How to navigate traveling while vegan: Tulum, Mexico

When your plant-based, traveling can be… an adventure! You may find yourself becoming a food tourist, as it is easier to travel to a vegan friendly area than ones that may not even know the word. This summer we traveled to Tulum, Mexico, and here are some of our tips for traveling while vegan.

Things to know before you go

If you are traveling while vegan, instead of just winging it, it may be easier if you scope out your desired location before you book. If you are not tied to a specific location, you may realize that staying just one town over provides you with more options and will take some of the stress off of your trip. Tripadvisor may be a great place to start looking for activities and restaurants, although they are not always able to show the difference between vegetarian and vegan friendly.

Tip #1: Let HappyCow be your Vegan Travel Companion

One great resource that we have been using over the past few years, is HappyCow. A free website, and even an App for under $5, that gives you a wide range of available foods. This is great for those who wish to experience traveling while vegan or even vegetarian. It also includes special designations like “vegan options” and “vegan only” for nearby restaurants and cafes. This is a great tool to help you scope out a few options while you are in town so that you don’t have to spend all your time cooking in your accommodations.

An added benefit of the HappyCow App is that you can download the maps offline. This was perfect for our time in Tulum, Mexico. I was able to pre-select potential vegan friendly restaurants, make a list before we even touched down, and know where we were going even when I didn’t have a data connection. Trust me, as someone who is frugal minded and doesn’t like to spend money on things that I can get for free, this was well worth the $4!

Tip #2: Know where the grocery store is

While this may seem obvious, if you are traveling while vegan, you may want to make sure that there is a grocery store nearby. Stocking up on oatmeal and bananas is a must for every trip of ours. This way we know that even if we can’t find 100% plant-based food, we have a solid foundation each morning. Added bonus: it helps cut down on food costs during the day so you can afford that local brew, or extra vegan taco!

Traveling while Vegan: On Location

If you are traveling by car, excellent! You have the added advantage of bringing a fully loaded cooler of all the plant-based snacks you know and love. While you may not be able to bring your blender, fresh fruit and vegetables can be a quick and easy snack that will help keep the good nutrition going.

However, if you are flying, grab a few apples and snack mix for the flight. While they won’t let you bring fresh fruit into another country, you should have a few hours before you land to eat and to dispose of any leftover produce. If you are in security and someone asks “Why are you bringing all this food?” simply state “I am plant-based and there are very few options for me that I can eat in the airport.” This actually happened to me once as I was bringing homemade dried food on a flight. We actually had an interesting conversation about the benefits of a whole foods plant-based diet and he let me keep my snacks :-)!

Tip #3: Be sure to stock up on snacks!

When you have reached your final destination, hit the grocery store. There is nothing worse than finding out that the restaurant you ended up at thinks that all vegans can survive on 400 calories. When salad is your only option out, it’s nice to be able to head back to base camp and whip up a PB&J or crack into some hummus. Keep a few vegan travel snacks on hand, the worst case scenario is that you end up with food for your trip back. Airports are notoriously terrible when it comes to feeding us.

Tip #4: Don’t be afraid to be your own cook

Going out to eat can be nice, but after a certain point, we missed our home cooked meals. This time we decided to do breakfast, snacks and drinks for ourselves. This not only cut down on cost, but also time. We were able to have a calm morning with our standard oatmeal, adventure for a few hours, and have snacks ready to go when we needed them.

Making my own guacamole in Mexico was a treat and we would even pair it with pomegranate lime tequila (from my bartender days) to round out the evening.

One night we took advantage of the grill on site and roasted up some fresh portobello mushrooms. We made some amazing fajitas that beat out the ones we had at a restaurant nearby.

Tip #5: Eating out – Create your own meal

For those nights out that you can’t find a vegan friendly menu, create your own meal! Usually most restaurants will at least have one vegetarian option that you can ask to be made dairy and egg free. Even if this is not the case, check out the sides! Potatoes, rice, beans, mixed vegetables, are all great components that can help you build a tasty plant-based meal. This is a great technique for chain restaurants that might not be as flexible.

