A WEEKEND IN TULUM | GIRLS BOUDOIR GETAWAY
Sometimes dreams do come true, but sometimes it takes justttt a minute, ya know?
For example - when I first started talking to my main glam gal Rachel of R & Co Bridal Beauty Team about boudoir getaways and workshops in the spring of 2018, it was just a far off “what-if” that - at the time, still new to boudoir - felt like a pipedream. Fast forward - 2019, I was pregnant with Lenny Bear and exhausted; 2020 was —— well….. you know. 2021 - not a whole lotta travel happening and we planned our wedding celebration.
During our holiday boudoir sets in late 2021, I remember afterwards sitting on the steps with Rach talking about our goals for boudoir in 2022, and whether or not it was time to make some leaps and put our action where our mouths had been for a while. I’ve personally planned many a trip based around photography before, but usually for myself or one client - not a group of baddies, certainly not where I was in charge of making sure they were fed, watered (insert tequila emoji here), transported safely, pampered, photographed, and appropriately adventured - all at once.
I always get a little sentimental in retrospect because when I really hit pause and think about it, I’m reminded of all the little pieces that have fallen in to place for me to be able to call this a job. I couldn’t have asked for a better group of gals to attend our first travel boudoir event.
2 girls from out of state
1 newcomer
3 repeat mini session clients (they attend every mini session date we offer!)
1 photographer + repeat client
2 married gals, 3 unmarried, and included mamas to fur babies and human babies
So why a boudoir trip? Why not boudoir at home or just a trip sans photoshoot?
The common denominator is a love for travel + pretty photos and a shared pain point of not wanting to travel solo but perhaps not having friends who can travel as easily as they can (work schedules, new babies, friends who only travel with their partners etc). And for some girls, there’s a real desire to travel again for the first time since having kids or the pandemic as well as a deeply rooted need to reclaim identity outside of their career, marriage, or babies. All beautiful reasons to celebrate, don’t you think?
So without further ado -
here are some of my personal favs from our shoots! If you want links to where we stayed, ate, played, etc, scroll to the bottom for that (and some fun candid pics from the trip)!
SUNSET CATAMARAN
I booked h2OH Sun Cruises located about 30 min towards Cancun from Tulum, and we had the best time!! They were so accommodating, provided “snacks” which turned out to be basically an entire quesadilla / fajita / taco style meal which they cooked on deck, and provided a full bar. They had the most reasonable prices that I found ($1100 I believe for up to 10 people for the 3-4 hour sunset tour) + the aesthetic I was looking for.
Side note: Tulum Beach doesn’t have any marinas, so no matter where you are staying Tulum you will typically head towards Cancun for a marina.
TULUM BEACH
For part of Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon and evening we hung out around the beachside of Tulum (even though it was super seaweedy, you don’t wanna go to Tulum and not see the ocean #amiright).
Pro-Tip (that I wish I’d known before): check what beach clubs you want to go to BEFORE you go and see what their restrictions are. Many clubs will give you free access before 6pm (as long as you have a tab and are spending collectively X amount of dollars which is the best option) or will give you a day pass for $50-$100 per person. But after 6pm, you may have to buy X amount of bottles (and bottles are astronomical compared to just buying drinks to meet a minimum for your tab).
Plus, some beach clubs are in the main strip where you can pop in and out and see lots of cute places (esp if you are only meeting a minimum on a tab!) but if you’re buying day passes or bottles, its going to be more of a commitment and some of the highest rated spots like Azulik or Papaya Playa Project are on the edge of the hotel zone, and I would want a bike or taxi upon leaving.
PRIVATE CHEF AND PRIVATE DRIVER
Our private chef and driver were both facilitated by our Airbnb - so truthfully I am not sure what the going rate is, as our airbnb’s rules said we were only allowed to use their vendors for these things (as well as private bartender etc if we had chosen that).
