Where we stayed · Riviera Maya, Mexico
A villa with its own pool at Mayakoba
Banyan Tree Mayakoba, where every villa has its own water and the lagoons do the work of a wall.
Riviera Maya, Mexico
Banyan Tree Mayakoba is built into the lagoon system on the Riviera Maya, and everything about it follows from the fact that every guest gets a villa rather than a room, and every villa gets its own pool.
The arrival sets the tone. You are taken through the property to your villa rather than handed a key and a direction, and the villas are spread out enough through the tropical planting that the resort never feels like a building.
Each villa has a private pool, an outdoor shower and a king bed, with the layout arranged so that most of your time is spent outside without being on display. It is the specific luxury of not having to go anywhere to swim, which sounds minor until you have had it.
The spa is the property signature and has the awards to match. There are infinity pools looking at the Caribbean if you want to leave your own water. Mostly, people do not.
“Every villa has its own pool, which sounds minor until you stop having to go anywhere to swim.”
From the journalEating
Palazzo is the open-air restaurant in the main building, relaxed and informal, international cooking, from Italian pasta to fresh seafood and grilled meats. It is also where breakfast happens, and breakfast is the meal this property does best. An extensive buffet, from eggs and bacon through fresh pastry to tropical fruit.
Saffron is the fine dining room, Thai and international, with a long wine list and a setting arranged for an occasion.
Sand Dollar is the beach bar, and it is the right answer more often than the schedule suggests.
Who it suits
Couples, principally. The villa layout and the private pool make it a place for two people who want to be left alone, and the staff are good at reading that.
It also works as the soft end of a harder trip. If you are doing ruins and cenotes and jungle for a week, three nights here at the end is a reasonable way to finish.
It is the version of this coast that is about being left alone, and it is very good at it.
From the journal · The Travelling T · Written December 2022
