If you’re considering a vacation in Tulum and you’re wondering about the Tulum seaweed problem, let me reassure you that it isn’t a guaranteed problem; the seaweed doesn’t cover every single beach all the time and even when the beaches are seaweed-y, there are plenty of great options for activities in Tulum.

My family and I spent a month living in the pueblo magico of Tulum at the end of 2016. We spent every day studying Spanish and when we weren’t at school we were busily exploring our surroundings including the perfect Tulum beaches.

Since this first glorious month living in Tulum, we have been back regularly. We’ve watched Tulum develop and grow at incredible speed. We’ve also watched with sadness as Mexico’s gorgeous Caribbean Coast has been beset with regular influxes of sargassum.

Let me now share with you the most fun things to do in Tulum when the beach is covered in seaweed.

What is Sargassum and Why Does it Matter to Me and My Vacation?

🌊 Sargassum is a type of brown algae or seaweed that floats on the ocean currents in large island formations. It never attaches to the ocean floor.

🌊 These large ‘islands’ can provide food, safety and breeding grounds for marine life but they don’t make your beach experience pretty.

🌊 An unexpected consequence of climate change is that much sargassum, which usually remains in the Sargasso Sea, is washing up on Mexico’s Caribbean Coast including Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum.

🌊 The Tulum seaweed problem is actually much bigger than even a Mexican problem: the Great Sargassum Belt is visible from outer space it’s so big. It’s a 13-million-ton mass that stretches 8,000 km long and 500 km wide in an area of the Atlantic Ocean between the Gulf of Mexico and the coast of West Africa. Just like Mexico, plenty of other popular vacation destinations, including Punta Cana in the Dominica Republic are having to learn how to deal with sargassum.

🌊 When sargassum washes up on shore it can rot and produce hydrogen sulfide gas, which smells like rotten eggs. It can irritate the eyes, nose and throat and the bugs and bacteria that live in it can be itchy and even cause medical issues.

🌊 Local hotels and local authorities are working around the clock to remove as much Tulum seaweed as possible but realistically this is a battle humans are unlikely to win without huge changes to our lifestyle. Hotels have staff outside at dawn raking it all up so that visitors like us can still enjoy our vacations.

🌊 Some Tulum seaweed is also being collected up and harvested at sea before it hits the beaches. Barriers have been installed in the ocean to try and prevent it even reaching shore.

🌊 Mexican scientists and industry is working to create useful products from the sargassum and seaweed that are plaguing their shores. There are already biostimulants and biofertilizers, bioconstruction (bricks, concrete), paper and research groups are trying to work out how to generate biofuel from it.

When is the Tulum Seaweed Problem at its Worst?

You’re probably wondering when is the best time to visit Tulum in order to avoid seaweed season, right? So let’s figure this out now:

⏱ April – October are the hottest months on the Yucatán Peninsula. November – January are the coolest months. Tulum’s high season coincides with the cooler period.

⏱ The worst months for seaweed washing up in Tulum and the rest of the Caribbean Coast are considered to be June, July and August. Given that this is also hurricane season it does make sense to book your Tulum vacation for another time. However, if you have kids or strict vacation dates and have to come in these months, don’t worry, there are very few hurricanes and there’s always plenty to do in Tulum and along the Caribbean Coast.

⏱ The best months to visit Tulum if you want to avoid the Tulum seaweed problem are November, December, and January.

⏱ I was last in Tulum in early March (just before Spring Break) and there was some seaweed but it wasn’t terrible. While I personally didn’t feel like wading through seaweed to swim, others in my group did and said it wasn’t too bad. (The photo below was taken at dawn in March for reference). Tulum, is of course, a very popular spring break destination.

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What Are My Options for Avoiding the Tulum Seaweed?

You have options. You could choose to visit another region of Mexico. Mexico has over 10,000 km of coastline and much of it is utterly incredible for beach vacations. You could consider:

⭐️ Yucatán’s gentle Emerald Coast with its gorgeous fishing villages and peaceful towns.

⭐️ The laid-back town of Sayulita in Nayarit and nearby trendy and upmarket Puerto Vallarta (Jalisco).

⭐️ Baja California for some of the best diving and snorkelling experiences in one of the world’s most biodiverse marine regions (and also wine tasting).

⭐️ The beautiful beaches of Oaxaca such as Puerto Escondido and Zipolite, Mexico’s only official nudist beach.

Even if we remain within Quintana Roo there are options for seaweed-free vacations. The exposed eastern coast of Quintana Roo is most likely to be hit by seaweed. Therefore, the following areas are less likely to see seaweed than Tulum:

⭐️ Isla Mujeres rarely sees any seaweed.

