Quintana Roo
Mexico


The Experience

Maroma opened in 1995, long before Mexico's Caribbean coast became the "Riviera Maya" and resorts began proliferating madly. Built by a Mexican architect on one of the world's best white-sand beaches -- between turquoise waters and 200 acres of wild tropical forest -- the resort has only gotten better since Orient-Express bought the property in 2002. The white adobe and thatched-roof design has been carried through to new additions, including a world-class spa that manages to remain true to its Mexican spirit while offering an international menu of treatments.

The Rooms

Rooms vary widely in size and style, so reserve carefully. Skip the older gardenview rooms around the original pool, which are dark and have terraces on one of the major pathways. Rooms in the older oceanview buildings have tiled bathtubs and balconies, but the knockout rooms are the latest built, the Sian Nah suites in two-story buildings along the beach. All of these 2,100-square-feet suites have their own workout rooms with yoga mats, weights and cardio equipment, and the bathrooms have both indoor and outdoor showers as well as sunken tile baths. Suites on the bottom floor have their own plunge pools, while the upstairs suites have a flight of stairs that reach a private palapa-roof spa treatment tower with views over the tropical forest treetops as well as the sea.

The Service

It's the small touches here that make the experience special: morning coffee automatically delivered to your door, for example, or if you want to practice your Spanish, you can wear a wristband to alert the staff to speak to you in their native tongue. Service is even good at the chaises and blue sun beds on the beach, an area where so many resorts fall apart.

The Highlights

Unlike some of the large resorts along the Riviera Maya, Maroma is deeply tied to its history and culture. So much so, in fact, that its gorgeous Kinan Spa -- with thatched roof, conchuela (shell) floors and native hardwood furniture -- is aligned according to ancient Mayan geometry, with treatments based on Mayan rituals and found nowhere else on earth. Maroma also has the first temazcal -- a traditional Mexican sweat lodge that predates even the Mayans -- ever built at a resort anywhere. Refreshment and romance rule here. The restaurant El Sol, which serves Maya and Creole cuisine, is ultraromantic, with French doors that open to the warm sea breezes and stars. After dinner, stroll Maroma's stone pathways, lit by more than a thousand candles, as music from the restaurant floats down across the glowing white beach.

-- Laurel Delp

Find Hotel Deals on Yahoo Travel»