Starting on December 31st, Zamna Festival will begin its 2025-6 season programming with over a dozen daytime and nighttime events to bring in the new year with the best techno artists on the planet. This year, the season spans about 12 days, with the opening parties on Dec 31st and the closing party on Jan 11th, with multiple events daily.
Zamna is growing more than ever as it returns for its Tulum season in 2026, along with other popular Tulum events and festivals such as Day Zero. Zamna is coming back from starting events in 7 other countries, but Mexico will always be Zamna’s home.
Zamna Tulum’s events mostly all take place in its amazing circular jungle cenote and pool stage (situated just outside Tulum), and at their new “Zamna on the Beach” venue for amazing days and nights of techno and culture.
I was the head Zamna photographer for the 2020 and 2021 seasons, so I have spent a large chunk of my life perusing the Zamna grounds and over 6 months living in Tulum. I’ll tell you pretty much all you need to know below!
Check out my instagram to watch stories from the last couple of years at Zamna. I quit mid-season in April 2021 so I won’t be back for Zamna anymore, but this post is entirely updated for the upcoming season.
More Tulum Info You Might Want:
- Is Tulum Safe? Our Brutally Honest Story + Tulum Safety Tips (some of the reasons we quit Zamna)
- Tulum Beachfront Airbnb’s + Rentals
- Unique Places to Stay in Tulum: Super Cool Boutique Properties
- Best Areas to Stay in Tulum – Neighborhoods + Best Hotels in Each
What to Know Before You Go to Zamna 2026
Getting to Tulum
You will most likely fly into Cancun Airport to get to Tulum. Your options for getting here are:
- Take a public ADO bus from Cancun to Tulum from $13. These buses run 5-6 times a day.
- Take a public bus to Playa Del Carmen, and then one to Tulum. If you arrive at an awkward time, it might be easier for you to take 2 busses, because for some reason, the direct busses are less often.
- Take a cab – prices vary, but don’t pay much more than the equivalent of $80-$100 USD (this may have increased by 2024).
- Book a Private Transfer – this is the best and easiest way to get directly where you need to go.
Once in Tulum: You will either be staying on the beach, “The Hotel Zone” (more expensive), in town “El Pueblo,” or the areas of Aldea Zama or La Veleta, where there are lots of nice new villas and apartment blocks popping up.
If you want to learn more about where to stay in Tulum, check out my guide to Tulum Areas + Neighborhoods/Where to Stay, which describes exactly what to know about each area or see my direct recommendations below.
Check out these Tulum quotes + captions now, because you will definitely be sharing some photos from your time here. These festival quotes + captions might work too.
For more info, here are some of my other Tulum articles:
- The Best Beachfront Airbnbs and Rentals in Tulum if you want to stay on the beach (for all budgets)
- 10 Tulum Treehouse Rentals for more fun accommodation
- Unique places to stay in Tulum
- Tulum Hotels with Private Pools
Where to Stay in Tulum
If you are in a rush to read my guide to where to stay in Tulum and want my quick expert opinion, here are my top recommendations of where to stay in Tulum. BOOK ASAP for this season because prices are, of course, a lot higher.
Budget Option: LUM Hostel (for a hostel in town) or UJO Condo Boutique (a cute and more affordable hotel/studio in Town)
Mid-Range Option: Hotelito Azul for a cheaper beach option
Luxe Splurge Option: Azulik Tulum is not only one of the most unique stays in Tulum, but the world! A stay here is a real treat.
Best For Couples: KAN Tulum – an amazing sustainable boutique hotel on the newer beach road (see my KAN Tulum review)
Best Place to Stay for Spiritual/Yogis: Holistika Tulum in La Veleta or Nomade Tulum on the beach
Getting Around Tulum
Here are the options for getting around Tulum and to Zamna Festival from Tulum:
Take taxis everywhere: This is the only way to get around without your own transportation; there is no uber in Tulum. It takes anywhere from 10 to 40 minutes to get from areas in town to the beach areas, and taxis make a pretty penny from tourists making journeys around. To get from the beach to town it shouldn’t be more than 200-300 pesos ($10-$15USD) although it probably increases for the Zamna season and since I was last there.
To get to Zamna Festival from town, one way it SHOULD be 200 pesos ($10 USD), but they will overcharge you like crazy for events because they know you have no other options. I have heard of people charging $100 to get back to town after an event. It is a better option to rent a scooter and park as long as you will remain sober to drive – info below.
Rent a Scooter: If you are comfortable on a scooter, an amazing alternative to taxis is renting a scooter. It’s not the cheapest in Tulum, but if you are solo or in a couple and comfortable riding a scooter, it’s a way better value than taking a taxi.
Scooter rental goes from $35USD to $60+ USD for a day, and you’ll want to make sure the company is reputable. There are scooter company rentals all over the town and beach.
Just make sure to lock up your scooter ALWAYS, as there has been a lot of theft in Tulum recently (we had our scooter stolen off the street) – Handlebars, bike lock, and ignition lock.
