the US at a VRBO in the future.
Holiday essentials that you will need if traveling to Tulum Mexico will include: Linda Farrow Sunglasses, Jewelry Tattoos so that you don’t have to bring your real gold or diamond jewelry, all cotton clothing, lots of sunscreen, bug repellant, cortison cream for bug bites, benadryl for bug bites, all cotton dresses and tops so that you don’t have to worry about getting too hot, waterproof mascara, hair elastics, portable speakers for your iPhone music, a Kindle full of books, music downloaded in advance, Havaianas or another brand of rubber flip flops and or Birkenstocks, snorkels, sunscreen shirt, goggles, beach coverups, a polaroid camera or your good camera, and a few good sunhats. There is no need for silk tops, silk dresses, closed toe shoes, boots, or make up. It will be hot in Tulum and the roads are not kind to nice shoes. Shoes you don’t need in Tulum include the bow pumps from KG that Asos.com has in stock right now that you can buy for New Year’s Eve or Christian Louboutin nude pumps from Bergdorf Goodman.
Definitely visit the Mayan Ruins, go snorkeling in a Cenotes, and Kayak to a reef while in Tulum.
Restaurants, stores, and hotels you must visit in Tulum include: Gitano, Hemingways, Coqui Coqui, Jose Tulum, Blackbird, Hartwood, Be Tulum Hotel, El Tablano, La Onda brick oven pizza, Ana y Jose, and Yaan Wellness center for daily Yoga.
What they need in Tulum: A juice bar like Kreation or Pressed Juicery and an ice cream place like Sweet Rose Creamery. They also need less of a cash only policy because there were a few times where I walked out of places when I did not have cash. They had cute jewelry at Blackbird, but their cash only policy and a lack of an available atm near me caused me to put down the purchase. That is just my opinion of course. Irene Neuwirth my favorite jewelry designer was there around Thanksgiving and blogger Manrepeller was in Tulum the same week we were there.
