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We've compiled the best of the best in Mexico - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
The lively, tiny Mexico City location of the popular seafood spot in Tulum has just a handful of tables inside and on the sidewalk. It's a perfect stop for a light snack—try the pibíl-style octopus or pastor-style fish tacos, a ceviche tostada, or a heartier garlic-shrimp burrito. There's another location in Polanco.
Though it's tucked away in Boca del Río, this open-air eatery is one of city's most popular seafood restaurants. Specialties include mussels, grouper, crab claws, and octopus prepared as you wish. For those who relish spicy food, the ostiones enchilpayados (in cream and chipotle chili) are a cut above the rest.
Popular bands play Thursday through Sunday from 3 to 7, so you may need a reservation on those days.
Open for more than 30 years in the Villa Serena neighborhood along the main highway, this quiet, open-air, palapa-covered restaurant offers standard fare, from beef and shrimp kebab to baby back BBQ ribs and lobster tail, with some Mexican specialties thrown in. If you grab an ocean-facing table, you can watch the cruise ships glide past. This restaurant has what most don't: a pool—perfect for dipping your feet while sipping a fruity concoction.
The Yacht Club is a restaurant and bar on the town beach—it's not a yacht club at all. Their breaded fish fillet is famous among the villagers and tourists, as are their chicken dishes. The place is always full. At 10 pm the disco starts and it lasts until 2 am.
Near the main square, this unpretentious family-run restaurant is one of the oldest (and most affordable) eateries on the island, and it's considered one of the best places to try island-style food. There are quite a few tasty seafood dishes, including a huge mariscada for two that includes a fish fillet, a whole fish, a lobster, and octopus on a bed of shredded lettuce. The delicious seafood soup includes the freshest seasonal seafood and is an island classic. People come here for the food and not the ambience, so grab a seat at a plastic table, listen to the Mexican music, and take your pick from the extensive menu.
This is the best place in town for seafood; the ocean view from under the tall, peaked palapa roof isn't bad either. In addition to the garlic-and-oil fish fillets and breaded shrimp, there's grilled chicken with baked potato, beef tips with rice and beans, soups, quesadillas, steak, great guacamole, and fries. It's open all day (8 am until 10 pm) and serves everyone from white-collar business types to families and friends meeting for lunch to tourists cleaned up for an evening out. Popular with local families, business people, and travelers, it's a simple and unadorned but large restaurant facing Christmas Bay. After your meal, kick your shoes off and take a walk on the beach.
