Amazing Children's Charity to Visit in Tulum

Tulum is our favorite place in the world for many reasons, but high up on the list is our collaboration with Los Amigos De La Esquina (LADLE), a local nonprofit that hosts fantastic activities for local mayan kids. It is an amazing non profit organization to visit in Tulum where you and your family can volunteer!

LADLE runs activities 6 days a week for kids ages 4-16 all based on art, wellbeing, environmental consciousness, and life skills. When LADLE began, 6 years ago, many of these wonderful local kids had never even been to the beach. Now the kids are the first invited to beach clean ups and beach events, they go birding, take dance classes, music classes, cooking class, do yoga and more!! The organization is wonderfully inclusive and does not charge any fee for the kids to join in on these activities. If you are traveling with your kids, an afternoon with LADLE will be an awesome way for them to play and see that language is no barrier for having a fantastic time and meeting new people! 

The kids from LADLE  are wonderfully curious, excited and loving kids and it is an absolute privilege to work with them and watch each one of them grow.

In 2021, the org inaugurated a community center made using sustainable materials and made a mural surrounding the entire building using more than 100,000 bottle caps!

It is an amazing place to spend an afternoon, getting to know a wonderful side of Tulum that is filled with love. 

Community Center in Tulum

Best Kid Friendly Beach Clubs in Tulum

Best Kid Friendly Beach Clubs in Tulum

Tulum is famous for it’s amazing beaches, natural beauty and of course it’s amazing beach clubs. Here we have a list of our favorite kid friendly beach clubs in Tulum so you and your family can enjoy the perfect day while on vacation.

Note: Many beach clubs in Tulum are adults only- if checking for a beach club outside of this list our advice is to send them a whatsapp message to know what their current policy is. Often time websites are not updated in time to reflect changes in policy

La Zebra

La Zebra is one of our favorite hotels in Tulum. They have the most amazing and friendly staff, impeccable service, and one of the only kids play areas on the beach. We have worked closely with them since 2017 and notice an effort on their part every year to be more and more kid friendly.

Kid Friendly Beach Club- La Zebra

Their first floor rooms almost all have plunge pools/jacuzzis (you have to ask for them to heat it up for you). These are great for younger kiddos who want to splash around but are still practicing their swimming.

They also have a shallow pool on the second floor of the restaurant with an area for kiddos to walk along the pool (and for adults to sit).

La Zebra’s restaurant has a fantastic kids menu including- chicken/fish fingers, hamburgers, pasta (not on the menu but they can make it) and quesadillas.

Posada Margherita

This is one of the original Tulum hotels and it maintains an awesome authentic vibe. The owner is an amazing supporter of a local nonprofit that works with local mayan kids and you can always find him at Posada Margherita.

The food there out of this world delicious. We highly recommend the zucchini pasta, and every single pizza on the menu.

They have the coziest area on the beach to hang out and relax and the vibes are unmatched. It is one of the most relaxing places in the hotel zone. The decorations are all plant and nature based and they even have baby palm trees growing out of coconuts lining the walk way.

It had a large beach front for the kids to play and lots of day beds with shade to spend the day.

Best places for dinner in Tulum town (locals insights)

We love tulum, the beaches, the cenotes and of course the food! Tulum has world famous restaurants that you’ll find on every blog but our goal is to give you local insights to find restaurants that will blow your mind.

This time around we will be focusing on Tulum town.

Mestixa 

Wow wow wow the food at Mestixa. The first time I went there I talked about it non stop for days. They are self described as “an Asian and Mexican street food concept” and the combination will leave you wanting more. My personal favorite was the shrimp plate but my recommendation is to order a few dishes and share them. That way you get the enjoy the full experience. They also have great cocktails. Located right in Satelite it is a great place to go to get the same quality as the hotel zone but without all the traffic.

Cetli

Cetli is known for its amazing authentic Mexican food. Walking in is like walking into a Mexican grandmas house. The atmosphere makes you feel right at home and you will remember the food forever. To start off, we recommend the mole tasting plate. Mole is as traditional as Mexican gets. They offer mole made from chocolate, almond, and more!

