Traveling to a city where you've never been can be a little overwhelming. One of the hardest things is understanding the layout of the city. And you've got to figure out where to stay, where to eat, and what parts of town are cool. So today we are going to try to help you understand the different areas of Tulum. We have stayed in the 4 major areas. A local may not lay out their city this way and it's likely broken down in much smaller sections than this, but after visiting 4 times I think this system is helpful to understanding the way Tulum is laid out.
Tulum Town- Tulum doesn't really have a downtown but if it did this is what it would be, and this is where most of the locals live. It's about 10 minutes to the beach and has a totally different feel than the other parts of Tulum. There is one main road that goes through town and the street is lined with vendors who sell everything from hammocks to clothes to jewelry and many other random things. There are also a lot of restaurants that have amazing food but aren't as expensive and fancy as the restaurants in the beach zone. This is a great area to stay in if you want to appreciate the local culture and save some dollars. Staying here is significantly less expensive than staying by the beach. This is the Airbnb we stayed in on two of our trips. We love Tulum town, but if this is your first time in Mexico and you are concerned about safety at all- this might not be the place for you. Watch our video here if you want to know if we think Tulum is safe or not.
The Beach Zone- This area is what made me fall in love with Tulum. You drive down this two lane road and see people riding bikes through this bohemian jungle and through that jungle on one side is the ocean. Truly magical. This road is lined with boutique hotels, restaurants, shops, etc. If you want to wake up and see the ocean, this is where you stay. There are a few reasons you may not want to stay here like you have a large group you are traveling with or you are on a budget. There are a few options that aren't too expensive but you'll have to sacrifice air conditioning. We stayed in Coco Tulum in 2017 and loved it! We had a little bungalow right on the beach and could open our door and see the ocean, and we did have air conditioning. When we stayed there it was the most affordable option for hotels by the beach and had a/c. You can't beat waking up ocean, but with the seaweed problems Tulum you may reconsider staying beach side. We have a video coming soon that talks about the seaweed problem in Tulum.
Aldea Zama- This is where we stayed on our latest trip in May 2019, and we really enjoyed our time here. Aldea Zama is between the beach zone and the town. This isn't an actual gated community but AZ is its own thing. It's like a little village in the middle of Tulum, and it is a newer development. There is still quite a bit of construction going on but that wasn't a problem for us. There are lots of Airbnbs in this part of town and there are a few hotels. Aldea Zama also has it's own restaurants and shops, and this area is very walkable and bikeable.
We loved the Airbnb we stayed in this trip, and it is pictured here in all the photos in this post. The amenities and the decor were next level, and the host was nice and attentive. There was even a small cenote right behind our Airbnb! There was also a pool that was shared with other guests and an outdoor grill and kitchen area. The kitchen was fully stocked with everything we needed to make a meal. We highly recommend checking this place out. Aldea Zama would be great for people who don't want to sacrifice amenities and are more concerned about safety. Our Airbnb had it's own private security and a lot of the places here had their own security as well.
You can see a video tour of our Airbnb and more of our Tulum trip in this video! Just click play to watch right here on the blog post.
Outside of Tulum/Akumal- I wasn't sure if I was going to include this in a post about the areas of Tulum since this is not a part of Tulum. I decided to include it because there are several places that are advertised as being in Tulum but aren't. If you want an all inclusive resort experience, this is where you'll want to go. There are only a few resorts inside of Tulum and they are very expensive. There are also more Airbnbs on the beach in Akumal. In Tulum proper there aren't any Airbnbs right on the beach. All of the Airbnbs in Tulum proper are in town or Aldea Zama. The first time I went to "Tulum" I stayed in this area and was pretty disappointed that we weren't really in Tulum, but we were actually 20-25 mins away. Honestly, Tulum isn't the kind of place where you want to do all-inclusive. There are way too many amazing places to see in Tulum that limiting yourself to a resort is total waste. If you want to do the all inclusive thing, save some money and do one in Cancun.
I know all of the areas in Tulum sound appealing and they each have something special to offer. So naturally you need to visit at least 3 times to try them all! If I was a millionaire, I would chose to stay on the beach BUT I'm not and we really truly enjoyed staying in both Aldea Zama and in town. When you are in Tulum, you can't choose wrong because you are never far from the beach.
