12 Things We Wish We Knew BEFORE visiting TULUM

Lloyd & Mandy

Planning a trip to Tulum, Mexico? Here are 12 things we wish we knew before visiting—from paid beach access &amp; beach clubs, to sargassum season, Tulum Ruins tips, construction noise, transport (scooters/ATVs/beach cruisers), no Uber (taxis only), spotty Wi-Fi &amp; power outages, and how to avoid ATM/DCC rip-offs. We wrap with a bonus on traveling Tulum with a baby (yes, super family-friendly!). If you’re a digital nomad or planning your first Tulum vacation, this will save you time, money, and stress.  If you found this video helpful, please like and subscribe!  Have questions about neighborhoods (Centro, La Veleta/Region 15, Aldea Zama, Beach Zone), safety, or family life here? Drop a comment — we’ll help.  GET IN TOUCH: 🌏 Email: lloydandmandyenbom@gmail.com  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lloydandmandy/ 💻 Our Website: https://www.lloydandmandy.com/  TRAVEL INSURANCE THAT WE USE AND RECOMMEND: 🏥 Reliable Travel Insurance: https://www.safetywing.com/a/lloydandmandy  Wise Travel Money Card, click the link for your first transfer fee FREE up to $1000 OR a FREE Travel Card - https://wise.com/invite/dic/amandar1452  📱Want a Sim card that works anywhere in the world? Click here:

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00:00All right, we're ready to go? Yeah, I mean she's probably gonna interrupt us. Yeah, it's okay.

00:07This is the reality of doing this job with a baby. That's right. Hi guys, we're Lloyd and Mandy.

00:14We're digital nomads from Canada and Australia and we're currently based here in Tulum, Mexico.

00:20In today's video, we're counting down 12 things we wish we knew before coming here. So your trip

00:26can be the absolute best that it can be. Hi Lila. Oh, and this is Lila. She'll be joining us

00:33in and out as well. But before we get started, don't forget to hit the like button and subscribe

00:38to our channel so you don't miss out on any of our future travel related videos. Okay, let's get into

00:44it. All right, starting with number 12, which is that most beaches are not free. This was quite

00:50surprising to us because like generally in actually pretty much every country beaches are just free

00:56to access. But unfortunately, Tulum does have free beaches, but they're just not well maintained at

01:03all. So the beaches that you actually do want to go to, you have to pay an entry fee and

01:08it's generally

01:09something like 400 Mexican pesos to go to like Playa Pereso. And it's also quite an expensive taxi ride

01:16to get there. So if you're coming to Tulum thinking you're just going to spend every day at the beach,

01:22you may actually want to reconsider. Okay, so number 11 would be the beach clubs. And this is probably

01:27your best bet for actually getting onto the beaches. A lot of them will include the beach access

01:35through the beach club. We really loved La Zebra. It was a great place for us to spend time with

01:41our

01:41little one. Lila loved it. There was a great pool. A lot of the places will have like a minimum

01:46spend.

01:46So whatever the amount is that maybe it's 500 pesos or it can even be up to about $100. But

01:54that goes

01:54towards food and drinks for the day. And then that's also your entry and then you also get access

02:00to the beach. So that's kind of your best way of going about that. All right, number 10, and this

02:05is

02:05about beaches again, is that the sargasm can be a real bummer. I actually didn't even know what

02:11sargasm was until we came to the Quintana Roo area. So like Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum,

02:18all the beaches stretching along the Yucatan Peninsula. They have this seasonal sargasm,

02:23which is basically just, I'm not an expert, so I'm probably going to sound stupid here,

02:28but it's just a bunch of seaweed that gets washed up onto shore in certain parts of the year. And

02:35I think

02:35the worst time for it is actually September, October, which is when we're here now. So if

02:42you're coming to Tulum and you want to spend time at the beach and the public beaches, make sure you

02:48do your research and come at the right time. There's actually a bunch of Facebook pages just dedicated

02:53to monitoring the sargasm because believe it or not, it changes from day to day. Like one day,

02:58the sargasm won't be bad. And then two days later, it'll be terrible. So just keep an eye out for

03:04that.

