Touring Mexico with Zenler 2023 - Part 9 Nomad Tips and Tulum

David Zenler Author

Jul 14, 2025 |

Welcome to part 9 of this Mexico travel trip, showing you how to work and travel along with the pitfalls to watch out for, as we move on to Tulum...

Tech Tips for Travelling

Before we get into the Mexico trip I want to point out some things I have found whilst travelling across Mexico, and working when I can, that may help you if you are planning an extended trip or intend to be a digital nomad!

Planning in advance and doing research on the areas you intend to visit is essential. If there is no power or internet you have limited flexibility on what you can do. Most digital nomads will stay in areas for long periods of time and make sure they have all they need as far as power and the internet are concerned. So do your research. On our trip, we visited a ton of places and over 17 hotels so it's a bit extreme to imagine it's going to be plain sailing throughout.

Here are some top tips below:

• Make sure you have spare cables and adapters just in case you lose any.
• Get a Matt screen protector, not gloss, as there are reflections which are a pain to see when writing or editing.
• Make sure your hardware is well protected and do not leave it lying around, even in a hotel.
• Back up all your data to the cloud.
• Get a local sim for your phone.
• Make sure you know all your login passwords.
• Take some wet wipes or cleaning cloths for your equipment.
• Make sure you have comprehensive travel insurance.
• Learn how to use your phone as a WIFI hotspot just in case you need to.

Date Stamp: 12th - 15th February - Cancun to Tulum (Zona Resort)

Now it is time to leave Playa de Carmen and travel a further 2 hours down the coast to the town of Tulu. As the bus station is only 8 minutes from our hotel we decided to walk, but not before we had a Starbucks coffee and breakfast.

We walked to the local bus station ADO and, as we are pretty experienced by now, knew we had to wait 10 to 5 minutes before the bus left to have any idea which one it was. As is the Mexican way.

The journey was enjoyable as we headed down the coast the scenery became even more jungly. We pulled into the bus station and pretty quickly got a Taxi to our Hotel. The drive was about 20 minutes just out of town in the Bo-Ho area of Tulum right by the sea.

Tulum
As we entered the beach resort areas the hotels became a lot more extravagant and big, I will talk about this later as well as other points that annoyed me somewhat.

A Chat with the Taxi driver
"On our journey to the hotel, we had a good chat with the Taxi driver whose English was really good. He used to work as a barman for 20 years but as he hurt his hand he had to turn to taxi driving instead. He told us some interesting points, one being as we were in the resort area everything you have or do is extra! (Extra money) and that the hotels could not be built too high as the law dictated this, with it being in a conservation area. We were also told that the hotels kind of created a barrier between you and the beaches, meaning most that you had to pay or consume (eat on premises) to be able to get to the beach! One other interesting fact was that if you did not like food or drink bought to the table the staff had to pay for it!"

Pulling up to our hotel the Loco Tulum we were greeted by a concierge who asked us to sit and have some water before showing us around the hotel.

The Tulum sat on the other side of the beach and we were told we could get to the beach by going through one of the other hotels that allowed guests of the hotel to do this. At each hotel, there are security guards it all felt a bit strange to us. 

The hotel itself looked great. We chose it as it said it was an eco-hotel and has a pool and work area, plus had a special offer.

Here are some notes/bullets about the hotel written after our stay and are my general feelings about the Tulum Zona Resort area:

• Tipping in this area is out of control adding 15 to 20% you have to really watch this as they add it into the bill and underline it.
• I had extra bacon for my breakfast but they never put a price. It cost £6 for three bits of bacon, watch this as it's common to not price things and then squeeze you.
• The whole time we were there we got this feeling we were being bled dry as we are on a budget we did not foresee the whole Cancun area being at least three times the price of the West Coast.
• Hotel claims to be an eco-hotel but uses massive bits of coral for its sinks! And has plastic sheeting over some parts of the roof... is that eco?
• As mentioned earlier the wall of hotels stopping access to the beach is hysterical.
• Any tours done in this area are four times the price of anywhere else, so no tours from here (we will be taking them in Tulum central).
• No cash machines and the ones we found were all dispensing US Dollars. Another way to get more on the exchange rate in the area is to charge for the bank and charge on the exchange.
  
  

We were staying in the Zona Resort area for three nights and were going to extend but have decided to move more into Zona Central instead. As this place although naturally beautiful like all things, is brought down by development and well to put it honestly greed!

Although there are some pretty harsh comments about this area one thing is for sure it is very beautiful. 

We spent the days hanging on the beach and having a blast in the sea.

The internet is extremely good here as well which is a plus for uploading images etc.

Special notice­:

2023 Sargassum Seaweed Season
Mexico's eastern coast areas have been affected by seaweed being washed up on the beaches this month. You will probably see these in some of the photos. It happens from time to time and we have seen this all down the coast mainly on eastern facing shores, As there was none in Isla Mujeres. Kind of spoils the images but cannot be helped.

