There are many notable golf courses south of the border and many luxury resorts, but when the PGA Tour decided to move a tournament to Mexico for the first time, they headed to Mayakoba. When rival LIV Tour decided to travel to Mexico for the first time, he also went to Mayakoba. If you want to play golf in Mexico, you may have to sign up with the best players in the world and choose Mayakoba.
But unlike many more sensible golf resorts, this one is limited to golf. Much more.
Mayakoba is home to 28 Forbes stars (four five-stars and two four-stars). I’ve been there several times and even had the exclusive chance to stop there a few years before it opened. The developer took the opportunity to offer what seemed like an extravagant vision: to transform approximately six hundred hectares of difficult land into a state-of-the-art, eco-friendly, sustainability-focused luxury resort, with four other hotels, each with a state-of-the-art spa. size, as well as several beaches and dozens of bars and restaurants. Shared amenities include 3 miles of nature trails, connecting motorcycle trails, a premier Greg Norman-designed golf course, a dedicated golf academy (with the Jim McLean Golf School), and El Pueblito, a town center animated by the historic colonial squares. of Mexico. Array In addition to the numerous department stores and restaurants found in each of the hotels, El Pueblito offers a mix of restaurants and boutiques on the sidewalks surrounding a park-like plaza. It hosts art exhibitions, craft markets, shows and cultural activities throughout the year and has a family gallery and specialist cooking school.
Mayakoba’s scale is largely in North America and is very similar to Hawaii’s mega-hotels (Kapalua, Wailea, Waikoloa, etc. ) that combine multiple hotels with golf courses and other amenities on a vast plot of land. But unlike Hawaiian hotels, or any hotel you know: Mayakoba’s hotels, beaches, and amenities are connected through a series of navigable canals/lagoons. These, in turn, space out a fleet of electric boats and particularly diminish the desire to have cars within the property. For visitors who want to get around on their own, all hotels have bikes on loan, and the trail formula makes it easy to explore. When you want a four-wheel lift, such as to get to the golf course, shuttle services are available upon request. and very responsive.
Minimizing cars is part of ongoing efforts to maintain the lush aquatic and jungle ecosystem. There are more than three hundred species of local birds and wildlife, as well as mangrove forests, and among Mayakoba’s first painters was the team of naturalists who began mapping the habitat. and making plans for delicate progression even before the paintings began. The biologists worked with the architects, and although every hotel has a villa and some of them beachfront villas, all of the hotels have been deliberately delayed to decrease the density of the beachfront and minimize the coastal environmental impact. Nearly one-third of all assets are protected areas, adding the mangrove forests, which have grown and improved since the hotel’s opening, and all 4 hotels boast notable environmental certifications. Mayakoba has won awards for sustainability, adding the Ulysses Award from the United Nations World Tourism Organization.
I say tricky terrain because most of the Riviera Maya and the Yucatan Peninsula on which it sits is covered by a thick layer of limestone, about 70,000 square miles. It’s expensive and complicated to dig and build, especially when it comes to digging massive canals. and infrastructure. With little topsoil, even the simple act of growing grass is tricky. I’ve noticed many hotel assignment proposals over the years that seemed wonderful until the truth became apparent, and the logistics Mayakoba created suggested that its finishing touch might be unlikely. But a few years later, the hotel opened, I came back and it was everything they hoped for and then some. Over the years, the situation has only improved. In the last 3 years alone, $120 million in innovations have been made, which is very visible.
One of the big breakthroughs has been the expansion of the “Mayakoba Experiences,” which include tours and off-site transportation. The hotel operates its own fleet of luxury SUVs with full-time contract drivers, which is rare in the industry. Airport transfers come with onboard coolers filled with beer, comfortable drinks, and food (the arrival experience is hard to beat!) and off-site tours include local attractions like Mayan ruins. They also added the $1. 7 million VanDutch yacht, equipped with Sublue underwater scooters and presented for charter ranging from a two-hour snorkel to a full-day cruise with chef-prepared meals. The hotel offers a variety of other vessels, with fishing, snorkeling, sunset cocktails, and all kinds of sea excursions.
One of the most attractive reports is the opportunity for visitors to actively participate in the coral reef recovery task that Mayakoba did ten years ago. In collaboration with two non-profit foundations, there are 3 coral nurseries in Puerto Morelos National Park, from which fragments of healthy corals are transferred to marine reef recovery sites. Guests can snorkel at the farms, help with the transfer, and since 2015, more than 2000 corals have been added.
