Luxury Travel

Review: Maroma, a Belmond Hotel, Riviera Maya (Mexico)

May 13, 2024

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Wednesday newsletters all the time characteristic a resort or flight overview.

A couple of weeks in the past, I loved a calming vacation within the Riviera Maya, Mexico, the place I stayed on the space’s high three luxurious resorts. You can learn my journey stories right here:

Review: Condor A330neo Business Class from Frankfurt to Cancun
Review: Maroma, a Belmond Hotel, Riviera Maya (at the moment)
Review: The St Regis Kanai Resort, Riviera Maya
Review: Rosewood Mayakoba, Riveira Maya
Review: Condor A330neo Business Class (Prime Seat) from Cancun to Mexico

Today: Review of Maroma, a Belmond Hotel, Riviera Maya (Mexico)

Located within the beating coronary heart of the Riviera Maya, Belmond Maroma feels extra like a Mexican hacienda than a resort. Here is the place the true spirit of the Riviera Maya was born, between the jungle and the wide-open sea, and the place Mayan mystique blends with refined vitality. This secluded hideaway captivates with the sights, sounds, and smells of genuine Mexican tradition. Beautifully renovated and totally reimagined, the resort boasts 72 mild, ethereal, art-filled rooms by acclaimed designer Tara Bernerd. Beachfront eating places provide mouth-watering delicacies whereas the bars serve up artisanal mezcals and uncommon wines. The property can be residence to the very best spa on the Riviera Maya.

Maroma, a Belmond Hotel options in my high 10 lists of the greatest luxurious lodges on the Riviera Maya and the greatest Belmond Hotels & Resorts on the planet.

Have you ever stayed at Maroma, a Belmond Hotel, Riviera Maya? If so, what was your expertise? Leave a remark.

In this overview (extra data and images under my YouTube video):

PROS & THINGS I LIKE

Maroma, a Belmond Hotel is positioned alongside a stunning stretch of seashore in Mexico’s Riviera Maya. Once belonging to the traditional Mayan Empire, the Riviera Maya contains a 130 km (80 mi) stretch of Caribbean shoreline. A single principal highway – Highway 307 – runs the size of the area, from Cancun to Tulum. Branching eastwards are small roads resulting in resorts and the seashores, whereas westward takes you inland to rural cities and historic ruins. Although it is perhaps onerous to tear your self away from Belmond’s self-contained world of luxurious, those that select to discover the Riviera Maya are richly rewarded as they unearth a area filled with pure and cultural sights, equivalent to genuine fishing villages and historic ruins. The resort is a 30-min drive from Cancun International Airport, a 20-minute drive from Playa del Carmen, and a 1-hour drive from Tulum.

The historical past of Maroma, a Belmond Hotel started with a love story. In 1976, architect José Luis Moreno was flying over the white sands, turquoise waters and luxurious jungle of the Riviera Maya when he discovered himself keen about the fantastic thing about Punta Maroma, a distant bay positioned 40 km ( 25 mi) south of Cancun. Years later, he and his spouse settled down in a small dwelling by the seashore. Over the years, Moreno would add a restaurant, rooms and suites to accommodate his family and friends. He labored with a household of Maya masons – true believers of the Sacred Geometry – to align the white stucco buildings with power fields; take a better look and you’ll discover solely spherical finishes, making certain optimistic power circulation. Maroma was the primary resort within the Riviera Maya, utilizing the very best of Mexican craft and supplies, and established itself as the center of this magical coastal stretch.

Although the Riviera Maya was largely untouched till the early Eighties, the realm is now a crowded vacationer mecca with mega-resorts sitting shoulder to shoulder. However, Maroma, a Belmond Hotel, is in a unique league because the resort is positioned inside 200 acres heaven of beachfront jungle, providing tranquility and seclusion that could be a world other than the mass tourism that the Riviera Maya is now recognized for. The luxurious property is approached through a gravel highway, which winds its means by thick forest, the place spider monkeys play within the tree cover. Upon arrival, a small welcome foyer results in the resort’s principal pavilion, which seems like a lavish Mexican hacienda, full with courtyard pool, white stucco turrets and palapa rooflines. From right here, idyllic walkways by the jungle and alongside the seashore results in lodging, spa, two different swimming pools and fitness center (extra on that under).

In 2023, Maroma, a Belmond Hotel, reopened, following a full renovation with Mayan tradition at its core. Internationally famend designer, Tara Bernerd, was on the helm of the great restoration, working hand-in-hand with native artisans to honor Mexican heritage. The unique design and structure of the property was preserved, together with the white stucco buildings, aligned to the Sacred Geometry of Mayan masonry. Curved strains and natural varieties impressed by the property’s wild surrounds inform the harmonious indoor-outdoor circulation of public areas and the rooms. Every design particulars on the resort is exclusive, from every of the 700,000 items of tile (that have been created only for the resort by grasp ceramist José Noé Suro) and hand-carved picket furnishings by Alfredo Alfaro Joffroy to custom-made glassware by Max Kublailan (that may be discovered within the furnishings) and authentically crafted textiles by Concepción Orvananos.

