Casa Jaguar, a stylish restaurant and bar in Tulum Mexico

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Casa Jaguar lies at the “trendy” part of the Tulum-Boca Paila road, where other eco-chic restaurants and boutique hotels like The Heartwood, Coqui Coqui, Be Tulum, La Rosa de los Vientos are located.  As opposed to the first hotels and cabañas you reach coming from Tulum town, Casa Jaguar and the others in the list offer good quality and a chic environment as opposed to the hippie/dirty style of the ones located at the first miles of the road.

Casa Jaguar is both a restaurant and a bar, with one of the best atmospheres of the Tulum beach.  Any pizza or dish emerging from the wood oven is just amazing.  The restaurant’s speciality is fusion Asian-Mexican food, including some tasty vegetarian dishes.  The place combines open air spaces with thatched roof bars, surrounded by a wall made stone by stone with local materials.  The decoration in nicely completed with some owners family antiques.

Casa Jaguar offers live music (check daily), usually good fusion and jazz.  In the mornings the restaurant is operated by other restauranteurs, breakfasts are highly recommended.

Casa Jaguar is managed by Mexico City’s Patricia Calles and her son Diego, both excellent hosts and always ready to give advice on Tulum activities and places.  Casa Jaguar is definitely one of the Tulum restaurants, and the right place to spend a great time in Tulum Mexico.

Be Tulum, a top eco-chic hotel, restaurant and beach club in Tulum Mexico

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Be Tulum is a one-of-a-kind place in Tulum.  Recently opened (2011), it boasts stylish cabanas secluded in the jungle, most of them in the upper floors featuring private terraces with jacuzzi and a breathtaking view to both sea and the jungle of the Sian Kaan reserve.

With a combination of excellent materials, love and a lots of good taste, Be Tulum is probably the nicest hotel at the Tulum Beach.  Its sophistication has a cost though, double rooms start above $300, a bit more than other hotels in the area with less enchantment.

The beach club and restaurant is a great option for both hotel guests and visitors.  On weekends they offer a tasty barbecue.  They have a great wine list and live music (the jazz band played the best version of “Summertime” I have ever listened to in a live event).  A plus of the beach clubs is that it boasts the hipster crowd of the Tulum sand.

New visit to the Hartwood, a trendy restaurant at the Tulum beach

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The wood oven of the Hartwood restaurant at the Tulum beach

This is my second visit to The Hartwood, the place set up by the new yorkers Eric Werner and Mya Henry.  The Hartwood, and the excellent review it got at the Times is probably one of the reasons why so many New Yorkers are now heading to Tulum.  From movie celebrities to bankers and models, you can now find a lot of people from the Big Apple in Tulum, and almost all of them go to The Hartwood.

The restaurant is clearly different from all the others in Tulum.  In many ways it is very new yorker, with hosts really caring about a fast table turnover (the restaurant is small and there might be a waiting list in any night even in low season).  But the service is warm, good and highly professional.  The ingredients are top quality, hand picked from providers and markets and in the area.

This time I had the flat iron cooked giant shrimps, with a side (on the same flat iron pan) of a vegetables combination reminding ratatouille (red and green peppers, onions, zucchini, etc).  They are cooked (as most hot dished) at wood oven, given them an unique taste.  As a second I had pork loin, it was also excellent, the pork loin is very difficult to cook at the over without a sauce because it can dry very easily.   The wine list is kind of short, but they have good options at a reasonable price (I had a LA Cetto Nebbiolo for $35).  The bar of fresh cocktails is great (I recommend the watermelon, peppermint & vodka drink).

It can be pricey when compared to other Tulum restaurants (mains at approximately $20-30), but it offers really good quality.

Le Bistro, best french restaurant in Tulum

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Located in downtown Tulum, Le Bistro has become a favorite for both locals and tourists.  Founded in December 2010 by the french partners Gilles and Laurent, it offered something new to the Tulum dining scene.  It was an immediate success, it is one of the few restaurants (other than local taquerías) that are always crowded.

The menu is french based, using the available local ingredients including see food, poultry and meet.  I went for dinner and had a tasty tuna carpaccio with a fruity/chili sauce. I also had a green pepper duck leg, both excellent.  Other tempting dishes at the menu included Grouper in a parsil sauce, Filet Mignon in champignon/red wine sauce and herbs roasted chicken.

Not surprisingly Le Bistró also gets crowded for breakfast: they have one of the best coffees in town, and they bake their own bread and croissants (cooked and delivered by Laurent every morning at 9am).

The place is very nice, you can pick up either the street terrace tables to know what is going in town, or one of the nice tables under the trees at their patio (they have a small stage for occasional live jazz).

They have a short but hand picked wine list, including some Bourgogne and Rohne wines with an excellent price/quality ratio. A good wi-fi connection is a plus.

I would say without a doubt it is the best restaurant in downtown Tulum.

 

Tulum Mexico’s high population growth: immigration, marriage and births

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Tulum is a booming town, no crisis seems to affect the optimism of its fast growing population (total population in the Tulum municipality reached 28.283 in 2010).  In the recent 2-3 years, Tulum boasted a population growth rate in the range of 12%-15%, overtaking Playa del Carmen as the fastest growing city in Mexico.

