The Tulum archaeological site is a popular tourist attraction on the Riveria Maya south of Cancun, Mexico. I visited with a group of ten in early June 2024. While I enjoyed the visit it wasn’t particularly popular with the kids in our group and I absolutely preferred our visit to Teotihuacan in Mexico City.
Historical Perspective
Tulum is a walled city built by the Mayan civilization between the 13th and 15th centuries AD on the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula. It served as a major port for trade and was one of the last cities built and inhabited by the Maya before Spanish colonization.
In addition to trade the city was built with defense in mind. The city is protected on one side by steep sea cliffs and on the others by thick limestone walls, making it one of the best-preserved examples of a fortified Mayan city.
The Spanish likely arrived in the city sometime in the 1520s or 1530s and city was abandoned by the end of the 1500s, likely due to disease brought by the Europeans. The site was then rediscovered in 1840 and has become and important site for understanding the late stage, pre-Hispanic Mayan civilization.
Tulum Today
Tulum is located almost two hours south of Cancun on high cliffs overlooking the Caribbean sea.
Tulum is a popular tourist destination and a well-preserved archaeological site. The ruins are relatively compact and can be visited in about an hour. While you can walk among the ruins most of the major structures are roped off and can only be viewed from the outside.
The setting is beautiful and while the interior of the city walls feel almost desert like, particularly given the abundant iguanas, the surrounding area is more like a lush tropical jungle. There is a beach at the site below the cliffs but it was closed at the time of our visit and our guide was unsure when it would reopen.
The site is highly developed for tourism with a visitor center, restrooms, well developed trails, and a small museum. Guided tours are readily available but informational signs are also located throughout the site in both Spanish and English.
Just outside the site a large complex of shops and vendors has developed to cater to the large number of visiting tourists.
Our Experience
We visited on a Monday in early June. We were a group of ten (three kids and seven adults) ranging from 8-71 years old. We were coming from the Grand Palladium Kantenah and for transportation we had a private mini-bus that dropped us off and picked us up that I arranged through Mayan Traveler.Â
We arrived just as the site was opening but found ourselves walking through heavy rain. Our guide kept us near the first entry station under a roof for around half an hour until the rain let up. By the time we started walking toward the site a steady stream of tourists were headed up the road to the site. And once the rain let up the temperature began to rise, and the high humidity made it feel significantly hotter than it was.
Overall Tulum is an interesting site but I’d only rate it a six out of ten. The primary reasons for that are:
1. There are just so many people. – We were there at opening time, on a rainy day, at what we were told was low season, and there were still lots of people!
2. Overdeveloped – The area has become very touristy just outside the ruins. Getting to and from the ruins is like running a commercial gauntlet of souvenir shops, people ready to pose for pictures, snack stops, other tourists, and various other vendors. And it’s expensive too. A single scoop of a standard ice cream cost five US dollars (and they preferred dollars to pesos too).
3. A Mediocre Guide – I’m sure this varies but our guide was just so so. He spent way too long on some topics and other parts seemed cut short. Despite being a private guide for our group he at times didn’t bother to wait for the whole group before launching into his dialogue about certain areas of the site. He then proceeded to leave us in the middle of the ruins and point us to the exit so he could go somewhere else. Overall, if I did it again I might just skip the guide.
Kid’s Perspective
Tulum was NOT a hit with the kids and I’m sure my eight year old daughter would rate it lower than I would. In fact, I think the only part she is likely to remember are the iguanas. The distance we walked wasn’t that far compared to other sites we’ve visited but my daughter was frequently getting bored or wanting to stop because she was hot. Overall, based on our experience this is not someplace I’d recommend for younger kids. After Tulum we visited the Sac Actun cenote and that was much more memorable for the kids in our group. (Though I think all of the adults enjoyed it more too.) My daughter also enjoyed our visit to Teotihuacan more than Tulum.
Final Thoughts
The ruins at Tulum are interesting, have a beautiful setting, and are very accessible if you are staying in the Riveria Maya. Unfortunately, those traits have lead to the site becoming highly touristed and the area being heavily commercialized.
If you have an opportunity to visit other Mayan ruins in the vicinity (Chichen Itza and Coba are popular options) I would skip Tulum and go there instead. And if you want a much more impressive archaeological site then I highly recommend visiting Teotihuacan near Mexico City! And as a side note we were at Teotihuacan for three hours instead of 90 minutes and my daughter still enjoyed it more.