Maroma, a Belmond Hotel options 72 art-filled rooms and suites, simply steps away from the seashore. This contains 10 new waterfront suites which have been added throughout the 2023 renovation. During my vacation, I stayed in a stunning ocean-front one bed room suite, whose entrance was positioned simply across the nook of the resort’s principal pool space. The suite featured a separate residing space, a spacious bed room with kingsize mattress, and a toilet outfitted with double wash basins, a stand-alone bathtub, and a separate walk-in bathe. A spacious terrace fitted with chaise lounges supplied a view of the seashore and the resort’s bar space. The suite featured elegant furnishings all through, equivalent to patterned woven baskets, tasseled pillows and a stunning handcrafted minibar. In-room welcome facilities included a carafe of tequila, contemporary fruits, dried grasshoppers (!) and a bowl of guacamole.

Maroma, a Belmond Hotel, has two on-site eating places, each of them serving scrumptious delicacies:
- Belmond has partnered with Michelin-star chef Curtis Stone to handle Woodend by Curtis Stone, the resort’s signature restaurant. A celebration of the connection between sea and jungle, the venue options seasonal dishes impressed by the farmers and fishermen whose elements are the center and soul of the native fare, ready utilizing Curtis’ signature open-fire method. Dishes embrace grilled blue shrimp with inexperienced mango, apple, daikon and charred almonds; oyster crudo with pineapple mignonette and lemongrass; and Baja Striped Bass with tomato fondue, habanero vinegar and pink peppercorn.
- Mexican-born Executive Chef Daniel Camacho celebrates his nation’s wealthy culinary variety at Casa Mayor. Sustainability is a central focus, with 90% of elements sourced from Mexico and nearly half from the Yucatán peninsula. The venue’s artistic, colourful dishes vary from seafood towers and Michoacan corundas to Jalisco-style Birria and chocolate cake with Oaxacan black mole, flamed with home mezcal. Each morning, an à la carte breakfast can be served at Casa Mayor, with conventional tacos and quesadillas being ready by Maroma’s La Tia, Olivia.

Maroma, a Belmond Hotel, options two bars, each of them positioned on the resort’s principal pavilion:
- Bambuco bar presents a extra informal affair, serving seasonal natural drinks made contemporary from the backyard alongside an in depth assortment of mezcal. Each signature cocktail tells the story of a unique Mexican state such because the Solteco that includes watermelon, citrus, peppers and mezcal tobala from Oaxaca or the smoky Gallina Borracha with mezcal salmiana sourced primarily from Guanjuato and Zacatecas.
- The seashore hangout Freddy’s Bar channels the colourful spirit of the Riviera Maya with full of life music, contemporary seafood, cocktails, and a domestically sourced uncooked bar. Every seat within the bar has sea views; the design channels the fantastic thing about the environment, with inlaid pebble motifs, domestically sourced woven materials, and tropical pops of inexperienced and orange tones.

Maroma, a Belmond Hotel, Riviera Maya is positioned instantly on Maroma Beach, one of the vital pristine and well-known seashores in all of Mexico – assume powdery white sands lapped by the turquoise Caribbean Sea. The giant and extensive stretch of seashore proper in entrance of the resort’s white pavilions is lined by elegant solar loungers and umbrellas that are solely out there to resort company. If you don’t wish to lounge by the ocean, you’ll be able to all the time retreat to one of many resort’s three pool areas. The principal swimming pool is positioned within the hacienda-style courtyard on the coronary heart of the property. A second, a lot smaller pool is about within the lush gardens close to the pavilion that homes the wellness suites. A 3rd pool is positioned on the far finish of the property, proper close to the spa, and is just out there to adults; this pool is the one one that gives direct seashore entry.

Maroma, A Belmond Hotel is residence to a brand-new Maroma Spa by Guerlain, the very first spa by Guerlain in Latin America. The spa marries the French Maison’s wellness savoir-faire with a deep appreciation of nature and vitality providing a complete menu of remedies that draw inspiration from Mayan tradition, alongside a number of rejuvenating experiences. The spa options options 9 therapy rooms enriched with native design parts equivalent to geometric shapes and artisanal objects. The spa’s signature therapy is the “Bee Healing Ritual”, a honey-based therapy famend for its efficient therapeutic powers that calls on Guerlain’s Abeille Royale assortment. The spa additionally features a number of each day workshops in mindfulness, motion and yoga in addition to its personal apothecary the place company can discover ways to determine herbs in nature, classify them, and put together and incorporate them into therapeutic therapies.