If your at a small restaurant with an actual chef, don’t hesitate to ask if the chef can whip you up something special. They may welcome the challenge and be able to put together a great veggie platter that you wouldn’t even have thought of. If there is anything that you really want to avoid, one trick is to say it’s a food allergy. After being plant-based for a while, chances are that you will notice when you eat animal products.

However, if it is not possible to be 100% vegan, don’t sweat it, enjoy your travels! There are plenty of opportunities to get fully back on track when you are home.

Tulum Specific Features

While traveling nearby Tulum, Mexico, we made it a point to try a variety of different cafe’s and restaurants during the first few days of our stay. Our Airbnb hosts were wonderful, but a warning to those traveling while vegan, their recommendations may not always work for you. The local restaurant only had one vegetarian dish. It was devoid of any flavor, rice, or beans, and we didn’t choose to come back again.

Note: Learn to expect to travel a little bit further for good quality vegan eats!

Yes, there are Vegan Tacos

Good news: There is no shortage of vegan tacos in Tulum! This was a great experience because we were able to compare different restaurants and styles of dishes, all while sticking between $1-2 USD per taco.

Two of our favorite spots were Aguacate Limon (Avocado Lime) and El Bajon. Both had fully vegan menus so you don’t need to worry about asking for dairy-free cheese or asking if the beans are cooked in pork fat. While they may not be true “health food,” your arteries will thank you for including these spots in your vegan travel. Don’t forget to check out the hand-made tamalles and tostadas while your in country!

Talk to the people that you meet on excursions!

While we were jumping into cenotes (underground caves with pools of water), we met a couple from the US that recommended a Vegan food truck that we didn’t have on their list. Bonus was that they weren’t even vegan and they thought the food was great!

Liefs is a food truck made out of an old VW bus, and is in Tulum on the road to the beach. They had a great variety of grain bowls, bagel sandwiches, and of course fresh green smoothies! While the price was a bit higher than some of the other locations, being able to have a smoothie to cleanse our stomachs was well worth it.

Beach View and Vegan Food

Looking for a change from vegan tacos in Tulum, we found The Beached Bikini nearby in Akumal Bay. This restaurant is about a 30 min drive from Tulum, but was only about 15 mins from the cenote park where we were staying. They have a standard menu and a separate fully vegan menu so everyone can be happy with this choice.

This location also has a bar where you can get a “Coco Loco” – fresh coconut with rum. In addition to free beach access to Akumal without the crowds of Tulum. The restaurant owner also started her own NGO called “Save Mexico” and is working on protecting the sea turtle population.

Personalize your experience with a Private Chef and a 5 course meal

Since we were on our Honeymoon, we decided to splurge on a Private Chef who advertised that she could do vegan food. While normally she cooks the typical meat and fish based menu, we requested for a fully vegan (and mostly whole food plant-based) meal. Chef Adela was very responsive and was able to whip up a special menu for us complete with local fresh vegetables, beans that were just harvested, and homemade vegetable tortillas. It was a wonderful chance to experience authentic Mexican food while brushing up on our Spanish thanks to google translate!

Chef Adela was a wonderful person, and while we came as customers, we left feeling like family. We even came by the following day to give her an extra tip and she had us over for lunch and a spontaneous cooking lesson. I learned how to make vegetable tortillas and we had a great conversation about using money as a tool and not as your main driver for life. “You do need money to pay the bills, but family and love should be the focus!”

Travel with Confidence

When planning a vacation, know that some places may be easier for you to eat plant-based than others. Although, where there is a will there is a way, so don’t hesitate to try traveling while vegan! Don’t stress about being 100%, but instead do some preplanning to know your options. Mix in eating at your lodging to make sure that you have some options that you know work for you. Use sites like TripAdvisor and HappyCow to find vegan friendly places. Don’t feel like you have to “eat like the locals” where ever you go. Chances are what they are feeding tourists isn’t actually what they eat at home anyways!

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