Description: Quite simply, this is my new favorite hotel on the planet – elegant, seductive, and thoughtful. All there is to do here is eat, sleep, and lounge, so that’s how I’ve broken up the review:
First, sleeping: There are 29 individual villas scattered throughout the property — essentially a jungle with winding cement walkways that eventually lead to the beach. Each villa was constructed with privacy as its #1 consideration. Of special note are the outdoor lounge areas just off each room, which spoil you with a private plunge pool, hammock, and daybed. Meanwhile, out back an outdoor shower beckons — if you’re not afraid of tarantulas or the roaming eyes of your neighbor through the bush. Rooms are furnished with CD players and flat-screen TVs, but there’s an undeniable island feeling, too. Count on a gauzy mosquito net around the bed and plenty of Molton Brown toiletries. Louvred shutters give these villas the appearance of tropical bungalows, but glass in between allows for air-conditioning and relatively few bugs. Genius.
Next, eating. There’s only one restaurant here, but its variety is impressive. First thing in the morning, you experience the wildly indulgent “pre-breakfast”: pastries, coffee, and tea delivered to your room and left unobtrusively on your porch before 8am. Then the restaurant breakfast menu runs the gamut from Eggs Benedict to Fruit Crepes to Enchiladas, and lunch gives you your choice of ceviche (Ikal’s trademark), seafood salad, gazpacho, guacamole, shrimp tacos, and more. For dinner you can head into Playa del Carmen (about 10 minute cab ride away) or eat at the same restaurant, which serves delicious Yucatanean specialties. I splashed out for lobster one evening and ended up with three succulent grilled tails – enough feed a family of four, at least.
Finally, the beach. The beach is stunning but rocky, so you’ll have to walk for a few minutes to find a place to swim. A few low-budget hotels sit on the same stretch of beach, but it's still pretty empty.
Little touches of special note include:
- cowboy hats and an endless supply of bottled water at the beach/pool
- the ability to get your plunge pool heated while you’re at dinner
- love poems left on your bed each evening
- umbrellas scattered everywhere in case of a shower
- free Internet access from the lobby area
- a bill delivered every 2 days such that you don’t get socked with a surprise at the end of your stay.
I’ll tell you about a few glitches, in the name of full disclosure. It took seemingly ever to walk from our room to the pool area; the fitness center was still closed as a result of Hurricane Wilma; we saw a snake (can you say “Eden”?); and the road that leads to Ikal makes you think you’re about to be taken to a construction site and shot. But hell, I’d actually risk getting shot to go there again. It was just that good.
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