Maroma, a Belmond Hotel, has a collaboration with Fundación Selva Maya and Mayahuum, serving to to shield the endangered Melipona bee, a species essential to the ecology of the Yucatán Peninsula. This collaboration is additional amplified with the help of Guerlain, with initiatives equivalent to increasing resident hives to achieve a minimum of 100 new hives by 2025, and the introduction of Guerlain’s Bee School and “Women for Bees” into the native communities. Both instructional packages are designed to boost consciousness of the significance of defending bees and sustaining conventional know-how, the Guerlain’s Bee School caters to youngsters while the “Women for Bees” program to Mayan ladies, who will increase bees of their respective communities to protect consciousness of the traditional custom. At the resort, a educated Mayan beekeeper hosts workshops on the importance of the species’ survival.

Maroma, a Belmond Hotel Caruso belongs to the portfolio of the Belmond Hotel Group fomerly often known as Orient Express till its rebranding in 2014. Belmond is a resort and leisure firm that manages a ultraluxe assortment of 49 iconic lodges, trains and river cruises in 24 international locations, bringing collectively a few of the world’s most sensational journeys and locations. It ranks among the many most unique resort manufacturers on the planet. With Belmond, you’ll be able to keep in timeless lodges in Venice, Rio and St. Petersburg, embrace the spirit of journey at Machu Picchu or Angkor Wat, glide alongside the rails by the Swiss Alps, soar throughout the Andes, or discover the mystifying rivers of Myanmar. In 2018, Belmond was acquired by LVMH (‘Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy’), the proprietor of manufacturers like Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton and Fendi.

CONS & THINGS TO KNOW

The latest refurbishment of Maroma, a Belmond Hotel, gave all rooms and suites a contemporary and contemporary look. However, the renovation of the resort was constrained by the unique constructing’s limitation, and due to this fact the structure of some rooms could really feel just a little awkward and impractical. For instance, in my suite, the bed room was extremely giant whereas the separate front room felt a bit slim and cramped. Also, the balcony of my suite was positioned very near Freddy’s Bar (the resort’s seashore bar) and didn’t present any privateness. I additionally seen that some rooms have been positioned near the pavilion with the eating places, which is perhaps a bit troublesome for company. That mentioned, with solely 72 rooms and suites, Maroma, a Belmond Hotel, feels delightfully intimate and genuine, opposite to most different resorts on the Riviera Maya.

The seashores of the Riviera Maya – together with Maroma Beach proper in entrance of the resort – are affected by the presence of sargassum seaweed, which is a priority to many vacationers. Historically, the seaweed season sometimes began firstly of spring (April) on account of an increase in sea temperature, and peaked throughout the summer season months. However, within the final decade and possibly on account of world warming, seaweed has appeared at any time all year long, making it difficult to foretell its seasonal patterns. For instance, once I visited in late January, an enormous quantity of seaweed washed onshore throughout a number of storms that handed over the realm. That mentioned, the Belmond Resort makes each doable effort to sort out the issue (far more so than the opposite resorts I stayed at); every morning, the seashore is totally cleaned and the employees is diligent about raking it up when seaweed seems once more throughout the day.

MY VERDICT

Location: 9/10
Design: 9/10
Pool: 9/10
Rooms: 9/10
Food: 9/10
Breakfast: 9/10
Spa: 9/10
Service: 10/10
Wow issue: 8/10
Value for cash: 8/10
Overall expertise: distinctive 9/10

TIPS FOR FUTURE GUESTS & SAVE MONEY

Save cash: get complimentary VIP perks when reserving through Virtuoso (e.g. room improve, each day breakfast, early check-in, late check-out, and as much as $200 USD resort credit score per keep ($200 USD per keep for choose suites; $90 USD per keep for rooms).

Save cash: learn right here my suggestions for getting the very best deal at a luxurious resort like Maroma, a Belmond Hotel (and/or obtain many free perks).

Save cash: I do suggest to guide a better room class with unobstructed sea view or direct seashore entry (to keep away from being near the primary resorts areas which home the eating places and bars).

Read my suggestions for making ready your journey in time.

BEST TIME TO VISIT

Riviera Maya has a subtropical local weather with two seasons – a wet season (May to October) and a dry season (November to April). The greatest time to go to is December to March when the temperatures are a bit extra comfy and there are fewer rain showers. During the wet season, interval temperatures stay excessive and though it rains every single day, downpours don’t are typically extended. There is an opportunity for hurricanes, particularly from July to October.

HOW TO GET THERE

Maroma, a Belmond Hotel, is positioned 40 minutes by automotive from Cancun International Airport, which is served by most North- and South American in addition to some European airways. Check the Wikipedia web page of Cancun International Airport for a repeatedly up to date listing of airways that supply direct flights to Cancun.

PHOTOS

Here’s a number of my images of Maroma, a Belmond Hotel, Riviera Maya in Mexico. To view extra resort images (together with breakfast and dinner), click on right here.