Tulum, Mexico

Hello! Sam here! I wanted to share our recent trip to Mexico with you!

Brian and I wanted to start our travel adventures pretty quickly after we got married. We didn’t have an actual honeymoon after our wedding, instead, we stayed at The Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City, UT for two nights. So, this trip was our belated honeymoon.

We decided to start our adventures in Mexico because it is a short enough plane ride to be able to be done in one day with some time left at the end for relaxing. Quite a few of my coworkers and friends have stayed in Tulum and it has been at the top of my bucket list of places to visit ever since.

I am the worst planner and opted for an all-inclusive option to take some of the stress off of my shoulders for my first out-of-country adventure. This way, all meals, and drinks would be included in the price (with the exceptions of some alcoholic beverages) and we could see what activities were being held at the time as not to stress over planning out each day.

Where:

Tulum, Mexico is located about an hour and a half south of Cancun.

Bahia Principe Luxury is an all-inclusive resort with plenty of restaurants and activities for the whole family. There are 4 different resorts in all of Bahia Principe, Mexico Rivera Maya. We stayed at Akumal. There are three different pools, including an 18+ area, beachfront access, constant activities happening all around the resort, a special kids area, and a whole lot more.

I booked the room through Expedia @ 183.67 / night which some might think is a little steep however, when you account for the fact it is All-Inclusive, that price is very affordable.

The flights were booked through JustFly.com and I honestly can not remember what I paid for them. I believe they were around $400-something for each person round trip.

Packing:

We didn’t want to have the added expense of checking a bag, so we searched around for carry-on bags that would provide us with enough room to carry all that we required for the trip. I had seen Solgaard ads on Instagram and decided to try out their product. They boast of hanging closets that fit into their backpacks or suitcases. For this trip, we decided to purchase their Lifepack Endeavor (with closet) backpacks to test before investing in other products. We were able to fit more than enough sets of clothing for the 4-day trip. The only downside that I found with this item is it doesn’t have wheels and will get heavy when sitting in a 2-hour check-in line.

All of the swimsuits I wore in Mexico are linked in my LiketoKnow.it profile. I wasn’t able to get pictures of all of them, but I will link them anyway.

Flight to Mexico:

You must have a mask while in the airport and on the plane. There is no social distancing enforced.

Masks are required for the entire duration of the plane ride and in the airports

Delta emailed us and said we had to have a negative COVID test to get into Mexico, however, no one asked to see it.

Fly Clear is $14.92 or $179 for 12 months and allows you to bypass the security line. It is pretty much a fast pass to jump to the front of the line no matter how long it is. We signed up once we arrived at the Salt Lake Airport and I can tell you this was the best impulse decision that we have ever made.

MEX Airport is the most confusing airport. There are hardly any signs telling you where to go and not one of the employees was willing to help us find our gate. We ended up having to go through security all over again. Due to this, we almost missed our connecting flight, which was hosted by AeroMexico.

Arrival:

When we arrived in Cancun, our driver from Cancun Airport Transportation was waiting for us. I had previously booked this shuttle to include a 1-hour shopping stop.

Victor was our driver from the airport to the resort and he was fantastic! Our flight arrived a little later than expected and he took us to the grocery store that was next to a taco stand that one of his friends ran. He chatted with us all about Mexico and Tulum. I have never had authentic street tacos and they were amazing! Everyone we met at the stand was so friendly and gave us a new taco recipe on the house!

Upon arriving in Cancun, I realized I had a booking mishap. I didn’t book a room for the night that we arrived in Mexico but instead for the following night. The hotel was nice and booked us an extra night before our original booking for $10 more than what I had originally booked for.

About the Resort:

There are about 5 different resorts in BAHIA-Riviera Maya, Mexico to choose from. They all have pools, activities, and staff, however, they do share restaurants and some activities such as swimming with dolphins. Golf carts are traveling between all of them and different places all over each resort. Don’t want to walk to your room? Hitch a ride! Don’t want to walk to the restaurant at another resort? Hitch a ride!

There are many different villas, each one has 3 floors and 12 rooms. We opted for a king-sized bed that came with a sitting area and a balcony.

The food court is a buffet-style for every meal. There are plenty of options for the whole family.

Our resort had 3 different pools including a kids pool and an adults-only pool. There was also a secret 18+ infinity pool, but we didn’t have time to fully explore that side.

The resort pre-booked a free COVID Test for each guest 3 days before their departure ensuring that they can get on the plane and back home safely.

Activities:

There are plenty of activities going on all day all around the resort such as a mini-golf tournament right on the beach, water volleyball tournament, water aerobics, and much much more.

On the second day, we decided to participate in the bike ride that the resort had on the schedule. Brian and I were the only two for our time and we were able to have a personal guide, Delmar, show us around the resorts.

One of the nights had two magic shows, one for the kids and another for the adults. On another night, they scheduled two circus shows, again one for the kids and another for the adults. These were great activities to end the day.

Brian wanted to go golfing so we headed over to the PGA Golf Course. It was not crowded at all and was a great way to spend some one-on-one time with each other. Make sure to bring bug spray because you will be eaten alive.

Restaurants:

There are plenty of restaurant options to get a reservation for dinner. You are given 1 reservation per day you stay with the resort. We chose to try Tequila and Dolce Vita.

Tequila is a buffet-style restaurant that has 9 different stations to choose from. We opted to try a little bit of everything.

Dolce Vita is a Mexican-Italian restaurant. There weren’t as many options to choose from and we ended up leaving a little early as we weren’t hungry in the first place.

Room Service is available 24/7 and has many different options. We ordered from the pasta menu and were pleasantly surprised.

Departure:

Cancun Airport Transportation picked us up at 7 am and got us to the airport 3 hours before our flight.

Masks are required in the airport. It took us 2 hours to check-in and get our boarding pass printed out. TIP: Check-in at the kiosk instead of on the app. That way you can print your boarding ticket right then. Make sure to fill out the attestation and your medical pass before going up to the security employees. This is where you will have to show your negative COVID test.

We flew with AeroMexico to GLD. Employees were much nicer in helping us find out connecting flight along with the airport having much better signage to direct travelers to the correct gate. From there, Delta took us back to Utah.

This is a great option if you don’t want to have to worry about anything and just go with the flow. Activities are happening every night for kids and adults.

This resort is a 5-star resort, not because of the luxury (don’t get me wrong, it is luxurious) but the employees make it worth staying there. They make it a point to remember you and get to know you by name.

Let me know where we should go next or what kind of things you want to see on the blog!

With love,

S. Parkinson

with love, s. Parkinson

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