Mexico’s Former Hippie Town

By: Daisy Chavez

For my 30th i decided to start a new decade in Tulum (closest airport is Cancun).

Tulum, Mexico´s former hippie town has developed into a fancy hotspot attracting travelers from all over the world. The little town stretching over 3 km along the beach invite your flip flops to step into a bohemian dream world, a combination of trendy simplicity mixed with a chilled romantic vibe. Lie in the white sand and sip at your Margarita cocktail, jump in the turquoise sea.

I spent 3 nights/4 days at an exquisite resort boutique hotel; AZULIK TULUM (azuliktulum.com).

I was initially drawn to this resort because of the AMAZING imagery I had seen online and on their instagram page. I read a ton of reviews before I booked – it’s an eco-friendly hotel, with organic architecture made from it’s surroundings. I knew beforehand that there was no television, A/C or showers (only bathtubs) and that wi-fi could only be found in the hotel’s lobby. This didn’t deter me though, instead I was really looking forward to relaxing and disconnecting from the world. In the end, though, I did have an overall pleasurable experience at Azulik! If i were rating Azulik purely on looks, it would be a 10 out of 10 (I seriously can’t stress enough how BEAUTIFUL this place is).

After looking at ton of photos online, I booked a Sky Villa, which is one of the rooms located on the upper floor of the resort. You really do feel like you could reach out and touch both the sky and the ocean! The actual room was amazing… it had all glass doors that you can shut and lock, and there were two doors that open up to the ocean so that you could get some wind and hear the ocean waves. The toilet was kept in a little hut inside the room. There was a small bath tub in the room that I used to bathe. There was no A/C in the room, but I didn’t mind that. There was a fan located at the top of the bed that I turned on at night, and that really helped. The room had no electric lights, just candlelight! In theory this sounded really cool, your entire room lit with candles at night.

The best thing about the room was definitely the balcony: I loved the floating bed, outdoor bath, swing by and lounge chairs. The view from the balcony was truly the most amazing sight I have ever seen…. especially the sunrise and sunset above the Caribbean Sea.

The resort is not all-inclusive, so you pay for each meal as you go. There are three restaurants at Azulik: the beach bar, the Cenote Bar, and Kin Toh, a fairly new and very expensive tree house restaurant. The beach bar was great: they made delicious smoothies and alcoholic drinks. The Cenote Bar was where I ate breakfast. They had a very limited selection of food for breakfast, only a couple of options to choose from including a smoothie, yogurt bowl or eggs (these were good, and healthy!). I did not have the lunch food at ALL there… I did eat at Kin Toh one night for my birthday dinner (the tree house restaurant). The atmosphere was simply amazing… you’re eating dinner while looking out on the Mexican jungle! They gifted me a bottle of champagne as i watched the sunset at one of the huts outside above the jungle.

Azulik has a beautiful beach located right next to the resort. There are two kayaks that guests are free to use anytime they want, and lots of lounge chairs and small huts that you can lay on. The sand is soft and fine, and the water is crystal clear turquoise. Like I said before, the beach bar is really awesome and they will bring you drinks or whatever you want while you’re laying on the beach!
Two caveats:
1. The beach is very small, and you can’t go on “beach walks” there because there is simply not enough beach
2. The beach is a nude beach. I didn’t participate (lol) but really didn’t mind it – just be prepared when you go!

There are some fun activities to do at Azulik! Every morning at 8 a.m. they have yoga at “The Dome”, and there is an entire Maya Spa where they offer facials and massages. Also located on the beach there is a small booth where you can sign up for excursions. I REALLY wanted to go to the cenotes the and I signed up and paid for an excursion on the day before I left. It was private and exclusive. I went to two cenotes and to the Mayan ruins (which you can climb) and saw the sunset.

(Prior to this trip i stayed in Playa Del Carmen, at the Thompson Beach House.)

I did an excursion package called “Xplore”, which included zip lining, ATV’ing, and swimming in underground caves and Cenotes. I wore a bathing suit because you are wet the entire time. Even zip lining you go through water. There were a bunch of different zip lines and it took 45 minutes to do all of them.  It was a cool and a different experience to zip line, ATV and swim in underground caves. Being in the caves felt tranquil and beautifully creepy at the same time.
Playa Del Carmen is a really fun beach town with tons of bars, night clubs and shopping. The streets were crazy at night and the clubs and bars were packed.

Tulum is more remote and the beaches are beautiful. I visited the Mayan Ruins in Tulum and went to a couple of Cenotes (which is a natural freshwater pool resulting from the collapse of limestone bedrock), which were really cool.

Azulik was built in the jungle and the entire resort reflects those “jungle” vibes!

Every room has a giant swing that you can swing on.

The back porch/balcony was overlooking the Caribbean Sea. Imagine waking up to this every morning! There was a swinging bed, outdoor, bath tub and daybeds on my balcony too.

The bed, well i loved it! It’s a floating bed with a huge mosquito net, which really came in handy at night. You can’t see from this picture, but there is a fan located at the very top of the bed that you could turn on at night to help keep cool.

My visit was in November, so the weather was perfect! Not too hot during the day and fairly breezzy at night, i slept with balcony doors open.

There’s a really cool beach bar located on Azulik’s beach. We loved the swings that lined up next to the bar. Every morning they made a fresh, unique smoothie concoction that was both healthy and delicious.

One of the coolest things – a giant hammock a couple of stories above the jungle!

IG: @daisychavez87