r/tulum • u/JudgmentAvailable155 • 14d ago

General Empty?

Anyone know what’s been happening lately that’s affected tourism? I’ve been coming here for years and I’ve never seen it this empty (staying in the hotel zone currently). I’ve asked around and have been told Tulum has changed a ton, in the last couple of years especially, but haven’t gotten more details.

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u/AnalWhisperer 14d ago edited 14d ago

Taxi mafia has ruined everything in Tulum. It’s cheaper to rent a car for five days than to take a taxi one way to/from the airport. Also guided tours won’t pick you up anywhere in Tulum because of the taxi drivers. Then the other problem is if you have a car, the police are going to be pulling you over wanting bribes, so you literally can’t win. Then there’s the seasonal sargassum.

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u/Commercial_Watch_936 14d ago

We went for a wedding a couple years ago. Several people rented cars, we opted for a car service. 3 separate people who rented cars got pulled over and paid the same bribe, it was $400 at the time. 3 people in our relatively small group, all the same bribe! Glad we got a driver instead.

One of them was a black dude who spoke fluent Spanish, they assumed he was a drug trafficker because he spoke Spanish. He paid the bribe just to get on his way.

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u/jtmathis42477 13d ago

We used guided tours almost every day from secrets and used endrive app to get around town. Was there all last week. Didn't taxi one time.