Cost of Living in Tulum

Been there for a day as a day-trip from Cancun. It has some serious Canggu vibes, not gonna lie. Is a great spot to hang out for a couple of days, enjoy some parties and nice food. However you should bring some money as everything is tailored towards American tourists.
Pros:
- many food options
- nice, chill vibe
- obviously greata weather
- nice beaches
- great archaelogical zone

Cons:
- traffic is bad
- super expensive
- touristy

Everything is for American tourists. Prices are sometimes even higher than in the US. Beach is beautiful, there's nothing to do downtown. Cenotes, archaeological zone are cool, worth a visit. Covid is like it doesn't exist. Internet was cool in Selina. Cool to stay for a couple of nights of chilling, but not for living.

This place is a lot of fun, has beautiful beaches, and gives easy access to amazing cavern diving. That said I wouldn't recommend it, overall. You have two parts, centro and hotel zone. Hotel zone is essentially as if Bali existed in the US, but inexplicably is somehow in Mexico. Roughly 3-4x the price of Bali and the rest of Mexico, almost no real mexican food (the best reason to go to Mexico) in the hotel zone, a bunch of beach hipsters (Tuluminati), relatively terrible internet (some 10Mbps+ spots tho), and "eco" branding everywhere yet power provided by huge, loud generators. Tulum centro actually has some solid restaurants and gives you a bit of the nature vibe mixed in with a small mexican town, but unfortunately no beach. If you're looking for a month or longer stay in the mexican caribbean, Playa del Carmen is the far more livable city and it's only like 45mins by car, so you can still do the nature stuff very easily without having to deal with actual Tulum.

Coming from Bali, Tulum is probably 7 years behind. Wifi and cell signal isn't great everywhere. Not many co-working spaces. Similar prices to what you would find in USA. Covid restrictions don't really exisit.

Tulum is loaded with cenotes for exploring and cooling off, beautiful and unique! Find local Maya and listen to their dialect. Learn a few words in Maya, they love to share it! The only beachfront Mayan Ruins are here! Iguanas galore and photo opps! Get a guide, it's worth the history lesson, wear your suit under clothes for a refreshing swim afterwards. Most hotels offer beach clubs, low cost or cost of lunch/drinks, plus they have free wi-fi. Happy hours 2/1 with live music and the recently opened museum are diverse options. In town, restaurants abound and the food is a gastronomic delight! Local taco stops are the best value for a full stomach , happy tastebuds and a light wallet. Fresh sugar cane squeezed by a hank-cranked press offers a variety of Mojitos with live variety shows and music! Other night life, that I love, is watching sea turtles lay their eggs! Fun activities near by are: numerous parks with zip-lines, animal sanctuaries, cultural shows, snorkeling, scuba diving, fishing..... I would describe Tulum as bohemian / hippie/ ish, more relaxed than resorts. It has changed quickly in the last few years to accommodate not only the backpacker but the upscale tourist as well. It's a small but growing community with friendly people and a safe environment.

Most of the cafes do not have aircons, so during summer time you won't be able to work here comfortably. Better rent a place or use one of the coworking spaces listed here (didn't check them myself yet).

Make sure to check the seaweed situation in Tulum before coming here. Seaweed is covering all of the shore in the moment :( ruined my beach experience for the whole trip.

Check Central Park condo residence. It's kind of pricey, but has good internet connection, restaurant, gym.. everything you'll need to stay productive and still enjoying your time here.

I wouldn't trust 4sq ratings for restaurants and other venues. Better ask locals.