My wife and I booked a week-and-a-half trip to the Yucatan Peninsula to see the Mayan archaeological sites. One of the sites is along the beach of Tulum and another site, Coba, is nearby; so, we wanted to stay in the Tulum area for part of our trip. We split the time in Tulum between a couple of nights in town and a night on the beach. We could make the commute to the two archaeological sites and could see some of the town of Tulum while at a lower cost hotel in town and then enjoy the beach while staying at the beach—which you pay for.
Based on a number of reviews (which we found to be fairly accurate), we chose to stay at Hotel Posada 06 for our in-town hotel. Our room was an end room that is upstairs and toward the street. The Hotel is very clean. The rooms are air conditioned, have a good bathroom, and ours is reasonably comfortable. We found the Hotel to be a good hotel at a good value.
We very much liked our room in terms of location. The upper floor gives some distance from the pool, which we preferred given that the pool is very close to the floors on ground floor (Ground floor might be a plus for those who want an easy entry to the pool). As a result, our room is probably a little quieter. The cement exterior walls tend to echo the sound from the inner courtyard. Noise was not an issue for us at all.
We found the courtyard and pool to be quite pretty. The pool is what I would call a social pool. Don’t plan on catching up on those Olympic laps you had scheduled while on vacation at this one. It is small and great for meeting some new friends, which we did, or just hanging out and relaxing. We loved the pool.
As written in some of the other reviews, the bed is a little hard. There is no box spring—there is a mattress on a cement formed base. It was still O.K.
The included continental breakfast is not that good. However, you can order a full breakfast or, as we did, go to one of the many options in town. The Vegetariana serves a great breakfast and lunch. There is also an outstanding Taco place, Urge Taquito, and locally priced (at last! How many restaurants did we do that were full and over-priced by local standards…Watch out for the USD $10+ drinks at the more pricey places!).
The staff at the front desk also do a good job. Alex who works the day shift is fluent in English as well as Spanish and is helpful with your needs. The night shift personnel is also helpful, though not that fluent in English.
Also convenient is Scotiabank, located a-block-and-a-half away from the hotel on the main street. They offered some of the better exchange rates that we encountered during our travel.
The town of Tulum has some great shops which came as a nice plus with staying in town. Proprietor Xbaal has some very nice tropical and beach wear. We dropped a few bucks there. No bargains but well worth a visit. Be aware that their linens, including their blends, will materially shrink in U.S. washing and drying.
One other tip. For me, the water bottled in glass tastes so much better than the plastic stuff and is better for health and the environment. In the town of Tulum, mineral water (carbonated water) bottled in glass is available at the Fresco in front of the local bottling plant on the main street (near Urge Taquito). Unfortunately, nowadays one probably will not find water in glass anywhere else in the area other than a Fresco (or a restaurant). You’ll probably be able to find a Fresco in the cities that have bottling plants. At the time of our trip, the typical charge for the same mineral water in a glass bottle at a restaurant was between 25 and 35 pesos. The cost at Fresco was 6 pesos a bottle plus 3 pesos for a refundable bottle deposit. It was well worth it to us to stop at a Fresco when near one. We would buy the 8 or 10 bottles we would need for several days at a time.
Our travel was at the end of September and the first part of October, which is Mexico’s low season. As a result, there were no crowds. Value, service and our experience during our visit here and throughout the area may have been enhanced due to the limited number of travelers and the discounted rates available this time of the year.
In conclusion, if you want to stay in the town of Tulum, Hotel Posada 06 is a good clean hotel at a good value. We are glad we made Hotel Posada 06 and the town of Tulum part of our trip.