To visit the Tulum area, get a rental car; it will make everything much easier. From the north you'll pass the entrance to the ruins before the town. After the ruins, you'll come to a highway intersection with a traffic light. To the right is the highway leading to the ruins of Cobá; to the left is the Tulum hotel zone, which begins about 2km (1 1/2 miles) away. The road sign reads BOCA PAILA, which is a place halfway down the Punta Allen Peninsula. This road eventually goes all the way to the tip of the peninsula and the town of Punta Allen, a lobstering and fishing village. It is a rough road that is slow going for most of the way. A few kilometers down the road is the entrance to the Biosphere Reserve.
The town of Tulum is growing quickly. It now extends for 3 or 4 blocks in either direction from the highway. The highway widens here and is called Avenida Tulum. It is lined with stores, restaurants, and what seems like a drug store on every corner. One place that I find handy is a travel agency/communications/package center called Savana (tel. 984/871-2081) on the east side of Avenida Tulum between calles Orion and Beta. Most of the staff speaks English and can answer questions about tours and calling home. There's also a good bicycle rental store: Iguana Bike (tel. 984/871-2357; hugo_bike@hotmail.com) on Calle Satélite Sur near the corner of Calle Andrómeda. The owner, Hugo Herrera, maintains his bikes well and organizes tours.
