Flying into Tulum Felipe Carrillo Puerto Airport in Tulum keeps the region at your fingertips, with nearby places just a short drive away. Tulum pairs clifftop Maya ruins over turquoise water with a jungle-lined beach road of open-air restaurants, boutique hotels, and bicycles. The town side is where locals eat and live; the beach side is barefoot, candlelit, and slow. Just inland, the limestone is riddled with cenotes, the freshwater sinkholes that make this stretch of coast unique.

Things to do around Tulum: - Explore the walled ruins of Tulum at opening time, then swim at the beach below - Snorkel or dive the cavern systems at Dos Ojos and the Gran Cenote - Float the ancient canal at Muyil inside the Sian Kaan Biosphere Reserve - Bike among the pyramids at Coba, about 45 minutes inland - Snorkel with sea turtles in the bay at Akumal - Eat at a taqueria on Avenida Tulum, then go for cocktails on the beach road - Paddle a kayak across the shallow, round lagoon of Kaan Luum - Spend a sunrise on Playa Paraiso before the day trippers arrive

Playa del Carmen and its shopping street are about an hour north of Tulum, and the Maya town of Felipe Carrillo Puerto, where the Caste War once centered, is about the same distance south. Cochinita pibil, pork slow-roasted in banana leaves, is the dish to order at a Sunday market, and a frozen coconut on the roadside is the right way to beat the afternoon heat. Pack a swimsuit, rent a bike, and keep the itinerary loose.