All of Mayakoba is connected via motorcycle lanes and is a wonderful way to get around.
One thing I love about Mayakoba is that its 4 hotels have a distinct personality and are all owned by the same local owner (a Mexican hotel group) as the hotel itself, which is very unusual. In most cases, a hotel lot is sold to a developer who then signs a contract with a controlling logo. This unique setup allowed owners to control quality, reinvest, and provide exceptional consistency of services and products throughout the property. I can think of two other golf hotels and several hotels that opened with the Ritz-Carltons as their flagships and then were continually downgraded over the years in favor of increasingly less sumptuous logos. But while many hotels change direction every few years, Mayakoba has stayed the course and regular visitors know what they’ll find. Over the past three years, the owners have invested $120 million in innovations ranging from new beach clubs, restaurants, spas and luxury villas in individual hotels to a new logo diving and water sports center for all visitors to the resort. . Golf will also be renewed in 2023.
Hyatt’s World of Hyatt (28 brands that add luxury names such as Miraval, Alila, Park Hyatt and Thompson) and Accor’s Live Limitless (Fairmont, Delano, Raffles, Banyan Tree SLS, Sofitel, OneFineStay, Swissôtel, etc. )
With about 3 dozen bars and restaurants, you might not go hungry. This is the new seafood on display at one of the Banyan Tree Resort’s restaurants.
On the other side of the country, Cabo San Lucas is home to several luxury hotels owned by many of the world’s best-known brands, and it can be very tricky to choose one. But in the Riviera Maya, the vast majority of giant resorts are all-inclusive, with a small handful of smaller luxury boutique properties. If that’s not what you’re looking for, there’s a small outdoor festival at Mayakoba, making it the best hotel for sure. decide in the great region. There are even fewer possible options for golfers looking for an all-inclusive system, and anyway, The Cameleon, designed by Greg Norman, is the most productive in the domain (I’ve written a lot about golf in the Riveira Maya and played at the other courses nearby). It means The Chameleon and is so called because it changes character in each of the holes, with stretches overlooking the sea, in mangrove forests, in jungle and even with rocky canyons of cenotes. It’s like taking a tour of the region’s ecosystem while enjoying some very good golf.
If you haven’t played golf in Mayakoba, you’ve probably never played in a fairway cenote. . . [ ] (Sinkhole Cave).
Mayakoba is also home to the first and only Jim McLean Golf Academy in Mexico. McLean is one of the most productive golf instructors in the world (ranked No. 4 by Golf Digest). The school has two bays equipped with the latest generation of instruction and Mayakoba. It also has a practice facility.
In addition to golf, Mayakoba has a complete diving center and water sports with scuba diving, jet skiing, kayaking, stand-up paddleboarding, snorkeling, sailing, fishing and much more. You can also kayak or hydrocycle through the six kilometers of crystal clear waters. canals and lagoons through the resort’s mangrove forests. The tennis and racquet sports center has regular, pickleball, and paddle courts that are growing.
The formula of ships and canals connects hotels, restaurants, and can even take you to your room.
Mayakoba’s preeminence in terms of accommodation in the area is all the more important since the Riviera Maya itself is one of the largest tourist regions in the world, a position that I propose to curious friends, with everything for each and every taste. . It’s home to the world’s second-longest barrier reef (after Australia), while inland it’s teeming with cenotes, water-filled holes in the limestone that offer perfect diving and snorkeling opportunities. Water sports are world-class, from scuba diving to fishing, and the domain is filled with the most famous Mayan ruins and pyramids (too many to list, but the standouts are Tulum, Coba, and Chichen Itza). There are miles and miles of beautiful beaches, the captivating flagship of the city. of Playa del Carmen, the island off the coast of Cozumel, many cultural attractions and wonderful food everywhere.
Whether you need to play golf, lounge on the beach, snorkel, fish, sail, enjoy culinary exploration, or travel back in time, this is the place for you. Cancun Gateway Airport (south of Cancun, just like the Riviera Maya) is a modern airport with many flights from all over the United States, and has just opened a new foreign airport at the southern tip of the region, Tulum. Mayakoba is pretty much in the center, and while it’s been easy to get to, it’s now even easier.
$120 million in renovations have added this new beach club and luxurious oceanfront suites adjacent to Banyan Tree Mayakoba.
