Tulum the ruins site is actually " less commercial" than it was 20 years ago because all the messy souvenir vendors lean-to s were relegated to areas outside the ZA perimeter. In their place there is an organized and tidy tourist pavillion with shuttle buses to the ruins site and the former village of Tulum has grown into a tourist service town with a lot of hotels and restaurants.
Such is the price of overpopulating a world and turning sightseeing into a mass industry.
Anybody going to Calakmul or the other deep jungle ZA nowadays would be better advised to not overnight in Chetumal , it just adds hours of riding.
Take a room in one of the 6 ( or more) hotels in Xpujil. Chetumal is however a fine place to relax, lots of good hotels, and modern neighbourhoods give an entirely different visage to the Yucatan. The main shopping boulevard ,Ninos Heroes, was being remodelled this past winter and should be a shiny new pedestrian friendly-er zone by now.
. Think about doing a wandering- roads ride around central -Yucatan state and Quintana Roo where there are many small Mayan towns and smaller ZA and cenotes to explore.Some surprises too , such as small towns with a big pyramid right in the center, e.g. Iazamal , or old hacienda ruins where you can just ride through and restored haciendas/ museums you may now visit for a small fee.
Wander the single lane asphalt roads and you will discover many more small Mayan villages, see jungle with marked chicle trees , howler monkies, parrots , all with very little traffic to worry about.

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http://advrider.com/index.php?thread....207964/page-5 then scroll down to post #93