03:04So number nine is the Tulum Ruins, which is one of the main attractions here in Tulum. They are

03:10absolutely beautiful. Definitely something you need to check out. But if you are planning on going,

03:15go early in the morning because the crowds get absolutely crazy. And the heat, we went a little

03:22bit too late when we went last time and oh my goodness, was it hot. We didn't last very long

03:28there

03:29and the crowds, yeah, it was crazy. So if you're planning on going, go early in the morning.

03:33And bring lots of water as well. Yeah, that was actually a shame because I was really interested

03:39in them, but just the heat and the amount of people that were there made it. So we only stayed

03:44probably like 25 minutes. I probably would have spent a couple of hours there because I'm actually

03:48pretty into the historical side of the Mayan culture. And number eight is the construction noise.

03:55It can be really bad actually. Because Tulum is still developing, it feels like there's apartment

04:00buildings going up everywhere. More and more people are choosing to invest here or to live

04:05here. So there's a lot of building going on. That actually reminds me of another point.

04:10I'll leave it to the end though. But so the apartment that we stayed in when we first got

04:15here was amazing and it was really good value. But it was still under construction. Like there

04:19was like three separate condominium buildings and the one we were in wasn't even completely finished

04:24yet, which we knew there was going to be some construction noise. But after a couple of weeks,

04:29it started to really mess with our heads. Yeah, it gets to you. We decided to move to another place,

04:35which is this place where there's no construction around. So like when we were searching for a new

04:40accommodation, that was one of the main things that we looked out for, which was like there was no

04:46construction in the area. And for number seven, so as far as construction goes, there are so many

04:51beautiful apartment buildings going up, incredible architecture that's being built. But that being

05:00said, pretty doesn't always mean practical. Some of the places that we have stayed in and have seen,

05:07they're absolutely beautiful to look at, but not exactly practical to live in or stay in. So just

05:13something to keep in mind, something we've kind of ran into, you can have the most beautiful building,

05:19but livable wise, not exactly livable. So just something to keep in mind. Pretty doesn't always

05:26mean that you want to stay there. Number six is that most practical and I guess normal way of getting

05:33around is scooters, ATVs, and beach cruises. For some reason, they're the only types of bikes I see

05:41in Tallulna. It's all beach cruises, even though that goes back to Mandy's last point about pretty

05:48not always being practical. Personally, like I think a beach cruise is the hardest bike to ride around

05:54because it has one gear and I'd be riding like a, I don't know, like a mountain bike around or

06:00something. But a beach cruiser obviously looks cool. And even the locals ride them around. They're

06:05pretty cheap. Not too many expats or tourists really drive around. Most people get around on

06:11ATVs, scooters, and beach cruises. And one of the downsides to that is, I guess, they're actually not

06:16that cheap, especially compared to the countries in Southeast Asia. Like an ATV is going to run you

06:22a thousand pesos a day, which is like 50 US dollars. And even a beach cruiser is going to be

06:28200 pesos a

06:29day. So it starts adding up if you're staying here for a long time. Which brings us to our next

06:34point,

06:34number five, Tulum is very spread out. So you do need transport here. We have been walking,

06:41like we've had Lila's stroller. We've been doing as much walking as we can, but in the heat,

06:47there's only so many hours of the day that you can sort of get from A to B and with

06:53everything

06:53being so spread out. So you do need a means of transport. That is one of the downsides for sure.

06:59Yeah. Which brings us to number four and it's extremely frustrating. And I don't want to be

07:04too negative with this, but I just wish we hadn't known this before we came here is that there's no

07:10rideshare apps in Tulum whatsoever. There's no Uber. There's no Grab. There's only taxis and they run

07:18sort of like a mafia system where they set their own rates. They don't put the meter on. They pretty

07:24much

07:25charge whatever they want to charge because there is no alternative. If you get a taxi from your hotel

07:33down to the beach area, it might be 400 pesos. But then when you're in the beach area and you

07:38want

07:38to get back to your hotel, it could be double because they know that like you've got no other

07:42way of getting home basically, unless you want to get on a collectivo, which is what we would suggest

07:46if you're single or even just a couple. But when you have a baby and a stroller,

07:50a collectivo can be quite difficult. Number three is a big one for us because we are digital nomads

07:56is a spotty wifi. So we've been kind of struggling a little bit with the, with wifi here and there.

