There are only two trips per day on the Cancun Tulum Cancun route. The cheapest way to get from Cancun to Tulum is on the ADO bus. While this is the most expensive option, the most efficient way to get to Tulum from Cancun is by taxi. Taxi services in Cancun are door to door and are equipped with air conditioning.
Some even offer the possibility of paying with plastic. Although cash is preferred, and pesos in particular. The distance from Cancun to Tulum is about 131 kilometers (81 miles). The road trip lasts between 1.5 and 2 hours, depending on traffic and weather conditions.
If you want to travel from downtown Cancun to Tulum, it is also possible on a shared shuttle service, known as a bus. Unfortunately, there is no direct bus from Cancún to Tulum. You would have to travel from Cancun to Playa del Carmen and then take a second shuttle to Tulum. I wrote a detailed guide on how to get from Playa del Carmen to Tulum that you can read here.
Cancun is 81 miles (131 kilometers) from Tulum. The journey from Cancun to Tulum takes between 2 and 2.5 hours, depending on traffic and mode of transportation. The shared shuttle service from Cancun Airport to Tulum takes up to 12 passengers, in a Nissan Urvan (or similar). Cancun has many car rental agencies, from the airport to locations throughout the city and even in many of the hotel chains.
It can also be economically convenient if you are traveling in a group compared to the shared transportation from Cancun to Tulum, where you have to pay per person. The distance from Cancun to Tulum will depend on where you come from in Cancun, as you can see below, but it is about 80 miles (129 km). If you decide to take the ADO bus from Cancun to Tulum, you can get off near the ruins of Tulum or at the main bus station in downtown Tulum (or Centro). With Cancun Airport Transportation, you are guaranteed a driver who speaks English from Cancun to Tulum.
From there, you have plenty of options, with frequent ADO buses to Tulum throughout the day and at cheaper prices than the bus from Cancun to Tulum from the airport. The cost of each ADO bus trip from Cancun Airport to Tulum is 330 MXN, approximately 16 USD at the time of writing. In addition to covering all the ways to travel from Cancun airport to Tulum, I will also share with you how to get from downtown Cancun to Tulum and vice versa. Your trip from Cancun to Tulum will most likely start at Cancun International Airport (CUN), the main transportation hub in the region.
If you are in downtown Cancun and need to take a quick trip to Tulum, your best option is to take a bus, a small shared van that offers fast and reliable transportation between the main destinations in the region. In addition to private transportation, you can rent a car in Cancun and drive to Tulum, book a shared shuttle or take the ADO bus from Cancun Airport to Tulum. The airport also serves Playa del Carmen, meaning you can easily reach any of the destinations after landing in Cancun.
