I JUST got back from my Bach trip and let me tell you, it was a dream. In my head, a bachelorette celebration was one drunken night on the town that involved a tacky “bride” sash. What I got was 1000000x more chic, sophisticated, and adventurous.
I had friends fly in from New York, San Fran, L.A., Dallas, Washington D.C., and Atlanta. They traveled so far for me and honestly it makes me tear up thinking about it… In this age of disconnection and fake EVERYTHING, it was so amazing to have so many incredible women in my corner who would SHOW UP for me. And I guess that’s because they know I will show up for them. They’re my everything!
ANYHOO! You guys had a million and one questions for me on where we stayed, what we did, and all the details. I want to address something real quick though – a lot of you asked if we felt safe. We did. I honestly never questioned our safety. The most tricky part was having enough Pesos in cash and keeping track of how everything broke down money wise. But I will explain it below!!
The overall vibe of Tulum is a jungle wonderland…..
GETTING THERE:
Getting to Tulum you fly into Cancun. I transferred in Dallas and honestly it was two super easy, quick flights. Had movies both ways. Once you land in Cancun, you DO have to take a long-ish car drive from Cancun to Tulum – about 2 hrs. We used a private company for this that has a great reputation called Canada Transfers (linked here) and felt very safe. The drivers had water for us on ice and stopped to get us alcohol/groceries to have for the week.
HOTEL:
$60 per night. Private pool. Full gorgeous kitchen with a giant fridge. FREE breakfast with mimosas. Need I say more? It was heaven. It felt private, safe, chic, high-end, and service was excellent. Pictures don’t do it justice. No complaints. Not getting paid to say this, it’s just true! It was not on the beach but only a 10 min taxi away. It was called Kasa Parota Tulum and here is a link!
ACTIVITIES:
Cenotes – THIS WAS MY FAVORITE THING. It was a bucket list item for me. First of all, wtf is a Cenote?! It’s a gorgeous small body of water. Sometimes they’re in caves, but they’re made from sinkholes that then fill with rainwater or underground rivers. They do not have animals living in them besides small fish. We did a tour of 4 different Cenotes and it was terrifying, exhilarating, and a total bonding experience. We were all kind of freaking out and yet also laughing, squealing, and having a ONCE IN A LIFETIME adventure. We jumped off cliffs, we dove into caves, and our guide 100000% pranked us that there was a live Jaguar in the cave with us. We SHRIEKED and then fell into one of the biggest belly laughs ever. I’ll never forget it!
Friday Dinner – PASTA AND WINE ON THE BEACH. Need I say more? We had a truly magical dinner with candles, a beach view, and home made pasta and wine being refilled constantly. I think this was a combo of ALL of my favorite things. The place was called Posada Margherita (linked here) and the vibe was VERY boho, chic, and yet homey. Perfect start to our trip! We closed the place down.
Saturday Dinner – We went to a place called Rosa Nega (linked here). This was our most upscale dinner and was a PARTY. We started off with cocktails and transitioned to champs. I ate steak with parmesan risotto. They brought us buttery truffle rolls. My friends ate a variety of things from salmon to fancy tacos. It was delicious. But THEN the place turns into more of like a dance party/ club vibe. Basically they bring you champs with sparklers and all the sudden creepy, building music started playing and all the waiters came out in these vests with hoods that were SUPER creepy….. We had no idea what was going on but then all the sudden the music started BLASTING, they brought out sparklers for everyone and everyone stood on their chairs to dance…. It was truly MAGIC and SOO fun. They also brought around tequila shots and more. Truly a unique, insane experience.
Night Club – Going into this trip, everyone told us to go to Papaya Playa. But honestly, this was the only “meh” experience of the trip. The DJ was terrible and essentially just played the same beat on repeat. It was expensive to get in so we felt like we needed to stay. It did not heat up until really 11:30pm (we got there about an hour prior) and you had to load up bracelets with cash to use at the bar. I would not recommend this place just because I bet there are better situations for MUCH less money and hassle.
Installation Art / Beach Club – We visited the most incredible, GIANT art installation called “Ven a la Luz” by Daniel Popper which translates to “Come to the Light.” The statue looks like a GIANT wooden woman with a flower crown opening her chest but inside are all kinds of mossy, succulent plants. You then walk through this statue and follow the path to get to the PRETTIEST beach club. It is free and the drinks are super affordable. You can spend the day there – eat swim, drink, etc. I had the YUMMIEST gin and juice cocktail there which was my favorite of the trip. If I could redo this trip, I would spend a lot more time there… It was called Ahau Tulum (linked here).
Shopping – So in the “touristy” areas, the shopping is abundant. But don’t think tacky little beach shops. This is more like a boho, macrame-loving, anthro/free people dreamland. I bought a GIANT dream catcher for an eventual baby room and also a big bottle of Mexican vanilla to take home for cooking. We really did not shop hardly at all but if I had spent more time there I would have bought a LOT more!
MONEY:
I would advise pulling about 300-500 USD out in Pesos at a place where you can get a good exchange rate when you FIRST get there. I thought this was crazy when someone told me this and thought there was no way we would use all of that cash BUT you do. Between taxis, restaurants, and activities where they don’t take cards, you’ll need it. You get a LOT for your money down there but many places are cash only and you don’t want to end up in a bind.
We also are using the Splitwise app to split everything properly. Luckily, we have a former accountant in our group and she graciously took charge (hi Meag!), thank goodness.
If you guys have any more questions, you can always email me (Annie@sugarfreemedia.co)! I would love to help you guys take our trip because it was PERFECT.