Tulum, Mexico
Mexico had been on our bucket list for ages, with its delicious food, vibrant music and colourful culture calling out to us but we wanted to wait until our youngest turned two, so she could have her own seat to fidget in during the 10-hour flight!
We chose to look for a holiday in the Riviera Maya area, preferring its family-friendly atmosphere over the party vibes of Cancun and Playa del Carmen. Tulum, with its relaxed, culturally rich, hippy vibe and stunning white sand beaches, seemed the perfect fit.
The best time to visit Mexico is during the dry season (December - April) which means less rain and perfect temperatures.
We stayed in Tulum for 10 nights at the beginning of March 2024, flying from London Heathrow to Cancun.
Read on to discover what we got up to during this trip, please share my blog with your friends and use the links in this post to book your next holiday, as that’s how I will earn commission. Thanks for reading!
We stayed at the Grand Bahia Principe Tulum, which is just a 30-minute drive from Tulum’s centre and around a 1 hour 30 minute drive from the airport. The 5 star beachfront hotel is surrounded by stunning natural scenery, with a village style layout and some impressive straw roofs!
The resort is absolutely huge but there are golf buggies regularly zooming around to give you a lift between your room and the main reception, restaurants, beach and even to the sister hotels next door, (you can also use their pools and beaches if you wish).
When you see pictures of the resort from above, you realise you’re in the middle of the Mexican jungle, with tropical trees all around and loads of wildlife to keep you company! We regularly saw resident iguanas basking in the sun, agoutis and coatis wandering around minding their own business and brown pelicans soaring above our heads as well as lots of diverse species of birds singing in the trees, and unusual fish swimming in the shallow clear waters on the beach.
The resort has three large swimming pools and a children’s water park with slides, a Mexican themed pool and a splash area which the kids absolutely loved! We actually asked for a room close to the kids pool as we knew we’d be spending a lot of time there and the hotel kindly granted our request. I noticed there was a foam party once a week in the main pool and there’s also a Dolphinaris on site doing dolphin shows once a week and where you can also swim with dolphins but we didn’t discover it until the end of the holiday (I think just because of how huge the resort is). So there’s plenty of activities going on in the resort but for us, the kids were happy and safe playing in the water park and this gave us a chance to put our feet up!
Our all-inclusive package was definitely a highlight of the holiday with the main buffet restaurant offering a large variety of Mexican dishes and international cuisine. We particularly loved the fresh tacos, often enjoying them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The all-inclusive margaritas, my cocktail of choice, were an added bonus!
The resort has 10 à la carte restaurants, bookable via the hotel app. We dined at the Mexican restaurant ‘Tequila’ twice and at the Brazilian ‘Gran Tortuga’ once, preferring the local cuisine and the relaxed buffet, which was consistently excellent.
A huge highlight of this holiday was when the kids had the opportunity to take part in an evening performance ON STAGE of both ‘Moana’ and ‘Frozen’ where they were able to put on costumes and dance/sing along to the Disney film songs in front of an audience! They were both in their element being the centre of attention and I was an emotional wreck! For me, this beat any other possible evening entertainment! Just seeing the kids dressed up on stage, their faces spotting us in the audience and their perfectly imperfect performances were so magical, funny and such a special memory. Mabel hasn’t stopped talking about being in the show ever since!
Although the kids spent very little time at the kids club, it was very modern inside and had plenty of activities on offer as well as a cool playground right next to the water park so the children’s facilities were all really conveniently located in one area which I really liked. The kids also had their faces painted on their way to dinner a couple of times and the animation team were really friendly, energetic and inclusive. In terms of other evening entertainment, there was an amazing fire show by the main pool one night and a Mexican themed dance show in the theatre another night called ‘Origin’.
We discovered we could also book an event through the hotel app which was a traditional ‘Fiesta Mexicana’ at the resort’s very own traditional Mexican town square ‘Hacienda Doña Isabel’, that celebrates the cultural richness and traditions of Mexico with live music, street food and lots of fantastic souvenir shops. The kids loved having their faces painted, getting involved in games and having their photos taken with the skeletons in dresses and generally spending all of our money!
Another highlight of the holiday was hiring a car and visiting a ‘cenote’ which are natural pools of water found all over Mexico. I did some research whilst we were there and found a family friendly cenote which was only a 20 minute drive from the hotel. A visit to Cenote Yax-Kin felt like a secret gem and was a truly fantastic experience. We were the first people there when it opened and other than one couple, we had the place to ourselves for the two hours we stayed. We rented life jackets and snorkels so we could spot some fish in the turquoise water and there were shallow areas for the kids to paddle in. We really loved exploring the cenote and even found a little swing amongst the jungle trees. It was a lovely way to spend a morning cooling down from the Mexican sun and experience the natural beauty of Tulum.
We also took a little road trip into Tulum's centre, which was about a 30-minute drive. It was great to check out the boutique hotels and quirky shops and soak in the hippy vibe. However, we quickly realised that most of the beach is taken up by pricey beach clubs so we couldn’t find any public loungers and sat on the sand under the shade of a palm tree and tried some fresh coconut water - so refreshing! Besides playing and relaxing on the beach, we grabbed some brunch at a cute little café in the town centre but the heat made it tough to do much more exploring with the kids. There’s definitely a lot more to see if you're traveling without little ones to Tulum or with older kids - we would have loved to discover some Mexican street food places but it just wasn’t possible this time round. Another popular attraction to visit whilst in Tulum is to visit the pre-Columbian Mayan ruins. We didn’t do this because we felt the kids were a little young to appreciate it and the heat was too intense to do a lot of walking and carrying a toddler but this will be on our agenda for our next visit when the kids are a little older and can walk further!
We absolutely loved our holiday at Grand Bahia Principe Tulum, with its stunning grounds, delicious food, amazing facilities, friendly staff and unique experiences. I feel like we only scratched the surface and have already booked our return trip for next year!
We booked this holiday through LoveHolidays.
If you have any questions about this holiday, reach out to me on Instagram and I’ll be happy to help.
Tips for Your Trip to Tulum:
Email ahead to request a room near the children’s water park if you have younger children
Ask the reception staff to give you information about on site activities and facilities
Hire a car to visit Tulum’s beach town and a cenote
Do some research ahead of your trip - there are lots of helpful blogs and Youtube videos that talk about things to do in Tulum with kids
Consider upgrading to a premium room if you like it modern