The 4 hotels in Mayakoba are okay but offer a wonderful range of prices. They’re easy to move around but far enough apart that you feel like you’re in an individual hotel wherever you stay. It’s not one of those located where hotel after hotel lines up along the beach, and there’s nothing of a wonderful height. Each is self-contained, spacious, and provides a sense of immersive intimacy. On my previous visits, I stayed at the Rosewood. Most recently, I visited this year and stayed at Banyan Tree. There are also apartments for sale within the Rosewood and Fairmont properties, and some of them are part of the rental pool, in addition to hotel rooms, suites, and villas. Owners have access to all the amenities of all 4 hotels.
Luxury overwater villas at Forbes’ five-star Rosewood Mayakoba.
The two most sumptuous are the Rosewood and the Banyan Tree, both of which have the highest Forbes 5-star rating imaginable. Both also feature 5-star Forbes hot tubs. Rosewood is one of the most productive luxury hotel brands founded in the U. S. I’m in the U. S. , and I’ve never been disappointed. The Rosewood Mayakoba finished a $20 million renovation in 2019 and has just 129 luxurious suites and villas, and even the smallest suite, the Lagoon Studio Suite, has a personal plunge pool and shower and outdoor spaces. 788 internal square feet and more than 1,000 total inches. Units have personal docks, and check-in includes check-in to your room via a boat. There are even overwater suites and the hotel sits on a mile-long white-sand beach. The 5-star Sense Spa has 8 “Island Suites” and a sensory garden. There are seven bars and restaurants with a focus on varied Mexican cuisine, as well as a chef’s garden.
Banyan Tree is also one of Asia’s largest luxury brands, founded in Singapore but introduced in Thailand. It’s known for its villa architecture, proper food, and its concentration on spa and wellness, and Mayakoba’s location doesn’t disappoint, with villas ranging from 3,153 to 5,511 square feet. The hotel underwent a major renovation in 2022, adding the expansive new Sands Bevery one Club, 34 new bevery onefront suites with pools, and 7 new lagoon-style villas with floating rooftop pools. Each unit has its own personal or full-size pool. Pool and personal garden-style space, and some have full bathrooms with showers and tubs. It has a large and elaborate personal bevery one club, bevery onefront villas and an extraordinary spa – all the therapists are from Thailand.
If a shower is rarely enough, Banyan Tree’s luxury villas include a bathtub and a private pool (not shown).
For its number of rooms, the gastronomic offer is incredible, with a dozen bars and places to eat and a varied and eclectic selection. They even have live cigar rolls at the lobby bar on the weekends. In addition to Mexican food, there’s a Latin steakhouse with a South American twist and open-fire cuisine, an upscale Italian dining spot, an immersive cultural experience serving Mayan cuisine with entertainment, an adults-only tapas and paella spot, and even a kosher eating spot. But the signature is the Saffron Boardwalk, which serves Thai cuisine in honor of the brand’s roots, and is the most popular dining spot in all of Mayakoba, attracting visitors from each and every hotel. Special dining options include romantic dinners on the canals on the resort’s electric boats and personal in-villa barbecues, cooked in your backyard.
Saffron, the Thai waterfront restaurant in Banyan Tree, is the signature restaurant at the Mayakoba resort.
The four-star Fairmont Mayakoba Forbes is the largest hotel here, with four rooms and suites, plus a collection of larger beach and lagoon casitas. Located directly on the course, it was the first to open and the most golf-focused. underwent a resort-wide renovation in 2022, adding the new Maykana Beach Club, which houses five new dining concepts, as well as a new rooftop bar, El Cielo, and updates to its 188 suites. The newly renovated 37,000-square-foot spa also earns four Forbes stars and includes 20 remedies rooms, mineral pools, and steam rooms.
You can do it from the Caribbean to the South Pacific, but you may not find many hotel beaches bigger than Andaz Mayakoba.
The Andaz Mayakoba (Hyatt) is technically the basic pick and the only one without Forbes stars, but I stayed here and surely enjoyed it. The food was perfect and while all of the hotel beaches here are exceptional, with gentle slopes with shallow waters extending from land, sandy bottoms and protective outer barriers, this was my favourite hotel beach and one of the most productive I’ve ever seen in the world. The central pool complex stretches all the way to the sand, and this low-rise resort exudes a tropical, escapist vibe. The Andaz has 214 rooms, plus 41 luxury suites with personal pools, several restaurants and bars, and, of course, a giant spa and fitness center.
Although the possible accommodation options are very varied, the good news is that there is no wrong choice. You can just pass Mayakoba over and over again, stay in other places, do other things, eat at other restaurants, and that would take a lot of vacations to see and do it all. It’s unlikely you’ll be able to enjoy all the wonderful reports you can get here, but it would be fun to give it a try.