Rent a Car: Car Rental is super expensive in Tulum – you’ll be looking at least $60 to $100+ per day. I have heard it’s cheaper to rent in Playa del Carmen, which might be a good alternative.
Getting to/Parking at Zamna Tulum 2026
To get to Zamna as I mentioned above, you can either take taxis (and risk being overcharged), take a private transfer, or you can pay for parking (but make sure you are sober enough to drive because police have been stopping people after events).
Last I heard, the Zamna Parking price for a car is 500 pesos ($25USD) and for a scooter is 300 pesos ($15 USD), which is a much better alternative than getting charged upwards of 2000 pesos ($100 USD) for a return taxi trip by crooked taxi unions. However, this was a couple of years ago now. If this has changed please let me know so I can update this guide for others!
Hiring a Private Transfer is probably the best way to get to and from Zamna Festival. You can try contacting transfer companies on Viator, or you can make friends with a taxi driver you may meet in town and ask them if they would be willing to take and pick you up from Zamna, and agree upon a price. It’s worth a try.
What’s New at Zamna Festival 2026
This year, there are some new things happening at Zamna Festival. Here are the most important:
Zamna Tulum Villas
Zamna Tulum used to have just 5 or 6 rooms on the cenote for staff. In the last few years, they have spent time building all-new eco-luxe villas along the cenote with breakfast for guests. The rooms are new and improved, and border a cleaner cenote that is ready for swimming and constantly being filtered.
The Villas are all ready to be rented for a weekend or a night for your favorite party, right across the cenote from the shows. They have special deals to rent a room for the whole weekend and never be away from the action.
BUT – if you want my opinion – you’re better off staying in the main areas of Tulum. The Zamna Villas are not close to anything and you will need your own transportation. It’s also expensive and difficult to park during the events. Just book one of the places I recommended above or in my guide on where to stay.
It looks like they may have taken the hotel off main booking sites but there’s more info here.
Zamna Pool + Pool Stage
The Zamna venue also has a large pool and music stage for pool/day parties. The pool faces a stage with tables set in a decorated jungle for an awesome Tulum jungle setting.
The pool stage will be in use for some of the bigger parties this year, such as Afterlife (which has 3 stages AND two dates this year), Renaissance, and the closing party.
Zamna Records
Zamna has also started its own record label and has had its first few releases, shown on its website and social media. Of course, they are releasing epic melodic techno tracks on their label.
Zamna On the Beach
There’s now a newer beach venue where Zamna parties will be taking place this year, too.
Zamna Community Memberships + Backstage Packages
Zamna has released some very interesting community membership options in the last few years that allow access by guest list or all access to events worldwide. They used to be named after different elements – earth, water, air, fire, and SOUL – costing $2k, $5k, $15k, $30k, and $50k. Now, there are just a couple of tiers – I expect they change this regularly depending on what works.
Check the current packages on the Zamna Community site.
They offer backstage access for the various events this year for around $2k-$3k, which are bought as a seperate ticket. Tables must be purchased directly through the team.
Zamna Foundation
Zamna Tulum has been putting even more of an emphasis on their Zamna Foundation in recent years, which is in place to assist the local Mayan communities around Tulum and Quintana Roo and children in need.
The Zamna Foundation is helping to offer ‘sustainable development in the Mayan Communities,’ in a lot of different ways. From funding supplies for schools, building an entire Elementary School, getting disabled children the resources they need, providing employment for the community, and even reusing garbage and making it into useful items for the festival… they definitely give back to the community. Follow @fundacionzamnatulum for more on this!
How the Zamna Tulum Music Festival Events Work
How on earth do you manage this many events?! At Zamna Festival, it’s not a single, all-inclusive event where you buy a ticket and get access to the whole thing. Rather, each event is one separate entity in and of itself.
Each single day (or night) event is ticketed separately, and you must either purchase each event you want to go to separately or purchase one of their multi-pass packages. The packages mix together multiple different day parties with multiple night parties to make a total number of events together, mostly with specific dates.
Each event costs from about $50 minimum for general admission, uo to $200+. Currently, they have GA and VIP tickets as well as backstage tickets.
Most of the events are sponsored by a certain record label or artist. For example, Bedouin headlines the Saga night; Justice and Boyz Noize headlined the Pulse of Gaia night; Joezi headlines the BTRFLY FX night; Black Coffee has his own night, and Keinemusik have their own night too.
Zamna Tulum Music Festival 2024 Lineup
The lineup of house and techno music for Zamna this year is as impressive as ever. Tickets and lineup are here.
The lineup features the likes of Mrak, Korolova, David Guetta, Francis Mercier, Rifus Du Sol, Adriatique, ANOTR, Ame, Dixon, Monolink, and Black Coffee among many others.
Zamna Tulum VIP Tickets and Packages
Zamn thrives on VIP table service and offers fantastic packages. You can view them in the ticket link in the above section. The Zamna VIP experience is staffed by some of the world’s best club teams, mostly from Ibiza.