⭐️ Cozumel‘s west coast is generally seaweed free (the east coast is not)

⭐️ Chiquila Beach (this is actually the port town for Holbox, which sadly is seeing some seaweed, too).

⭐️ Bacalar – not strictly a beach but its fabulous Laguna de 7 Colores still draws the crowds.

⭐️ Isla Contoy (photo above) – no one can stay on Isla Contoy but this gorgeous island is visitable for a fascinating and luxurious day trip.

⭐️ Some beaches in Cancun remain fairly free of sargassum.

It’s always worth doing some research, checking the early warning systems, and asking around if you’re already in Tulum and are looking to escape the Tulum seaweed.

Tulum, of course, is an extremely beautiful place with numerous gorgeous spots to hang out in whether there’s seaweed on the beach or not. Many people visit Tulum purely on the basis of pictures they’ve seen on Instagram. They’re generally not let down. It is that gorgeous.

Where to Stay in Tulum

📍 Best Beachside Hotel: Nerea Tulum – this 4 star hotel in Tulum’s Hotel Zone offers true luxury. From the ocean views to the perfect little pier, you won’t go wrong here.

📍 Best Hostel: Centrally located in Tulum Pueblo is Kinich Hostel, right in the middle of the town.

➡️ Did you know that the Tulum restaurant scene is excellent, both on the beach and in town there are incredible dining opportunities.

What Can You Do in Tulum when there is Too Much Seaweed?

Sadly there is a good chance that your Tulum beach vacation won’t be the idyllic tropical beach vacation of your dreams but that doesn’t mean you won’t have an incredible time. I’ve been to Tulum multiple times and always had a great time whether the beach was pristine or not. There are plenty of fun activities in and around Tulum for those non-beach days.

How To Get Around Tulum

If the Tulum seaweed is a problem and you’re not going to be just sitting on the beach sipping that margarita then you have a few options:

🚗 Renting a car: this means freedom to come and go as you like, being able to spend as long as you want in any location and not having to deal with other people.

🚍 Relying on public transport and cabs: there are buses and mini-buses between the main towns such as Tulum and Cancun. You can ask bus drivers to stop along the route and you can wait along routes and hope buses stop. Difficult to use public transport to visit some of the more rural locations by public transport. Cabs are expensive in this region of Mexico.

👬 Taking tours: While tours often feel expensive, they can be a good way to see more than one attraction easily in a day. They also allow you to meet locals and visit places you might not have heard of. I’ve included some tour links where relevant, below.

🚂 The Maya Train should be operational in early 2024, which offers yet more exciting experiences in this region and Tulum will be one of the main stations along the route.

Visit Mayan Ruins

Tulum Ruins

Tulum, like Chichén Itzá, is an incredibly touristy site but this doesn’t mean it isn’t worth your time. The ruins are perched in a magnificent spot atop a cliff. There is nowhere like the Tulum ruins anywhere in the world.

📌 Best option is to visit either first or last thing to avoid the crowds.

📌 There is a small train running from the shopping complex at the entrance to the ticket office. It’s not free but if you don’t feel like walking the 500m from the plaza to the entrance it’s a good option.

📌 Take water and a hat as it is hot!

📌 When the seaweed isn’t a problem, take your swimming stuff as there’s access to a gorgeous small beach via the ruins.

📌 Look out for the iguanas that are all over this site.

Both Tulum ⬆️ and Muyil ⬇️ make it onto my list of top 10 ruins to visit on the Yucatán Peninsula

Muyil – An Alternative Archaeological Site

📌 Muyil is just a twenty-minute drive out of town along Highway 307 through Tulum to the south and it’s well worth the effort of getting there.

📌 The site is entirely in the jungle and is one of the earliest inhabited Maya areas on the east of the peninsula.

📌 Take a few hours to explore this magnificent ruin, stop to wonder at the trees, look up and spot a howler monkey, and marvel at the peace and quiet of the site. Don’t forget too, that you can access the Sian Ka’an Biosphere from within Muyil (the path behind the first large pyramid).

📌 Unlike the Tulum ruins, you’re unlikely to run into anyone else here as it really isn’t a well known ruin.

⭐️ Read more about the Mayan ruins in Quintana Roo

Tulum Water Activities

If you haven’t been to Tulum before then the most important thing to know is that technically all beaches are free to access in Mexico. Where the coastline has been built up like in Cancun, Playa del Carmen or Tulum, actually getting access can be more difficult than it should be but there is always a way; you just have to find it.

It’s worth getting down to see the beach even if there’s too much seaweed to really enjoy it.

