Resort Report: Here's What's New on the Scene in Mexico

  
Serving up the freshest offering from Mexico's resorts, including a new endeavor from Rafael Nadal that seeks to court tennis-loving travellers. 

  

TRS Coral Hotel

Costa Mujeres

Johanna Read | traveleater.net

Costa Mujeres, about 20 minutes north of Cancun, is a new resort area which is quieter and less developed than most others parts of the Yucatan Peninsula’s coast. The five-star adults-only TRS Coral Hotel officially opened in February 2019.

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A member of Leading Hotels of the World, this 469-room hotel takes an “Infinite Indulgence” approach to the all-inclusive concept. Guests have a butler, 24-hour room service, enjoy an Ibiza-style pool, and a long almost-empty beach with Isla Mujeres across the aquamarine sea. All rooms are spacious with a luxe bathtub and some have swim-up pools.

TRS Coral Hotel has diverse dining options, including Argentine and French restaurants, as well as CHIC Cabaret & Restaurant, the second location of the popular Riviera Maya cabaret. Guests also have access to all the restaurants at the next door family-hotel Grand Palladium Costa Mujeres. There’s also a Rafa Nadal Tennis Centre and a 4740-m² Zentropia spa with two pools and a Nordic spa circuit including snow and salt rooms.

 

Grand Palladium Costa Mujeres Resort & Spa

Costa Mujeres

Johanna Read | traveleater.netJohanna Read | traveleater.net

Sharing many of the same facilities as TRS Coral Hotel, the Grand Palladium Costa Mujeres offers five-star service to families. There are 670 suites, some with swim-up pools, including two-story lofts with a hydro-massage bath on the balcony.

Kids keep busy at the beach, in the entertainment zone with water slide-equipped pool and performing in an evening show in the outdoor amphitheatre. There are three kids’ clubs, one for 1- to 3-year-olds, one for 4- to 12-year-olds, and another for more mature kids at least 11 years old.

Johanna Read | traveleater.net

Adults can dine at the restaurants in the adults-only TRS Coral Hotel section next door, and the whole family can choose between Thai, Japanese, Indian, Italian, Mexican, steak, seafood and international buffet restaurants, plus a coffee- and milkshake-shop and sports bar.  

  

Rafa Nadal Tennis Centre

Johanna Read | traveleater.netJohanna Read | traveleater.net

Within the Grand Palladium Costa Mujeres and TRS Coral Hotel complex, Rafa Nadal Tennis Centre is the first of its kind. Rafael Nadal, the #2-ranked men’s single player in the world, has a tennis academy on his home island of Mallorca; all the coaches teaching at the Costa Mujeres centre trained there. The new Mexican complex is said to have the best hotel tennis facilities in the world, with a second hotel tennis centre planned for Greece.

Guests of all abilities, both adults and children, can take part in Nadal’s unique values-based tennis programs on the centre’s eight clay courts. There’s also a soccer pitch, paddle tennis court, gym, bar-cafeteria, and a small museum. Nadal himself cut the ribbon and took the first serve at centre court at the opening of the centre on February 20, 2019.
  

Live Aqua Urban Resort

San Miguel de Allende

Johanna Read | traveleater.net

Also new in Mexico is the latest hotel from La Colección by Fiesta Americana, bringing Mexico’s luxury Live Aqua properties to a total of five. This design-focused hotel is a short walk to San Miguel’s UNESCO neighbourhood with its iconic pink basilica, but is in a quiet area next to an 18th-century dam.  

The haute five-star resort has 153 rooms, all featuring turntables complete with a selection of LPs and chic soaking tubs in glass-walled bathrooms. Art is throughout. Sculpture features prominently in the courtyards, including Mexican artist Javier Marin’s massive copper Vanilla Head, which has found a permanent home after touring the world.

Dining is at Thai-Mexican-fusion Zibu, sister of the popular Acapulco restaurant, and at the upstairs Spice Market, with traditional and modern Mexican offerings. Cigars and exquisite Dragones tequila can be sampled in the Cigar Bar.

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An elegant pool stretches above the (usually) dry riverbed next to the property, with views of desert plants dotting the hillside opposite. Guests can lounge on a hammock swinging over the pool, on a shaded Bali bed, or in a swinging chair with views of another sculptural pool. Children are welcome and have their own pool and club, called the Kids’ Lounge.

Live Aqua has an outstanding spa (the Sensation Fusion massage is exceptional), complete with sauna, steam room, jacuzzi and relaxation pools, and even an oxygen room.