Other Things to Know About Zamna Festival Tulum
Food at Zamna Tulum
Zamna will always serve food at the events. For the bigger festival events it will be in food trucks on the perimeter of the venue.
You can expect food trucks such as pizza, burgers, curry, sweets, fruit, and more. VIP packages often include food or at least canapes – check your event to see what is included.
Crowd, Vibe, and Fashion at Zamna Festival
Zamna attracts a crowd of young music-lovers from across Mexico, other Latin American countries, the US, and a lot of Europe and South America as well. A lot of these attendees may identify as lovers of transformational festivals such as Burning Man, but in Tulum, they are often part of a wealthier demographic of spiritual partiers and electronic music fans.
This is reflected in a lot of gaudy and expensive outfits, expensive tickets, and VERY costly VIP tables too. The vibe is not very inclusive here, but rather exclusive. Everyone thinks they’re better than each other because of how expensive their table was, who they know, or for whatever reason.
There are definitely some lovely gems of people around, just not everywhere like many festivals. Zamna events are definitely a flashy show of wealth fueled by VIP tables and old money. So don’t expect it to be like a transformational festival – it’s not.
Zamna Festival Timings
Most of the Zamna parties start at 10pm and go until past sunrise. There are definitely no set ending times, and some events will just keep going into the next day – this is more likely at events without another event the next day (Afterlife kept going until noon a few years back).
Most daytime videos you see at Zamna were taken at sunrise. Day parties are not as common anymore although the Zamna Beach venue may bring that vibe back this year.
Zamna Tulum Festival Amenities + Other Stuff to Do
Zamna is really all about the music. They don’t really set up much else for you to do or take part in besides the food truck and restaurant area with tables to sit at, and the fairy-lit market and art stall area with clothing, jewelry, and more on sale.
There are no workshops or activities, or honestly many places to sit down! Each event is different and as each event is run by a different crew, it may offer different things.
Things to do While in Tulum
Don’t make your ENTIRE trip about partying – make sure to experience some proper culture while here, too! Here are the things I recommend:
My number one recommended activity is doing a day tour to Chichen Itza, an amazing cenote, and Valladolid. These are some places you MUST visit while in Quintana Roo where you can actually learn a bit about the culture and history of the area (apart from studying your dance moves and sunrises in the jungle).
Chichen Itza is one of the wonders of the ancient world and is absolutely worth a visit. Valladolid is a much more local and cultural city a bit farther inland from Tulum where you can experience Mayan and Mexican culture. There are lots of cenotes to visit but the tour below visits one of the best and most famous cenotes perfect for photo ops.
The tour will pick you up in Tulum at the Super Aki (a central supermarket); just make sure to select that option when booking. Another tip: try to do this tour BEFORE you start partying because chances are you won’t take the leap afterwards 😉
More Things to do while in Tulum:
- Visit the Tulum Ruins: Of Course! Send a few hours wandering around the ruins and learning about their history.
- Take LOTS of beach time: you can reach most beaches through hotels, but the beach is free to access. Some of my favorite beach hangouts are Kanan Tulum, Hotelito Azul, and Bagatelle Tulum for a party.
- Visit tons of Cenotes: You can’t leave Tulum without jumping into some incredible fresh watering holes that are unique to this area. Some of my favorites are Cenote Cristal, Cenote Corazon, Gran Cenote, Cenote Calavera (where you jump in holes in the rock), and Cenote Dos Ojos (where you can go cave diving, which I HIGHLY RECOMMEND! It’s epic).
- Eat tons of good food: Tulum has many amazing restaurant options, from super high-end to EPIC street food. Let me know if you want a Tulum food guide!
- Visit the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve: This protected nature area is just south of Tulum and is how to a whole host of unique wildlife and some more secret ruins, too. The best way to explore it is by taking a Sian Ka’an boat tour to see remote beaches, look for manatees and crocodiles, and explore some untouched jungle.
Any questions about Zamna? Pop them in the comment box below or message me on Instagram. and DO NOT FORGET to brush up on my Tulum safety tips before you go to minimize your chances of being extorted, taken advantage of, or worse. But most of all: HAVE FUN, BE SAFE, and DANCE A LOT!
xx Kimmie
Passionate, full-time travel blogger with over 230k on social media and 150kMPV blog. Extraordinary photographer with two DSLR's + a drone with a love for capturing candid moments, epic drone shots, and magical compositions. I'm a natural-born content creator originally from California, but I've been on the road for 9 years living, working, traveling, blogging, and photographing my way around the world. I recommend the most amazingly adventurous and unique + boutique travel experiences/stays and helpful products to my audience and write comprehensive guides on my website that have helped millions of travelers so far. I love to inspire people to plan their dream trips, and many readers have given feedback as such. The reach on my platforms continues to soar, especially when combining cutting-edge social content with optimized articles on my high-authority website.