The Yucatan, Mexico – The guidebook makes the town of Tulum seem like a dusty truck stop, but it’s actually kind of cute. The streets are lined with restaurants, hotels and souvenir shops – but it’s not too tacky and the town has some charm. We paid way too much for our hotel, but that is how it goes when your traveling in Mexico durning high season with an impending apocalypse just days away. Anyway, it was a nice place with two-story bungalows with hammocks on the porches.

The beachfront ruins at Tulum.
The beach is three miles from town and most visitors have to decide whether to stay in town, with easy access to restaurants and shops, or on the beach where you are pretty much at the mercy of your hotel’s chef, and prices. We didn’t really have to decide because almost everything was booked so we stayed in the only place that wasn’t super expensive.