Things to do
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Cenote Dos Ojos
Two round sinkholes, the eyes of the name, connect through a submerged passage in one of the longest mapped underwater cave systems on earth. Divers come for the cavern lines; guided snorkellers cross between the eyes with torches, past stalactites and a colony of bats. Water holds near twenty-five degrees all year, which feels cold after an hour. North of Tulum off the highway.
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Tulum Archaeological Site
Walls on three sides and a low cliff on the fourth enclose a late Maya port, trading obsidian and salt when Europeans first sailed past. El Castillo sits on the edge above turquoise water, with the Temple of the Frescoes and its descending god behind. Shade is scarce and the site opens early: the first hour is the cool one. Iguanas own the stonework.
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Akumal
Green turtles graze the seagrass of Akumal Bay a short swim from the sand, and the bay has been a protected marine refuge since 2016. Snorkelling in the turtle zone is allowed only with a licensed guide and a life jacket, and touching or chasing the animals is banned. Half Moon Bay next door has quieter reef. The village lies a half-hour drive north of Tulum.
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Azulik
Villas of twisted vine and tropical wood stand on stilts above the beach road, joined by raised walkways through the jungle canopy. Several rooms look straight onto the sea from a hammock net. The villas sit a short walk from the beach, on the hotel strip south of Tulum town, with the jungle close behind.
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Cobá
Forest swallowed this inland city, and its groups of temples stand kilometres apart, linked by the raised limestone causeways the Maya called sacbeob; one ran clear across the peninsula. Bicycles and pedicabs wait at the entrance for the distances involved. Nohoch Mul rises above the canopy, though the stairway has been closed to climbers. Howler monkeys and mosquitoes come with the shade.
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Gran Cenote
Turtles drift across the open pool here, and a boardwalk crosses to caverns where stalactites come down to the waterline. Snorkel gear reveals the connection between the two basins, part of a flooded cave system that runs for hundreds of kilometres underground. A rinse in the showers is compulsory before entry. By noon it belongs to queues, so avoid midday.
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Laguna Kaan Luum
Shallow warm water over a white marl bottom rings a dark blue hole at the centre, dozens of metres deep and roped off from swimmers. A wooden jetty runs out to the rope; the rest is waist deep for a long way. Sunscreen is banned, since the lagoon drains into the same aquifer as the cenotes. Minutes south of the town on the highway.
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Muyil
Steep-sided temples rise from the forest at this Maya site on the edge of Sian Ka'an, settled for well over a thousand years and linked to the sea by canals. Paths lead from the ruins toward the Chunyaxché lagoon, where boats leave for the reserve's channels. Shade is deep and the mosquitoes are fierce. The site lies on the Chetumal highway.
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Playa Paraíso
White sand and a curve of palms just south of the ruins, with a rock outcrop at the north end that appears in most photographs of the coast. Beach clubs rent loungers behind the high-water line and the sand stays public. Sargassum arrives on the prevailing wind through the warmer months, and crews rake it at dawn. Parking sits beside the beach road.
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Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve
Half a million hectares of mangrove, marsh, dune and reef south of Tulum, listed by UNESCO and named in Maya as the place where the sky is born. Two ways in: the Muyil lagoons, where a Maya-cut canal carries floating visitors between walls of reeds, and the unpaved track to the fishing village of Punta Allen, several hours of potholes. No fuel along it.
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Xel-Há Park
A natural inlet where underground fresh water runs out to the Caribbean forms the centre of this park north of Tulum, and the mixing layers shimmer around parrotfish and rays. Visitors snorkel the inlet, float down a slow river through mangroves on inner tubes, and jump from rock ledges. The park lies on the coast highway between Tulum and Playa del Carmen.
