The coworking space was dead last September - I tried to contact them but no reply.

I stayed in “Aldea Zama” - which is a new area between the maintown and the beach and had great wifi (20/8). There was a beach bar called Papaya Playa which had something like a 5/2 connection.

The rest was pretty shitty but it didnt bother me as I just worked from home. Cool place, way better than PDC.

Has anyone been to Coworking Karma Tulum? Is it even still open (lots of brochure/marketing stuff, but it’s all old) http://coworkingkarmatulum.com

We’re headed there for Mar/Apr/May… just doing due diligence.

TY @avermat for the above info, very helpful.

I’m in Tulum right now (November 2016). I would assume the worst if you’re staying on the beach. However, in town you can find a good connection on the main road. I’m at Campanella Cremerie and getting 30/down 10/up with a 6ms ping on their wifi.

There’s also 4G now with a Telcel sim. However, you have to be on the main road or very close to it. On the main road with my Telcel sim I’m getting 20/down, 20/up, 50ms ping, but I’ve been a few blocks away where I can’t get 4G or even decent 3G. So it’s really hard to say where you’ll get a good signal.

I wouldn’t count on getting a good connection on the beach, especially as you move further south. However, I’m sure you can find a good connection if you search for it. I had 4/down with the wifi at Diamante K the other day which was pretty good. Other spots I’ve tried on the beach were unusable.

Just so you know, a lot of the best beach spots/restaurants are deceivingly far from town, so I would make sure you consider that since the appeal of Tulum is the beach. IMO not the best place to learn Spanish either since the default is English in so many places.

FYI: I’ve only been here a few days so take it for what it’s worth.

I was in Tulum from Feb 2015 thru July 2015 and I can tell you that in my experience the internet speed & reliability were both horrible. I am led to believe that if you live right along the main highway that either cable or xDSL are available and relatively fast. Other than that, the infrastructure is lacking and where I lived, I had to resort to wimax which is extremely expensive (~100USD/month for 5mb down) which I could have made work if I actually got that speed, but rarely did. I experienced random dropouts lasting from hours to days. Indeed there is no 4G available and for the most part, 3G wasn’t very good either. Tulum also tends to be more expensive than many other places in Mexico - but my requirements for housing that is both spacious and comfortable probably contribute significantly to that.

Seconding what Lisa said. I was there in May and the internet was very slow, especially by the beach. It worked slightly better in town, but went out frequently.

Thank you for the info, Lisa. Appreciate it.

It definitely wasn’t very fast (was there in January 2015). I don’t think you’ll be able to do a ton of work unless you are very patient. We definitely had a connection (stayed in town), but it just wasn’t very fast. That said, if you can do some of your work via telephone, you can get a SIM card from IUSACELL or whatever and call the US for free (some of the plans have unlimited US calling) and you should be able to get a connection for that easily.

Just in case anyone stumbles across this later, I totally agree with Parque Espana as a fun place.

You can’t really go wrong staying anywhere along Tamaulipas. You can walk to a different restaurant for every meal for weeks on end. A lot of the places to stay here reflect that popularity which is good and bad. If you’re willing to pay above the market rate of surrounding areas you can almost always find a very nice place on Airbnb that’s available. If you have a lower budget then you’ll want to book pretty far in advance.

Roma Norte also has a great scene it’s worth checking out.

As far as good goes, do not pass up trying the tacos Por Siempre Vegana. Whether you’re vegan or not, these are some of the best tacos in Mexico City which means they’re among the best in the world!

If you’re feeling really adventurous, befriend a local and ask them to tell you about the Tepito neighborhood.

I went to CDMX for 1 month and ended up staying 2 and still didn’t feel like I scratched the surface. One of my favorite cities!

Try Condesa near Parque Espana, which seems to be the most fun area to stay in right now

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I drove my Jeep over the border a couple of weekends ago, from Atlanta to Mexico City.

Lots of Mexico is accessible via highways these days (usually gotta pay a toll though), and I find driving on them much more enjoyable than in the US. The semi trucks actually wait for you to pass before trying to pass another vehicle themselves, so I used cruise control almost nearly uninterrupted the entire trip.

Re: rural areas, I've driven through wine country in Baja California and through farmland in CDMX to get to the volcanos (both via dirt roads), and never had issues. I'd just be very mindful of the topes that are scattered throughout Mexico like landmines. You won't find them on highways, but you'll usually find them on city/town streets, and they're usually unmarked. I think it's one of the reasons why people recommend to not drive at night if you're unfamiliar with the area.

Parking in the city is fine. I've seen really nice cars (Mercedes, Tesla, etc.) parked along the streets, but there's generally paid secured parking if you're uncomfortable with leaving the car on the street.

All in all, I'd say it's been an enjoyable experience. Know the driving rules in the major cities that you plan to drive through (foreigners can't drive on Saturdays in CDMX), and you should be fine.

You're more than welcome to ask me additional questions if you'd like!

I could be into this. I’ll be there March 24th. I’m looking for someone to split costs with.

In general, expats and English speakers are more common around the us embassy (zona rosa, etc). Also Polanco. That’s my experience from my stays there for 2 months in the last two years

Where are you based? Have you found a more nomad-friendly workspace?

Hop into the Mexico City room on Slack. There are lots of us!

It depends a lot per area. Try hoodmaps.com/mexico-city and visit the more hip (yellow) international areas. Also try meetup.com and visit some tech meetups. Most nomads work in tech so you’ll probably find them there!

After Mexico City come to Medellin! Here you will meet many nomads-- There are always Coliving groups basing themselves here for a month at a time, all the time. Plus the coworking space at Selina is always filled with nomads.