Visiting the Yucatán Peninsula, the hump that bulges from Mexico’s southeastern side, typically means one of two things. Either you’re soaking up booze and sun at one of the all-inclusive tower blocks in Cancún’s Zona Hotelera. Or you’re here for the devastatingly cool hipster-Instabait of Tulum.
But that leaves an awful lot of the Yucatán still to explore, which is why Chablé Resort has opened not one but two wellness retreats here: Chablé Maroma, newly opened last November on the Riviera Maya, and its two-year-old sister, Chablé Yucatán, just outside Mérida in the jungle-strewn north.
Maroma is the beach lovers’ idyll: the world’s second largest coral reef lies a short snorkel beyond the sunloungers, and the white sand is no less silken here than in Tulum. Leaving your room is tricky, however. There are 70 individual villas, each with a plunge pool and outside ‘jungle’ shower. His ’n’ hers bathrooms are vast, as are the beds; the Mayan crockery and Aztec rugs covetable.
A basket arrives outside your door each dawn, containing fabulous Mexican coffee and muffins to tide you over until breakfast proper. Privacy is hugely important at Chablé, and our villa was so secluded within the winding tree-lined paths that we felt ownership.
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