Tulum Travel Diaries; An Adventure Day On Bikes

Exploring Tulum on push bikes is said to be one of the best ways to get around town and see the sites, so that’s exactly what we did one delightful Tuesday afternoon in late January.

Our morning began with a stop at the Insta-famous Azulik.

Its sculptural wooden forms, woven and curved as if grown rather than built, rise from the jungle floor in perfect harmony with nature.

Walking through the installation felt peaceful and meditative, the kind of place that invites you to slow your breath and soften your thoughts.

From there, we continued our 40 minute cycle along the straight stretch of Tulum’s beach road.

Hotels peeked through palms and every so often, the Caribbean sea flashed between the trees in impossible shades of blue.

The ride itself was a long flat road cutting through the jungle canopy, but those fleeting glimpses of tropical coastline made it feel almost dreamlike.

We made it just in time for the final 3pm entry at the Tulum Mayan Ruins.

After a short walk along a neatly cleared jungle path, the ancient structures revealed themselves against the bright afternoon sky.

Dating back to the 13th century, the ruins carry a quiet strength with their weathered stone walls standing firm against centuries of sea breeze.

Iguanas seemed to rule the grounds, lounging confidently on rocks and darting through the grass, completely unbothered by passing visitors.

The most beautiful view was standing before El Castillo, the old castle perched on the cliff’s edge.

Below it, powder white sand met the endless turquoise of the Caribbean; history and horizon blending into one unforgettable view.

On our cycle back we stopped in at a lovely beachfront hotel restaurant called Mezzanine.

Serving Thai cuisine, it was exactly what we’d been craving in contrast to all of the Mexican food, and of course those beachfront views from the terrace were absolutely dreamy.

I ordered a spicy margarita because when on holiday, an afternoon cocktail is an essential!

We shared a creamy Penang chicken curry with coconut rice, fragrant and comforting in all the right ways.

A hearty curry and my favourite cocktail overlooking that picturesque beachfront, made for the perfect closing chapter to a day that felt both adventurous and beautifully unhurried all at once ❤

Tulum Travel Diaries; Follow That Dream

Happy Sunday! It’s been a week since we returned from 12 glorious days in the Mexican sun and I’m only just getting over the jet lag. I was thrown back in at the deep-end with work last week as we were hosting an event in London on Tuesday, but I do thrive on routine so it was good to get back to usual programming. As you can imagine, I have a shedload of content to share from Tulum so I will posting all of the aesthetic photos and reliving the highlights of our trip over the next series of posts on here…so do stay tuned!

Starting with our accommodation, we stayed at Hotelito Azul located on the popular Beach Road for the duration of our time in Tulum.

We booked one of their garden view villas which was very spacious with a double sink ensuite and aesthetic boho-chic decor.

I particularly liked the tall ceilings and the bed was so big and very comfy indeed.

Our maid Griselda was absolutely lovely and went to the effort of making us a different towel animal every day.

One of the biggest draws to this hotel was the infinity pool on the rooftop overlooking the beach one side, and the luscious green jungle on the other.

Unfortunately the rooftop was out of action for food and drinks service during our stay which was such a shame as the views were spectacular.

We made the most of it though and took our own bottle of wine and nibbles up for sunsets as this really is such a gorgeous and unique spot for sundown in Tulum.

On our first day we wanted to familiarise ourselves with the area, so we went for a walk back down the road towards the town and found a perfect local cafe for delicious smoothie bowls.

Raw Love vegan cafe soon became our favourite place for the most healthy and yummy all day breakfast bowls.

Further up the road was a cluster of cute restaurants, bars and shops.

Seeing this soft top Mini Cooper driving through town made me wish I could have my own Mini there to scoot around in.

Later that afternoon we decided to hire push bikes to explore the rest of the beach road on the other side of our hotel.

We road all along the beach road through the most popular part where Bagatelle, Ilios and Casa Banana are located alongside lots of chic boutique shops.

I was thrilled to find the iconic ‘Follow That Dream’ road sign which is quite far up the road where it seems a lot less busy nowadays.

Before heading back to our hotel, we stopped by Mia beach club on our way back to have a bite to eat overlooking the beach.

I indulged in my first Margarita of the trip and it didn’t disappoint with a perfectly sweet and spicy finish.

My boyfriend had a pepperoni pizza which I had a slice of too. Not exactly an authentic Mexican dish, but you can’t go wrong with a pizza sometimes.

That evening I wore an all white fit for our first meal out in town.

We ended up at Ilios restaurant which I had pinned as the best place for Greek food in the area and it certainly met those expectations.

The interiors here are on point and we were even treated to a brilliant fire show performance!

We had the hummus with flatbread to start, my boyfriend opted for the chicken gyros and of course I ordered the Greek salad which was divine.

With a time difference of minus 5 hours, we were absolutely knackered and got an early night ready to wake up fresh on Mexican time.

So that’s an overview of our first day in Tulum and I can’t wait to share all of the amazing adventures and memories we made together during our two weeks in tropical paradise ❤

NYC Diaries; Bikes & Bagels In Central Park

With Central Park being right on our doorstep at the Park Lane Hotel, we decided to spend our Sunday afternoon exploring the park on bikes before enjoying some classic American bagels overlooking the lake.

We hired push bikes from a kiosk just outside of the park and cycled up the east side on the dedicated bike lanes they have all around the park.

It was a beautiful sunny afternoon in late September and the weather was still warm enough for shorts and a t-shirt, so I wore my Tommy Hilfigure boyfriend style shorts, a stripy low back top, my Stradivarius cage toe mules, my Coach handbag worn across body and MiuMiu sunnies to complete the look.

We took a short detour out of the park to the Upper East Side where I wanted to go for the famous Tompkins Square Bagels.

The choice of bagel flavours and different fillings was incredible, so the server kindly let us try some different cream cheeses to help make our decision.

With the bagels secured, we packed them in the bike basket and cycled back to Central Park.

We made our way around to the west side of the park where we found the big lake looking glorious in the afternoon sun.

After finding a bench with a nice view, we unwrapped our bagels and savoured every last bite as we soaked up the wonderful views of Central Park.

For our bagels we ordered one savoury and one sweet.

Our savoury choice was the everything seasoning bagel lightly toasted with a scallion and red onion cream cheese filling.

The sweet bagel was blueberry flavoured with a nutella and peanut butter cream cheese filling which was divine!

I couldn’t wait to try my first Poppi drink which I’ve seen lots of American influencers rave about and we were not disappointed, the orange flavour was delish.

Bagels devoured and tummies full, we hopped back on the bikes and made our way to the South end of the park to return the bikes.

This was the perfect way to spend a glorious Sunday afternoon in New York and I’d highly recommend renting bikes to explore Central Park as it is so big! I would say it was one of my favourite parts of New York ❤