If you turn left towards the public access beaches, you’ll find beach cafes and bars. You can use their chairs and loungers as long as you buy something from them. Otherwise, set up a towel and an umbrella of your own and enjoy the beach for free.

If you arrive in Tulum and find that you don’t really find the idea of swimming in the sea to be that attractive when it’s full of seaweed then panic not, you do have options. You can still enjoy a beach drink (photo above taken in March 2023 for reference), enjoy a walk along the beach and even sunbathe without distraction.

Sian Ka’an Biosphere

When the beach doesn’t call to you, explore the Sian Ka’an Biosphere. Just south of Tulum, this is one of the most incredible places in Quintana Roo and absolutely must be seen to be believed. There are two main entries to the Biosphere: muyil and Punta Alan.

📌 This is an extremely special part of the Tulum coastline: this protected biosphere is home to tropical forests, mangroves, freshwater marshes, lagoons and a barrier reef out in the Caribbean Sea. This is around 5,000 square km of protected land.

📌 In the mid-80s, Sian Ka’an was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

📌 Sian Ka’an means ‘origin of the sky’ in Mayan and I’d say the name fits pretty well. It’s hard to see where the sky begins and the water ends, so blue and perfectly delicious are both. There are plenty of options for activities in the biosphere, some cheaper than others.

📌 My favourite activity in the Sian Kaán Biosphere is floating down the Maya canal between Laguna de Muyil and Laguna Chunyaxhé. You don’t need to do anything at all as the current is just strong enough to move you along, but not strong enough to prevent you from stopping if you grab a mangrove root or simply stand up. Adults can stand at most points in the water.

📌 Visit Laguna Kaan Luum or Laguna Nopalitos (both easily accessible from Tulum) for fun and different swimming experiences and plenty of photo opportunities with swings and hammocks.

📌 If you head to Punta Alan you’ll be able to get much further into the Sian Ka’an biosphere, something I haven’t yet done but am keen to organise. From here you can access the Sian Ka’an coast, something that’s nigh on impossible alone from Tulum.

📌 Realistically, the tours mentioned above can all be done if you have access to a car but anything further into the Sian Kaan biosphere would require a proper tour as it isn’t super accessible to individuals.

Cenotes Around Tulum

Other swimming options obviously include your hotel or apartment pool. You could also head to a cenote for a very different swimming experience.

The word cenote (pronounced se-no-tay) comes to us, via Spanish, from the Mayan word dzonot, ‘sacred well’. Geologically speaking, a cenote is a sinkhole caused by collapsing limestone bedrock, exposing the groundwater below. The Yucatán Peninsula is absolutely covered with cenotes.

Cenotes were used by Mayans as sources of fresh water, and as such they would build their cities near them. They considered the cenotes to be both water sources and an entrance to the underworld.

There are thought to be as many as 6000 across the peninsula but barely half have been officially explored and documented. Every cenote is different so don’t assume that because you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. You’re never done.

There are four types of cenote:

🌎 Open – these can resemble lakes and ponds. Generally near ground level.

🌎 Semi-open – not entirely covered.

🌎 Deep open –  no cave roof, requires steps down to reach the water.

🌎 Closed – a full cave experience.

There are dozens of cenotes to visit around Tulum either on your own or with a tour group.

Best for families: Cenote Car Wash (also called Ak Tun Ha) or Gran Cenote

Best for adventure: Cenote Calavera, Cenote Yax-Muul

Best for divers: Cenote Dos Ojos – good for first dives, Cenote Angelita – good for experienced divers

Day Trips From Tulum

If the beach is covered in seaweed why not leave Tulum and explore a little? Here are a few ideas to whet your appetite:

📌 Chichén Itzá – one of the seven modern wonders of the world is just a few hours from Tulum. Pair it with a cenote like Yokdzonot or Ik Kil for an incredible day out.

📌 Cobá – these jungle ruins will blow your mind. Pair with a nearby cenote.

📌 Head to Playa del Carmen or Cancun for a day of tourism and activities such as swimming with whale sharks or snorkeling over MUSA, the world-famous underwater museum.

📌 Explore the gorgeous Colonial cities of Valladolid or Mérida, or even Izamal for an entirely different experience of Mexico.

📌 Book a cenote tour that includes ATVs and other adventurous activities.

Theme Parks and Attractions for When the Tulum Seaweed is Too much

There are numerous theme parks and attractions along the Riviera Maya coast. These of course include the Xcaret Parks (Xel-Ha is the closest to Tulum), Rio Secreto, Selva Magica Eco-Adventure, Native Park, Tulum, Mystika Immersive.

Frequently Asked Questions About the Tulum Seaweed Problem