Went to Tulum a week ago and wanted to let you know my feelings and some advice.

TLDR: Tulum might be relatively safe but doesn't feel safe and there are other beautiful places in Yucatan to explore.

First of all, Tulum was not what I expected it to be. I hoped it would be a laidback, happy and friendly place and to be honest it is not. I don't want to hurt locals and tourism but I want to be honest about my experience.

We had some bad luck with the seaweed situation. At this moment there is a lot of seaweed and it kinda ruins your beach experience. There are piles of seaweed blocking your way to the ocean, it smells bad and there are workers everywhere shoveling their ass off to get it from the coastline to a dumpsite in between construction sites, but there's new seaweed washing ashore everyday.

We were looking forward to go to the Vesica Cenote, but unfortunately a tourist fell down a balcony by leaning on a wooden fence in bad shape and had to be hospitalized. So the police came to the venue and discovered Vesica operated without lifeguards, swimming vests etc. Vesica was closed for more than week. It's fine we couldn't go to that Cenote, there are more to enjoy and I feel bad for the woman that fell down, but it typifies the situation in Tulum. The place and the tourism is growing so fast, the town can't guarantee safety for its visitors. If you drive in a car or walk or bike on the roads around Pueblo you might feel lucky you did not crash or fall or damage your rentalcar in a huge hole in the road. Also, there's a constant feeling of restlessness. Military police is heavily present in all tourist hotspots, they are (off course) not friendly and on constant high alert. Police sirens sounds mixed with the construction of new hotels going on everywhere disturbs the sounds of the jungle you'd like to hear. Appaerently there were two shootings in the few days we were there, one in the hotel zone and one near Pueblo.

What we did enjoy were the rooftop terrace of our hotel, seeing Ven a La Luz by Daniel Popper (go early) and visit the ruins. There were no really big parties going on, so we decided to skip the expensive luxury beach clubs for now. In the few places we did enter to enjoy some electronic music we felt a strange vibe, got offered drugs before I could even order a drink and the crowd was mostly very drunk or high.

After a few days we went to Cenote Ik-Kil near Valladolid (highly recommend) and to Chichen Itza. After this we travelled to Isla Holbox, which basically was what I hoped Tulum would be like. Friendly vibe, nice beaches, live music, good food, dancing on the beach and streets. A paradise and I would recommend everyone to check out this great little island.

So my conclusion would be. Tulum could be a great place and is probably relatively or statistically safe for tourist. It does not feel safe. You feel like you are on alert all the time for scams or accidents or crime....and that is not the feeling I want to have when I'm on vacation. But there's so much more to explore in Yucatan, go to Holbox, Valladolid, Merida, Bacalar. The country, the people, the nature, the food, it's all great.