Date Stamp: 16th February Tulum Central

Move out day from Zona Resort area to Zona Central, a 20 min drive to central Tulum where we would be spending three nights. Luckily we caught a Taxi at 11:00 straight from the hotel Cayote to our next hotel the Tierra Nova. A tucked away hotel that sits between the central road for restaurants and 7th street where all the markets are, perfectly situated and just far enough from any noise.

On arriving at Tierra Nova which has no signage and from the outside looks nothing special with a dusty track road leading to the main gate. However, when the door opened we were surprised to find a relaxing paradise filled with palm trees and even a swimming pool that looked more like a Cenote.

The energy from this place was very good and on meeting the barman/reception guy Banny, we were so impressed by the wealth of information he shared and gave us via WhatsApp and chatting.

Another one of the reception staff was Gabriel who was from Argentina and spoke great English. We discussed corruption in Mexico and Mezcal versus Tequila plus a host of other subjects.

Raffi the owner of the hotel was also a great help and fun to talk to, this hotel is one of the best we have stayed at and we struck gold finding it.

We arranged a trip the next day via a private car to take us out for the whole day. At £160 it was cheaper than some tours we have done. We planned to visit Cenotes and Coba another Mayan Temple site and an Art Gallery if we had time. We might do another Cenote as well.

The rest of the day we walked the main Central way at first looking for a bank. After about 30 minutes we managed to find a couple, both had big queues of people waiting to withdraw money! It was getting really hot so took in a few beverages before having a great meal at a local restaurant.

Date Stamp: 17th Our Private tour of Tulum's attractions

Up at 7:30 am for some coffee before our car arrived. Exactly at 8:30 am our driver Francisco arrived, and we shot off to Calvera a Cenote just outside Tulum. Because we were early there was only one person there posing in the Cenote for pictures. Apparently, this is a common thing, about 10 minutes later, others turned up and again posed. It was a bit funny as we paid, we just swam and got in the pictures which I think they did not like. But we paid and they were taking ages, this Cenote was good but not as good as the one we did in Chichen Itza for sure.

Next off to Coba a Mayan Temple City, this was amazing we hired bicycles as it is a big site. My wife enjoyed the bike ride more than the ruins but Maya temples are not her thing.

What is good is now I am recognising the buildings from the other two we have already done Palenque and Chichen so we really did not need an English guide. This Mayan site also has huge sun temples that in a way rival Chichen and I would say this is my second favourite after Palenque. This site could do with more money to reveal its full potential.

Next stop Cenote number two close by Coba this Cenote is in an underground cave 15 Metres below the surface. As it was lit well you could see the crystal clear water this was a real treat and a nice way to cool down.

Last stop as we were running late in the art gallery of Sfer Ik which has an organic feel and only took 3 months to complete. The artist worked with local people to use their skills in crafting his vision.

We undertook a copal ceremony to clear bad spirits before entering barefooted. Check out the amazing photographs of this.

Time 4:30pm we were going to visit another Cenote but unfortunately were too late, we returned to our hotel and went out for a lovely meal.

Date Stamp: 18th Tulum 7th Ave

Pretty relaxing day enjoying the hotel's facilities and chilling we are going out around 3pm to investigate the main market street of Tulum.

Alright so I mentioned main market street but in all honesty, there was not much there. There were some lovely restaurants and cafes and unlike the Zona resort area it was a lot, lot, cheaper and less full of tourists. However I think in a few years it will be a lot more crazy as other places like Playa de Carmen are but let's hope not!

On our tour of 7th Avenue, we stopped for some lunch at the end of our street, and we got chatting with the owner who told us they were having live music that evening. Perfect, it was our last night in Tulum so let's go out in style.

Further along the 7th we were told about a Holistic centre which looked lovely but only served juices. They did lots of different therapies and it was a nice tranquil place to have a walk around. Funny thing about Mexico it's so different from area to area and full of hidden gems.

7pm let's party! Ok don't get carried away band does not start till 8pm, but certainly time for cocktails and a ham and cheese croissant we know how to live the high life for sure!

The waiter from Argentina asked us if we wanted to try a new cocktail based on an Argentinian recipe as they had a new cocktail designer redoing the whole recipe. "Sure I said" as he was making the drink a Gecko fell from a tree above us and landed with a splat right on our table. Adriana shrieked, the Gecko then sat and munched a fly and promptly ran off! When the waiter returned I asked him if he had a name for the cocktail which was delicious and made from a corn whisky. He said no and I suggested calling it "The Gecko" they said it was a good name and for the rest of the evening that's what I called it :)

Later Gabrielle from our hotel turned up (One of the amazing reception staff at the hotel). And as he was from Argentina I recommended "The Gecko". He asked for it and they were somewhat confused until he pointed at mine, I wonder if the name stuck?

We had a great time and far too many drinks but it was a good end to Tulum and we were ready to move on to Bacalar on a giant lake for our last week!

Date Stamp: 19th - Travelling to Bacalar town
Quick breakfast and checkout of this amazingly tranquil hotel to catch the ADO bus to Bacalar. Everything went smoothly and we arrived in Bacalar at 2:50pm.

Stay tuned for the last stage in our Journey around Mexico...

Categories: : Zenler Digital Nomad/Stories