The fast growth is fueled by immigration, both internal and from foreigners, and by the high ratio of births/deaths (737/51 in 2009).  Another curious detail that explains fast growth is the high number of marriages versus divorces: 324 against 6.  The number of marriages might be somehow overstated as a lot of visitors chose Tulum for a beach wedding, but they do settle in Tulum.

I guess these demographics have direct influence in the good mood of Tulumers.  And definitely bode well for real estate development.

 

Zama Village condos (new development in Aldea Zama) construction update

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The Zama Village condos development, the first one in Aldea Zama and one of the best Tulum projects, is expected to be ready by next April, one month before the promised delivery date.

The latest pictures (January 2012) already show a great progress.  All services are ready, even the large pool is already waiting a splash!  There are only two condos left for sale, so if you want one and do not hurry you will have to wait for the second Zama Village development (probably at higher prices).

If you are interested in buying one contact Mariela Tugores, and if you want to make a reservation for a weekly Zama Village rental drop me an email. 

 

Fun and sugar cane drinks at La Guarapera

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The friendly Italian owner of La Guarapera

Tiziana from Mexico recommended us La Guarapera, a cool spot to freshen up before or after the beach.  La Guarapera makes sugar cane beverages, and the sugar cane is crushed at the very moment you ask for the drink (they let you do the crushing if you want).

La Guarapera is owned by a very friendly Italian (one of hundreds of Italians who moved in to Tulum), who changed the shadows of the London subway for the pristine beaches of Tulum after working for 16 years in the underground.  His “shop” is an old Volkswagen beetle, purposely re-shaped for the sugar cane mill machinery.  The beetle is located on the road to the beach, very close to the highway.  Worth visiting.

What are the best months to visit the Mayan Riviera/Tulum

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Almost anytime is good to visit the Mayan Riviera, but for me the best season to visit the Mayan Riviera is February through May, excluding the Easter week.  In the period  May/August it can get extremely hot.   December and January may present a few chill weeks, and X-mas and New Year is too crowded. Then, August through November are the months with the highest probability of hurricanes (peak is August/September), and it rains almost everyday (though there is also sunshine at least some 4-5 hours a day and you can enjoy the beach).

Peak seasons are X-Mas/New Year and Easter for Mexicans, the December/February cold months for the Canadians, August for the Europeans and January/February for the South Americans.   Mexican schools close in July/August for summer holidays, so you will see more Mexican families these two months.

If you are a bargain hunter then your months are October and November.  Occupation rates reaches their lows, and most hotels and cabanas offer incredible low prices (up to 70% less than in peak season).

Aldea Zama progress (November 2011), best tulum development

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The works at the development Aldea Zama Tulum have progressed fast this last year (2011).  After some initial delays, the construction works are at full speed.  In this gallery we can see the progress of the main commercial street of Aldea Zama, a cute pedestrian street that will be packed with restaurants and shops in a few years.

It is rumored that a few owners of the commercial lots of this main pedestrian street will start building soon (the construction/development of the residential lots has already started, with Zama Village condos project estimated to be fully constructed in April 2012).   

The best lots on this pedestrian street, originally at $75.000 are already estimated to have raised its value to the $100-120k range.

Best budget hotels in Tulum

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Tulum has a growing offer of hotels, and in the category of best budget hotels there are very good ones, hotels priced around or below $100 for a double room.  Most of the best budget hotels in Tulum are not seafront, they are in the Tulum town, some 2-3 miles away from the beach.  Tulum is a bicycle friendly town, so if you are staying in one of the value hotels listed here, you can bike to the beach.  The road that connects the Tulum town with the beach has an exclusive bicycle path.   If you are not sporty enough for a bike, you can take a local cab, the fare for a trip to beach is less than $5.  Another option is to rent a car, not strictly needed, but useful if you want to do excursions to parks, ruins and other nature and culture marvels.

Some of the best budget cabanas and hotels are the following:

  • Posada Yum Kin (rates from $65/85 in low/high season).  Address: Kukulkan Norte, between Halcones and Tucanes streets. Phone: +521 984 127 7904.  Very friendly, ideal for families.  Good service.  Beautiful tropical garden, pool and jacuzzi, the ideal place to hang your hammock and relax.
  • Teetotum Hotel (rates from $75). Address: Avenida Cobá Sur 2. Phone: +52 984 143 8956.  Another small family run hotel (from Philladelphia) , just 4 rooms.  Retro-chic decoration (kinda 60s). Highly recommended.
  • Posada Luna del Sur (rates from $60). Check our full review of Posada Luna del Sur Tulum
  • Hotel Latino.  Check our full review of Hotel Latino Tulum
  • Rancho Tranquilo (rates from $20).  You need to be comfortable with a low end hotel, its service and its crowd, but if you are on a really tight budget this is the place for you. Big gardens and rooms are a plus.
  • La Selva Mariposa.  Check our full review of La Selva Mariposa
  • Cabanas Don Diego de la Selva (rates from $ 75).  Address: Calle Tulum, Manzana 24, Lote 3. Phone: +52 984 1149744