We are at TQO now. A large portion of the airside terminal is duty-free shop. Subway, Starbucks, convenience stores, and pharmacy open landside. Airside there is another Starbucks, convenience stores, and a Cafe-Bakery that looks to have sandwiches. No bars open. Lots of food places opening soon incl Applebees, Popeyes, BK, Le Pain, and some Mexican places. Beers and premixed can cocktails available in convenience stores, and there is loads of seating.

We left Conrad Tulum at 9:31am and were here by 10:30.

Yeesh.

OTOH, I wish that meant U.S. airports were all filled with Mexican restaurants

You beat me to it. Confirming your experience... We flew home on Friday. Left Conrad at 2:15 and at TQO by 3:15-3:20. Google maps predicted 1 hour 20. We think we noticed a Dominos and Starbucks downstairs. Airside there was a store specializing in Mexican food products and the guy was very nice, did a tasting for us. The second concierge to help us let us go without a waiver, she explained that the waiver is for people who want to leave for CUN 2 hours before their flight. To TQO she had no issue with 2:30 or 3:00 for a 6pm flight. Even that was a lot of spare time for us, but no complaints.

Oh yeah, lounge door clearly marked, but no lounge yet

One lesson from today's visit to TQO. If you rent a car and want to return it with a full tank, do that in Tulum. There is no functioning gas station yet at or near the airport. There is a Pemex station on the airport road once you turn off Highway 307, but it is not open yet.

Can I ask who you rented from & how did that process go ??

It was fine, we rented from "Hertz," but it isn't a corporate location and the counter shares other affiliated company names including Firefly. They took photos of the car both when being checked out and upon arrival back at the terminal, and emailed them to me. Not super fast to get the vehicle or return in, maybe 15-20 minutes, but it's like that in the USA a lot of times too. I declined the collision damage waiver, depending upon my credit card coverage, and brought paperwork showing global umbrella liability coverage, but I never had to show it. Because the collision damage waiver was declined, they had me sign a separate credit card slip for the equivalent of several thousand dollars, which was returned at the end of the rental. Total costs were really quite reasonable, the equivalent of ~$30 a day for a well-used (83,000 km) mid-sized SUV. Driving in Mexico is certainly not for everyone, but Tulum and surroundings don't have the traffic of a large city, just be careful and drive defensively. There is so much to do there and it helps to have a car to get around.

Thanks for the info, drseagrass !!

We've rented cars from CUN probably close to 25-30 times so we know all about the sometimes crazy driving (& passing !!) (& journeyed everywhere from Playa Mujeres all the way down to Punta Allen & Mahahual). The further south of Tulum you get the crazier the drivers get !!

We flew into TQO in April but the car rental situation wasn't up to speed yet so we just did transfers. Now I"m getting ready to book SUVs for our Dec & April trips, so it's nice to hear how your TQO experience was.

Thanks again !!

Hello can anyone provide the best options and where to buy tickets in advance (if available). For other cities (PVR and CUN) I hired the van that would take me from the airport to the hotel and a driver would hold a sign with my name on it. Same here at Tulum airport?

Any tips would be appreciated. I'm there in a few weeks for the weekend.

Thanks

Anyone take the ADO bus? I downloaded the app and it leaves the airport more or less every 50 minutes to the station downtown Tulum (and only a short walk to my hotel relatively). Far better deal at 220 one way pesos. It's just me with a backpack so it sounds relatively painless.

Took the Ado bus yesterday from downtown Tulum. The taxi from the Motto was 250 pesos and took 10 minutes. Keep in mind the bus station is not enclosed fully and there is no a/c
The bus was great. Newer Volvo coach and the a/c was blowing. I had a seat 1A reserved and was a painless trip of 45 minutes. Few notes of interest while enroute.....we ended up *passing* a slower car. Yes, a bus the size of an aircraft hanger passed a car on a highway. The other noteworthy tidbit was driving by a slower motorbike on the shoulder. He had his wife hanging off the back on the side holding an *infant* in her arms. Whattttt? Could you imagine trying that in the US. lol

Anyway I've never been to really anything "new" in Mexico before and TQO is great. Very modern, clean and suitable eateries both land and airside. Security took 10 minutes tops no issues.

I went through TQO in July. I had a wedding to attend in Playa Del Carmen. The flight ORD TQO was by FAR cheaper than ORD CUN. And a lowly United Silver, I got the upgrade to 1st.

Anyway, inbound wasn't bad at all, things went smoothly. The Canada Transfer company was waiting for me to take me to the PDC resort (Secrets Moxche Highly recommend)

The outbound was a bit congested, a second security line was opened once they saw the only line open backed up. There was an issue with the plane from the day prior on UA to EWR. They didn't have a wheel to replace a flat one. So the United gates were congested. The checkin at the gate and the random search (if you were on the list) was clunky.

I was talking to a guy there that flies quite a bit out of the new airport, he said its a Military airport with a commercial side. Needless to say its a work in progress. But the amount I saved on my flight and the upgrade makes me want to fly ORD TQO again.

Just flew for our 2nd time into TQO on 08/26/24.

When we exited the Customs area into the (what I call) main lobby of the airport we found our Canada Transfer rep. We mentioned that we wanted to use the ATM. He pointed out 2 ATMS right on the front window "wall".

We didn't recognize the name on those & said that we wanted to use the "real" ATM. He said that it had had an "out of order" sign on it for a few days (??, can't remember exactly what time frame he said), but we could go look to see.

He took us past the Mex car rental office, past Hertz, then a little bit more. On the back wall was the BBVA ATM, sure enough w/ the sign still taped to it.

This worked out OK for us... Luckily we were stopping at the Puerto Aventuras Chedraui so we used the Santander ATM there like we always do there.

I know that beggars shouldn't be choosers, but I do wish the ATM at TQO was Santander. Not sure if all BBVA ATMs charge the same fee, but we've noticed that the relatively new BBVA ATM in Mahahual charges a higher fee than any Santader that we've ever used (& we've used many in different locations). Anyway, we'll check on the TQO ATM in December & try to get pesos out just to see what the fee is.

Anyway, the BBVA ATM at TQO is available both on your arrival & on your departure.

The main lobby at TQO is the same area that you exit from Customs & that you walk into on your departure. On your Departure you walk into that same "lobby & then go upstairs to check in w/ your airline. There are not 2 separate Arrivals & Departures doors like at CUN.

BBVA has the highest insane fees throughout Mexico. Citibank, Banorte and Santander are my go to, depending on which one is more convenient.

Scotiabank is part of the ATM Alliance, so fees cancelled out if you're part of that (Bank of America, for example)