08:03That's why we did get our Olifly eSIM so we couldn't tether, still be able to access our work

08:09and use our computers and things. But yeah, wifi has been in and out just something to think about

08:16because I know there are a lot of people that do come here for remote work. Spotty wifi can be

08:20an

08:21issue. And that brings us to number two, which is actually relates to spotty wifi, which is that

08:26there are regular power outages in Tulum. I'd read about this before we came and this happens in

08:32other countries. Like it happened a lot in Sri Lanka, from time to time in Thailand and Bali.

08:37For some reason in Tulum, um, it's a really regular occurrence. Uh, it, it happened, I think in the

08:46three weeks that we were staying in the first apartment we were in, it probably happened 10 times.

08:52So that's like every second day we had a power outage. Sometimes it was for an hour or two,

08:57sometimes it was for 10 minutes and every time it happens, you have no idea how long it's going to

09:03last.

09:03So, and our apartment actually ran completely on electricity. So our kitchen, everything in the

09:09kitchen was on electricity. Obviously the wifi was electricity, hot water, hot water. Like it happened,

09:16it usually happened at nighttime as well, around dinner time. Lila thought it was funny. So we like,

09:23so our options were, if we wanted to like watch TV, we would tether to our Olafly eSIM, which still

09:28worked.

09:29Uh, and if we wanted dinner, we would generally order Uber Eats, which they do have Uber Eats,

09:35uh, or we'd just go out. It happens way more often than I would have thought in Tulum.

09:40Okay. So number one, this could be the most important one. At least I think it is, is, uh,

09:46be extremely cautious on the ATMs that you use. And also if you can use Mexican pesos as much as

09:53possible because the exchange rates that you get in some of the ATMs are absolutely ridiculous. So

10:00when you withdrawing money, if it asks you to convert for you, say continue without conversion.

10:06So it stays in pesos, um, as well as if you're paying for anything, make sure that it stays in

10:10pesos because the conversion rates terrible. Also only use big bank ATMs. So you'll find these in like

10:18shopping malls and the banks that you actually go into these little ATMs that you see on the side

10:23of the street that say us dollar or Mexican peso on them. And they don't have any like branding or

10:28anything. They're going to charge you an absolute shitload. They're going to completely rip you off.

10:32And sometimes you can actually get scammed by them, which did happen to us. Got a full video about that

10:37coming out soon. But the way we get around that is we use our wires travel money card. So there's

10:43no

10:43extra markups on foreign exchange rates and there's no extra fees or anything like that. No hidden fees.

10:48We have everything available on our wise app and the way we avoid getting scammed as well. Like

10:54somebody hacking into our card is that we are able to freeze and unfreeze our card at any time. Okay.

11:00And so just one bonus bit of advice or little tidbit that we want to say is that our experience

11:07traveling Mexico with and without a baby has been completely different. We have been treated

11:12so well with Lila. Like the Mexican people have been, yes, they've been so kind to you, haven't they?

11:21Just very accommodating with the stroller and just patient with us with having baby and just really,

11:27really kind. Um, so it is a very baby friendly travel place. I will say that. I know a lot

11:34of

11:34people can be weary of, you know, just traveling in general with kids, but we've just had a really

11:39positive experience traveling with Lila here and I would recommend it to anybody. Yeah,

11:45we went out to dinner the other night with Lila to like a place that seemed, it seemed like it

11:50wasn't like super family friendly and I was hesitant to even like ask if we could come in. And, uh,

11:55as soon as we rocked up with the stroller and Lila and I said, look, is it okay if we

12:00bring her in?

12:01They were like, yeah, of course it's okay. And they were amazing. And they were like,

12:04they even brought her milk and like, we're looking after her and stuff that was super,

12:08super friendly. So yeah. Yeah. Anyway, that's it for today's video. We really hope you found some

12:12value in it. If you did, don't forget to give it a thumbs up. It really helps out our channel,

12:17subscribe to our channel. And as always, we will see you guys in the next video. Bye.

12:34Bye.

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