I’ve booked private chefs for two different international trips now and they’ve been one of the highlights of the trip. My airbnb host has facilitated each time, and it usually costs between $80-$110 per person. If your airbnb host is trustworthy and has excellent reviews - just do it. it makes for an incredible welcome dinner / arrival night where you can impress your guests but not have to get fancy and leave the villa, and helps everyone unwind from a long day of travel.
The private driver option was new to me. I’ve driven in Mexico multiple times and I prefer to have my own wheels, but when I did the math on taxis (also keeping in mind wait times for a taxi or the uncertainty of not having something on standby), as well as on if I should rent my own massive passenger van (LOL let’s be glad I didn't, thank u), I ended up going with the private driver for two days at $400 for 12 hours each day. They will wait for you and be where you need them to be. When you consider multiple taxis or a group transfer is around $100 for 7 people one way, you’ll realize that committing to the $400/day option is actually way better on the budget.
ITINERARY
Friday - Girls arrived, private chef dinner, hang
Saturday - shoot day! everyone’s sessions took place at the villa that morning and into the early afternoon. After, we had a sunset catamaran cruise + dinner beachside Tulum!
Sunday - cenote day + solo time for packing / meandering the cute beaches and shops of Tulum
Monday - Girls depart for airport
WHERE WE STAYED
Villa La Gu was the perfect spot for us.
(linking both the airbnb and their actual website for booking purposes).
Our host, Oscar, was incredible. I loved that they are a luxury airbnb with high ratings and superhost status - things that made me feel very safe when booking! Oscar was very communicative starting WELL before the trip and helped facilitate our private chef dinner and our private driver.
For those not super familiar with Tulum, there’s the beachside and then there’s the city/ jungle side. Beachfront - for the amount of folks we had combined with the time of year - wasn’t super ideal for us. The sargassum (read: seaweed but stinky but good for the environment) is at its peak in the summer months. Also, beachside can be a little harder to navigate when it comes to getting a shuttle for your group to go to cenotes or marinas — its a barely paved road and while its only a mile or so long, it can easily take 30-40min to navigate by car due to pedestrian traffic.
SATURDAY NIGHT
I made dinner reservations at Rosa Negra on Tulum Beach! Dinner was absolutely delicious and we ended up sharing a lot of plates and desserts! I can’t remember everything we had, but it included steak, mushroom risotto, and grilled octopus just to name a few. The Chocolate Sphere Dessert is absolutely worth the hype and I personally also love how much fire we all got to play with at dinner haha! It really is super fun and they bring around sparklers multiple times and everyone dances with them and it’s a very energetic dinner hang, for sure.
chill vibes, good drinks, no fees:
a few random finds we loved:
La Condesa Tulum (not beachfront)
Ana y Jose Hotel and Spa - drinks on the beach + cute decor (in grid above)
Mach Marg / Hookah Bar - daytime to-go drinks, best Paloma I’ve ever had
Ambar - they treated all of us like it was our birthday. 10/10 didn’t even take pics so I can’t share any bc wow too much fun :D
CENOTE TOUR
Seeing a cenote is a must while you’re in Tulum! There are so many to choose from. We visited Casa Tortuga - recently my friends Sav and Katie had gone and they raved about it, and I loved the idea that we’d see multiple cenotes — plus, while they are all beautiful, most do not allow you to bring in DSLRs and I thought that since there was such a variety of cenotes that were visible in good lighting, it would make for cute pics (which was part of the fun of the trip- cute pics n all!). Many cenotes are either underground / partially underground or in caves, and would require special timing or equipment to photograph it well. This was the perfect option for a private and inexpensive group excursion. I bought tickets at the entrance when we arrived, not in advance. There were gift shops, places you could buy lunch, snacks, or drinks, and restrooms. Nothing felt too touristy though, it maintains its charm very well.
insider tip: the mosquitoes were pretty bad when we went but according to our tour guide they had only just come out the weekend before. they do require you to shower off BEFORE you get in the cenote to preserve it - they don’t want sunscreen or bug spray in the water. luckily most of the cenotes here are shaded or at least partially, and the mosquitoes didn’t bother us unless we were walking from one cenote to the other.
