Along with all the mouth watering food we had in Tulum (CLICK HERE if you have not read the post yet), we also had a fair share of fruits, ice cream and other sweets. When I say fair share, I mean a really large share. This section of desserts is the highlight of our trip, so keep reading!
Our go-to fruits in Tulum were mangoes and coconuts! With so many fruit carts on the main roads and all over the street, it’s hard NOT to think about these delicious fruits. We made the first fruit cart stop on our way from the Cancun airport. The price of these goodies highly varies depending on several things. Below are the two biggest factors that caught our attention.
LOCATION
One major factor that drives the prices is the location. If you park your nice car on the highway, get out and go to the fruit cart (like we did) obviously the price will be higher. We paid the highest here; 60 pesos for a cup of mangoes and 60 for a bag of coconut pieces. (This was our first encounter and we were super excited to get our hands on some delicious mangos!)
Places such as Hotel Zone in Tulum and Cancun will also have higher prices because it is a touristy area. They expect tourists from US and other destinations to be their main customers. One example of this is the price of ice cream. We had our daily share of ice cream in Centro Tulum for about 40 pesos a cone. However in Hotel Zone Tulum, it cost us about 85 pesos and for a smaller cone!
YOU
The next factor is dependent upon you! If you are dressed like a local and speak a little bit of Spanish, the lower the price is. However, if you carry a dslr on you and dress like a tourist, it’s clear you are a tourist. Therefore you will get the tourist price. Just knowing a little bit of Spanish can go a long way while dealing with vendors. This is common everywhere, but we noticed it so much here because we bought from outdoor vendors EVERY day!
Besides mangoes and coconuts, we also bought many fruits straight from the shops! We went to a local corner grocery shop (see picture below) and it was a great local experience. From there, we bought guavas, more mangoes and a pineapple, all for just 95 pesos! We also got fresh papaya from a bigger supermarket along with some local sweets. Since we didn’t opt for an all inclusive stay, we had these fruits for breakfast and for afternoon snacks by the pool!
More Sweets!
Ice cream was our second go-to dessert in Tulum. Like I mentioned before, our main stop for ice cream was in Tulum Centro at a ice cream store called Panna e Cioccolato. This was a small shop, but had a great selection of flavors. We also tried out upscale creameries such as Campanella Cremerie and Aldo’s Gelato.
Besides ice cream shops and fruit stands, we also checked out a few coffee spots, juice bars and shops. One place worth mentioning is Matcha Mama, which serves more than just coffee. Matcha mama has a variety of smoothies, acai bowls, fruit juices and more. I had heard about the Matcha Mama in Hotel Zone, but had no clue they had a new location in Tulum Central. We stumbled upon it as we were walking around town and absolutely loved the whole setting. We got there late afternoon and had the whole place to ourselves. The location in Central Tulum was SO much bigger and better than the one in Hotel Zone. If you want to go for the experience, I would highly recommend this location.
Hubby loves mangonadas and fruit juices, so we tried several late night carts with both. There was one specific store that we got fresh juice from several times, for a very cheap price. If you walk a block or two away from the main road in Tulum Centro, you will find more authentic shops for local prices.
Writing this post made me miss Tulum Centro very much. We got to see each nook and corner of Tulum the week we were there. If you haven’t check out our list of the amazing TACOS and other food we had while in Tulum, check it out here!
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