• 1. Where to Stay
• 2. Where to Eat
• 3. What to Do
• 4. Insider’s Tip
• 5. An Oddball Day

Casa de las Olas is a solar-powered inn on the beach.   (Photo: Courtesy of Casa de las Olas)

Avoid the crowds and stay at the solar-powered, four-room Casa de las Olas (from $150), situated on the beach’s southernmost plot. Your thatched-roof spot comes outfitted with Balinese hardwood beds, dark rafters, and little portholelike windows, and you might even be part of an impromptu shrimp roast using the owner’s charcoal-burning oven.

Enjoy luxury for less at Jashita (from $140), a boutique hotel with more refined décor than at other spots along the beach, plus an on-site spa and full concierge services. If you prefer pools to the sea, you’ll find one of the few in the area here.

Keep it simple at CoCo Tulum (from $45), where the fourteen beachfront palapas contain nothing more than a bed, a few shelves, and silky mosquito netting. Bathrooms down here are shared, but you can opt for more privacy at one of three lofty rooms in the tower building overlooking the ocean.

Published on Jan 20, 2012 as a web exclusive.