Boom Boom Tulum

Josh & I took off for a 10 year anniversary visit with David Keeps to Tulum for Travel+Leisure. For the past 3 years we've stayed at Coqui Coqui and had most of our meals at Hartwood. So traveling with David was like rediscovering Tulum. Coqui Coqui and Hartwood are still going to be my home away from home but now I know there are a few other options when there's no room at the inn. "In Tulum, luxury and earthiness coexist, but the coin of the realm is spirituality. It is a place known for on-site shamans, and the swankest hotel in town, Be Tulum (where the Argentinean-style rooms have limestone walls, freestanding tubs, and air-conditioning), offers something even more ambitious: for $100, the in-room menu promises that a holistic card reading will “recess your inner wisdom and clarify your paths.” Seeking a more hands-on experience, I stop at a roadside kiosk for a massage in a palapa and a take-home jar of Dijon-colored Mayan Clay, which claims to relieve sunburn, eye bags, insect bites, and depression. “Mix it with honey if you put it on your face, then wash it off in the ocean,” the salesperson advises. The idea just makes me hungry. At Casa Jaguar, where Euro-house lounge music provides a mellow backdrop for conversation, my friends and I enjoy cocktails that combine mezcal with hibiscus, cinnamon, and orange. We are joined by Jiri Filipek, a Bangkok-born former Manhattan fashion and home-décor retailer, who has set up Passage to Culture, an insiders’ concierge and tour company for Tulum visitors. “It’s like the Wild West here in a way,” she says of her new home. “If you have a dream and ambition, you can re-create your life here.”