A Review of Hotel Nueva Vida de Ramiro, Tulum
A few years ago, we decided to travel to Tulum, Mexico, with my sister and brother-in-law after their wedding to celebrate. After a lot of research, we decided to stay at a wonderful eco friendly boutique called Hotel Nueva Vida de Ramiro. Tulum’s beaches are absolutely stunning, so Hotel Nueva Vida de Ramiro’s beachfront location was a huge draw for us and we were pleasantly surprised to score decently affordable bungalows ($100 a night) at this wonderfully located, chic resort.
Good to know: Hotel Nueva Vida de Ramiro is located about 20 minutes from downtown Tulum, so you’ll need transportation there unless you want to do a decent hike. We flew into Cancun and book the public bus from the airport bus terminal to downtown Tulum, then took a taxi to Hotel Nueva Vida de Ramiro.
The Rooms
Each room at Hotel Nueva Vida de Ramiro is different, so you really get that boutique feel. With just 33 units spread across a large property, each room has a really nice private feel and most are just feet from the beach. While the rooms are simply and fairly rustic, they have a really artistic feel and we loved having an outdoor shower and balcony looking down onto the lush grounds. The mosquito nets are also a plus if you want to open your doors or windows to catch the ocean breeze. Some of the rooms are definitely fancier, some have bathtubs while others don’t etc, so look through all the photos of each room to decide what works best for you if you decide to stay at Nueva Vida de Ramiro.
Good to know: The rooms don’t have TVs or air conditioning units, so if either are really important to you, you might want to look elsewhere. That said, who wants to watch TV when you’re steps from a pristine beach? We were a little worried about the lack of air conditioning, but the fan over our bed worked just fine and the oceanfront location made it fairly breezy to cool things down.
We stayed on the second floor of this artsy bungalow
View down from our balcony
Bedroom area
Stunning hand painted tile sink in our bathroom
The Beach
Hotel Nueva Vida de Ramiro boasts 154 yards of pristine beachfront, complete with shaded swinging beds and loungers and their guests. The swinging beds were the most incredible place to lay and read while watching the ocean sans sunburn and are absolutely perfect for anyone who doesn’t like to cook/sweat in the sun. The beach was honestly one of the nicest we’ve ever been on with squeaky white sand like powdered sugar. The approach into the water was nice and flat and we were able to walk out a long ways to play in the surf. It was easy to spend a long time in the water since it was super warm. Toward the end of our stay a storm rolled in and brought a LOT of seaweed (and subsequently small flies) that made the beach and swimming less appealing, but that obviously doesn’t happen all the time.
Good to know: Because Nueva Vida de Ramiro has relatively few guests in comparison to the size of the property, we never found their beachfront area to be too crowded and were always able to get seating.
The pristine beach that Nueva Vida de Ramiro is located on
Nueva Vida de Ramiro’s fabulous swinging beds
Perfect squeaky white sand
Looking back at Nueva Vida de Ramiro from the water
Food
Nueva Vida’s restaurant, Tamarindos Tulum, is located just across the street from the hotel and specializes in breakfast and lunch made from fresh produce straight from a local organic farm. We tried the included breakfast there, but didn’t have dinner as we were looking for more budget friendly options.
Good to know: Breakfast is included in your stay at Nueva Vida de Ramiro, and you can choose to eat a light breakfast at either Tamarindos Tulum or La Zebra, a beachfront restaurant next door. We tried both and preferred La Zebra, both for the beachfront view and the slightly heartier food. Both breakfasts were pretty light though, which we didn’t love as we usually eat a pretty big breakfast and skip lunch.
Beautiful interior at Tamarindos Tulum
Tamarindos Tulum at night. Such an amazing vibe!
Dining area at La Zebra
Eating breakfast at La Zebra
The fresh juices were exceptionally good!
Things To Do
Hanging out at the beach is arguably the best activity at Nueva Vida de Ramiro. The hotel provides a couple of kayaks for guest use and there is also a beachfront shower. The water is delightfully warm so swimming is super fun and when you’re tired of that (or if you don’t love sand and water) you can relax in a swinging bed and just watch the ocean and people strolling on the beach.
Take a dip in Nueva Vida’s pool if you’re tired of the beach or just not a fan of sand/saltwater. The pool is fairly small but beautiful with a spacious deck and ocean views. We didn’t end up swimming in it since I think the beach is so much more fun!
Read! A bookshelf with a considerable selection of books for guests to borrow is located in the lobby. We brought books, but it was fun to pick out some extras from their selection, especially since there are so many perfect places to read on the property from hammocks to your private balcony or deck to the beachside loungers and beds.
Take a yoga class on the pool deck. Sessions start daily at 8:30am and cost $15/person, so we didn’t try it out. If you do decide to try it, make arrangements a day in advance at the reception desk to secure your spot.
Take a cooking class at Tamarindos Tulum. The chef will teach you to cook Mexican food with a modern twist for $95/person or $150 for a private class. We didn’t try this either due to the rather prohibitive price compared to other cooking classes we’ve taken, but it did look really fun!
Visit the Tulum Ruins, located just 20 minutes from Nueva Vida de Ramiro. Staff helped us arrange transportation and the location of the ruins on the cliffs overlooking the ocean were really pretty incredible. It was extremely hot hiking around, but we thought it was definitely worth it.
Wander the streets along Tulum Beach where Nueva Vida is located. The vibe is incredible is sandy streets, amazing shops, and loads of restaurants. I don’t think I’ve ever been somewhere with such a unique and creative feel. The downside was that nothing was budget friendly, but we still had a wonderful time window shopping and marveling at all the creativity!
Speaking of creativity - check out the wonderfully quirky lobby at Nueva Vida de Ramiro!
Books for guests in the lobby
Doing some beachfront reading
When it was time to leave we were pretty loathed to say goodby to this little gem of a place. Overall thoughts? We would definitely recommend Nueva Vida de Ramiro to anyone looking for a moderately priced beachfront stay in Tulum. That said, if we returned, we would probably look for somewhere different to stay that offered a more generous breakfast and perhaps a few more included activities!
Have you stayed somewhere in Tulum that you absolutely loved? We and our guests would love to hear you experience and recommendations. Leave us a comment!