Our Spring Break in Mexico - A Day By Day Recap Of The Highlights (and 'good to knows')

Some Thoughts on our Seven Day Itinerary

Well that’s a wrap on Spring break 2026! We had a fantastic time in Tulum & Cancun, and came away with some strong ‘good to knows’. 10/10 when it came to family fun. It was full of outdoor adventure, ranch waters and less screen-time battles than normal life, but don’t worry, they started back up the day we got back! After a few spring breaks with our kids finally at traveling age, we’ve got some thoughts on how we travel best as a family, what works and what we’re still working on that we thought we’d write about today as we try to get back into normal life.

Now this wasn’t the original spring break plan. Six months ago, we booked an entire 10 day tour of Cuba, complete with salsa dancing class and boxing lessons (staying at casa particulares and family farms). We were going to show kids what vintage cars were like (despite them preferring the modern looking e-cars they see on the road, LOL) and subtly teach them about communism and the struggles of oppression (but still in the Carribean, so, like a nice warm break from the PNW). But due to the political situation in Venezuala/Trump there is very little oil and therefore no power (for weeks) and we had to pivot last minute. We know how lucky we are to have that kind of flexibility and at the end of the day just hope that the Cuban people are ok.

So a few weeks ago, we bailed on this dream educational/cultural/adventure experience and used the miles towards most tween-oriented, tourist family trip to Cancun. And of course a couple days later, all the stuff happened with the Cartels, with a lot of civil unrest in Mexico so we almost cancelled this one, too, but we kept an eye on the news and made the call that it was safe enough to go (and it totally was).

We usually try to pre-book some cultural experiences in countries we’re visiting, as our motto is: one for them, one for us. As in, we do something big and fun that the kids will love, then balance it with something where we all can learn more about the culture we’re visiting. Not that we don’t love water-slides and zip-lines. We do. Just not everyday. It’s worked pretty well, but due to the quick planning we had to do for this one, we leaned much more into the ‘fun’ side this trip, and spoiler, now we fear it’s going to be the kids’ favorite trip ever (the position previously held in a tie between Costa Rica and Belize), which is fine, but they’re gonna be so bummed to find there’s no wave pool in the Scottish Highlands if we ever go.

Here’s the play by play for anyone curious! It’s LOOOOONG but we had a lot of info that we thought would be helpful if anyone was thinking of booking Tulum and Cancun.