They also have an appetizer plate with different types of jam and cheese served in a tiny corn husk. Again this is the type of place where you want to order lots of dishes to share. And the salads. Wow the salads. One of the most refreshing dishes I’ve had the pleasure of tasting. My personal recommendation is the chile relleno. This is a dish typically reserved for Christmas time but here we get the luxury of having it year round. It is a green pepper stuffed with beef and topped in a cream based sauce. 

Shopping for Essentials in Tulum

The magic of Tulum is it’s small quaint nature. But sometimes that quaintness makes it harder to find the things you need. Here we will breakdown the best tips for shopping for essentials in Tulum.

There are two main parts of Tulum- the town center and the hotel zone. In the town center you will find more variety and larger chain stores, as well as amazing locally owned shops. In the hotel zone you will find more boutiques and luxury items.

If you are staying at a private house or would like to buy some more toys and supplies for your kiddos a trip into town is our best recommendation.

Here we will provide options in Town. Your best options to get these products is to hail a cab or call on Tomato. A delivery service here in Tulum that will deliver for a small fee.

Town

Big Store

The Chedraui is our chain grocery store here in Tulum. It is where you will be able to find everything ranging from diapers and soccer balls to cous cous and imported wines. Since the store tailors so much to tourists and expats you’ll be able to find similar products to the ones you find at home. The other super market Super Aki is not as well stocked. If possible try to go to the Chedraui in the morning/early afternoon. After 6pm many people get off work and the store becomes very crowded and can add extra stress to your vacation.

The Chedraui also has multiple ATMs available for all sorts of different banks (HSBC, BBVA, Santander etc).

Local Shops

Our favorite local shop to buy products is Co Con. Amor. They have a great selection of products that use 0 plastic. Co Con. Amor prides itself on being one of the most sustainable places in Tulum and also a delicious vegetarian/vegan restaurant. Here you’ll be able to get your bamboo toothbrushes, peanut butter, organic shampoo and conditioners, and more!

Driving around town you will notice little shops that say “Abbarrotes.” These are mom and pop shops that sell the essentials and basics! Rice, beans, some fruits and veggies. They are an amazing way to stimulate the local economy.

In the case you find yourself in a pinch there are many pharmacies and other smaller stores that opened in the Hotel zone.

SCUBA Diving Cenotes in Tulum

Tulum is known for spectacular things, the food, the culture, the beautiful beaches but there is one thing where Tulum shines above the rest of the world and that is SCUBA diving in cenotes.

Cenotes are the entrances to the underground river system. The ancient Mayans believed that these were the entrances to the underworld. The rivers are made up of fresh water that stay at 77 degrees, no matter what the outside temperate. They are fantastic places to explore year round. Of course you can snorkel through these magical freshwater caverns but to get the full experience we highly recommend going SCUBA diving!

There are a few options that allow everyone from beginners to pros to get the most out of a scuba diving trip.

Beginner

So you’ve made it to Tulum and want to try your hand at a new skill, go out of your comfort zone, or even check something off of your bucket list. Amazing!

The best place to start is a Discover scuba dive. Here you will learn the basics and dive right in ( get it haha) to the experience.

If you absolutely love the experience, you can sign up to do your Open Water Course. With this you will be able to Scuba dive in wonderful places all over the world. Your Discover Scuba dive counts as your Day 1 of your open water course and so you just need to do the last 2 days and you will be a certified diver. That is after you take a 1 hour open book test. You can dive in magical places like Dos Ojos and Tajmaha,

Intermediate

The way to gain access to the mindblowingly incredible deep dives in Tulum is to do your advanced course. Over the course of 2 days you’ll gain experience in completing 5 adventure dives including a deep dive to 30m/99ft. Under water navigation and 3 more adventure dives in various areas.

We love diving with Adventure Tour Center and they are ready to take you exploring in a world unlike any you have seen before!

Contact us for more details about spectacular cenote diving!