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Hello everyone! It's stock tank pool season and we can't be more excited! It's always such a fun time when you can go out into your own backyard and dip in the cool water on a hot day. Maybe even invite some friends over and sip some cocktails.
We've had a lot of questions recently about a certain pool part that is currently unavailable. We have found a solution until the part becomes available again. We are looking into a third option as well as we definitely want to make sure that we can all keep DIYing our own stock tank pools!
So first, we want to talk about everything you need to set up your pool.
On another note, we started a whole other website just for everything stock tank pool! Check it out here: Stock Tank Pool Authority. If you are thinking about making a stock tank pool, you'll want to head over there and read everything there is to know about the project over on that website or on our blog here.
Stay tuned for more information about stock tank pools from tips to our favorite accessories. And if you post about your stock tank pool on social media, don't forget to tag us @heywanderer or @stocktankpool and with the hashtag #stocktankpool. Happy DIYing!
We visited Lexington, KY in early March and the weather was not cooperative unfortunately. Nonetheless we made the most of it. Lexington is a cool city to visit and I would definitely recommend visiting when the weather is warmer. Every time I have visited has been in the winter and so I haven't really gotten the chance to experience Lexington at it's best. All that say, below is all places we went during our weekend in Lexington. We even recorded a vlog while we were there, so don't forget to watch it below to see a video tour of the castle!
The Kentucky Castle- You guys, you can stay in a castle! You can also stay in a castle that the Queen of England stayed in. That's right. The Queen stayed at The Kentucky Castle one time when she came to Lexington for the Kentucky Derby. This castle has a really cool story. It was built in the sixties when a husband wanted to impress his wife by building her a castle. Well unfortunately for them they got a divorce and for 3 decades the castle sat unoccupied. Someone wanted to buy the castle and it took him years to track down the owner and finally convince him to sell it. When the new owner was almost finished remodeling the castle to turn it in to a hotel, it burnt down! Can you believe that?! So it was rebuilt again and was finally opened as a hotel.
The service was incredible and we loved our rooms. I would love to come back when it's warmer so I can appreciate their outdoor space more. They are adding some additional spaces like yurts and a barn, so that will be really cool.
I cannot forget to mention that their food is incredible. If I were going to recommend eating one meal there it would be dinner. Their breakfast was good but if you were only able to eat one meal there, I would definitely recommend dinner. We had a charcuterie board that was seriously the best one I've ever had. Savannah and I had their filet mignon and my mom had their tuna. We were all very pleased. All of their food is farm to table and the menu changes often. Even if you can't stay in the hotel, you should definitely eat dinner here. But also, you should stay in the hotel.
The Kentucky Horse Park- Savannah and I visited here a few years ago on another trip to Lexington and we love it. I do wish we could have come when it was warmer because there aren't as many horses to see in the winter time. We got to see a 19 hand Clydesdale horse- that is huge in case you don't know horse terminology. We also were able to see a few past Kentucky Derby Winners. When the weather is warmer you can see horse shows.
The Summit at Fritz Farms- If you are wanting to do some shopping this is a cool an outdoor shopping area that is worth a visit. They also have several restaurants and we ate at Honeywood Restaurant.
Honeywood Restaurant- We all loved our dinner here and I always appreciate a menu that clearly marks whether or not something is gluten free or not. The use the term wheat free instead of gluten free because of the cross contamination issue. However, I was assured they did what they could to prevent this. I was even able to eat hoecakes which are similar to cornbread! We loved the decor as well.
County Club- We didn't eat here this visit but we did on our last time here and we loved it. When you don't visit a place often, it's hard to go back to the same place twice. Especially when new restaurants are popping up all the time. With that said, Savannah was really bummed to not have been able to go back and eat here again.
The Amsden- They have a super cute coffee shop in this building that also has a bourbon bar and a mercantile.
Daily Offerings- Our refuge in the storm. When the rain was blowing side ways and we didn't know what we were doing or where we wanted to go, we headed here. When in doubt, a cup of coffee is always the answer.
Heritage Antiques- We just randomly ended up walking in here. I love antique shops- more than my mom and Savannah but they are kind enough to indulge me. They both think I spend too much time looking at every little thing, but there are so many treasures hiding in antique shops. The stained glass windows upstairs are worth the visit alone.
I would love to be able to go back to Lexington and check out Keeneland or the big event, The Kentucky Derby. It's only a 3 hour drive from Nashville so it's a great place for a weekend trip!
