Where to stay in Tulum – Azulik Eco Hotel in Tulum
When I was planning my Mexico trip for 2 weeks in September and then another 2 weeks in October 2014, I asked my fans on Facebook to recommend me a place to stay in Quintana Roo. I was contacted by a girl from Argentina if I was going to visit Tulum too.
I was not sure at that time as I never really stayed in Tulum but I do remember Tulum ruins very well. And I guess the tourists who visited the ruins on the same day back in 2011 do so too. I was the only person crazy admiring the Tulum ruins in bikini! It was unbearably hot that day.
Then, at TBEX conference in Cancun I met the Argentinian girl and her colleagues working for Azulik Eco Hotel in Tulum. They were so sweet when describing me the new temazcal and temazcatl they offer now I just had to go and see by myself.
After practicing Muay Thai boxing in Bangkok for a week, I returned to Mexico and made my way directly to Azulik for 5 days.
I needed to regain the lost energy, catch up with sleep, get some sun, sea and sand time and also work a little bit. Azulik was almost perfect for that.
”Azulik opened 18 years ago. Initially, the owner wanted to build a sort of natural hospital in here where people would come and heal themselves in nature.” told me one of the managers.
Eventually, within a few years the place grew into the hotel you are able to see now, and it’s still growing.
The main idea of ”healing” still remains at Azulik in a way with the Maya Spa offering both traditional massages and unique ones, such as Maya massages with different tools and ingredients, clay facials and chocolate wraps, etc.
”The main goal of Azulik has been to connect people to the nature, to connect them to themselves inside, to the others and also to their partners as Azulik focuses on couples holidays and honeymooners.” Sebastian continued telling me more about the place where I was going to stay for a few days.
”There is just something special about this place. Most of the people who enter Azulik can feel certain energy around the property.” Sebastian smiled. ”One of the guests said on Tripadvisor that the staff at Azulik did not make him feel like a walking ATM machine but like a human.”
I can just add to that … I felt like among my friends who were willing to help me any time I needed and passed me their positive energy through a lot of smiles, and hugs.
I must say, I got very spoiled in all those all inclusive hotels where they want me to try every single restaurant they have and where I end up overeating. So spoiled that it felt weird a bit not having a restaurant right there at Azulik.
For now, at the reception you can only check the menu and order food from an Italian restaurant and they will eventually bring it to your cabaña. Or you can walk a few minutes to the left of the main Azulik entrance and find many restaurants there (Matteo’s with Mexican cuisine and live music some evenings is my favorite one.)
A restaurant is definitely something that is missing at Azulik for now.
The good news is that a very special restaurant should be finished within the next year and a half and will be situated at 7 meters above the sea level where the guests will be able to experience the views of both the ocean and the jungle through the transparent windows. Yay! Hope to dine at the restaurant there when I revisit :)
Azulik Eco Hotel in Tulum is situated approx. 5 km from Tulum town right on the beach and also in the jungle. Because of the jungle, the biggest problem for me at Azulik were the mosquitoes and all other insects that did not want to leave me alone. Sometimes I got 10 bites in a minute! I am all about crazy travel, but obviously this was not my kind of crazy! I still love the jungle for everything else, but the mosquitoes.
The other thing that really bothered me was bad wifi. I understand many people come here to relax and switch off but not everyone wants to do so. As a digital nomad, I need wifi almost 24/7.
Even though I knew before I went to Azulik that I would probably not have any internet connection for 5 days, I still had to make some plans and do social media updates which was a bit of pain in the ass with the slow Azulik wifi as I was wasting a lot of time trying to update everything for a few times until it finally got published.
I am speaking of wifi in my cabaña now. Wifi at the reception usually worked pretty fine but there were mosquitoes annoying me. There’s a lot of breeze at the cabañas so the mosquitoes cannot really survive there but at the reception it’s different, unfortunately.
What I loved about Azulik:
- feeling like part of a family, not like in any other hotel. Very helpful staff always smiling.
- I could walk barefoot all the time (except at night) as the paths are just covered with sand or made of wood – barefoot walking is extremely healthy
- mosquito net around the bed – even though, as I mentioned already, there’s a lot of breeze in the cabañas (when you open all the doors) so not many mosquitoes are stronger than that, a mosquito net at night is still very useful.
- free potable water at the reception and 2 half liter bottles in the room you can refill any time
- free fruit (bananas, apples, pears) and pastries at the reception every day since 8am until they are gone – sometimes you can grab a snack even in the afternoon. I really appreciated this as I only eat fruit for breakfast so I didn’t have to walk out of the hotel early in the morning.
- tea and coffee at the reception – both sweetened and unsweetened tea
- wildlife – from iguanas, to different kinds of lizards crossing my path when walking around and birds on the trees around
- you need your peace and quiet? This is the right place then :)
- temazcal and a unique temazcatl experience
- clothing optional beach – I am not a big fan of nudist beaches myself as I always feel shy and don’t enjoy it that much but here at Azulik’s beach I kind of get used to naked people around me.
- Maya spa – need a massage? No need to go further. Enjoy a spa treatment right in your cabaña with the nice sea breeze.
- a hammock at each cabaña terrace – I could spend the entire day swinging in my hammock and observing the sun or the moon
- Azulik is an eco hotel so all the free toiletries available at your cabaña are natural and not harming the nature at all. The free toiletries include not just natural shampoo, conditioner and soaps but also a coconut body lotion, mosquito repellent and aloe vera after sun gels. They all saved my life! (I am a health freak and I don’t use any chemicals on my skin so I usually have to carry my own cosmetics but at Azulik I could easily use theirs. My thumbs up for this.)
- a super cool bath tub in each cabaña – honestly, I had a bath every night with salt, listening to relaxing zen music, meditating and watching the full moon through the window
- no electricity – there’s just some plugs to recharge your phone/laptop/camera batteries between 7am and 11pm. At night everything including wifi is off and just candles and flash lights lit up your rooms and the pathways. You can get a free flash light to use during your stay. The first night when I checked in it felt so awkward but I got used to it and already my second night I started enjoying the romantic candle-lit atmosphere. Yes, even on my own!
- I loved to fall asleep to the noise of the sea and the wind and wake up when the first sun beams touched my cheeks through the windows. Right from my bed I could see the sunrise and then also the moon light around 8pm from the same spot, too. When I was at Azulik, it was the full moon. Absolutely incredible!
- bicycles for rent – I wish they were included in the price of your stay but it’s still cool to take a bike and make your way to Playa Paraiso (the Paradise Beach)
- Azulik is gay and lesbian friendly
- on the beach there’s blue stones and every day there’s a new word set up from these stones(such as patience, awareness etc.)
TIP: Here’s a newer post I wrote about pros and cons of Tulum. If you’d like to know more about the real Tulum situation nowadays, and what has changed, check my post ;)
My stay at Azulik Eco Hotel in Tulum was a press trip organized as part of my Adventure and Spa project. Many thanks for everything.
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Afnan Mir
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And the pictures are just amazing too.
Afnan Mir
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Reading this made me want to go there. Just imagining how amazing it would feel to experience all that, seeing something so beautiful that it almost feel unreal. A place where u are at peace. Hope to make it there one day. Thanks for sharing your experience, loved it!
Crazy sexy fun traveler
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Comment@ Kyle:
Right, like we both said, sometimes it’s the best thing not to have internet connection for a while :)
Kyle
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Certainly seems like the perfect place to unplug, but not when you need to work. Just the same, I hope to be able to stay at a place like this one soon!