A Visit to Belmond Maroma Resort & Spa

It can be forgiven this time, though, as this ‘hostess' is a red parrot. “This is Avelida, a parrot from this region, our hostess,” I'm told by the actual human hostess as she leads me through the warm leafy courtyard of the hotel. There's other wildlife in the surrounding area too, including coatis (like raccoons), harmless small snakes, monkeys and iguanas, though, apart from the parrot, the only animal life I see during my stay here are a few cats doing exactly the right thing to do here: taking it easy.

Around an hour from Cancun, or 10 minutes outside of Playa del Carmen, Belmond Maroma Spa and Resort sits on the shores of the Yucatan peninsular in the region of Quintana Roo, looking out onto the Caribbean ocean. Turning off the main road, through a security gate, it's reached via a long driveway that cuts through the forest. The main building has the feel of an old hacienda, built by an architect as his holiday home, with fountains, an elegant courtyard where Avelida sits on a perch, a large swimming pool and a restaurant leading down to the beach. Suites are just a short walk away, and they're certainly worth the walk.



‘Suites' feels like an understatement; the place where I spend two days feels more like an apartment or house. Just inside the front door, there's a vast living room, with a writing desk, coffee machine, fridge and a little bar area, all set up around a colorfully striped sofa and chairs. Following the general worldwide trend at top hotels for helping guests ‘disconnect', there's no TV.

The living room connects, via large glass doors, to an outside balcony, with a couple of big comfy chairs, looking out onto palm trees, a beach and the inviting ocean. All this space for two people already feels like a luxury, but we're just getting started.



In the other direction, the lounge links into a huge bedroom, with a central four poster bed, the white sheets decorated for our arrival with an ornate design of orange flowers. There's a recliner/lounging bed in the room too, where you can lie back and look up at the domed red brick ceiling and big black cast iron chandelier. The effect is surprisingly homely, but on a grand luxurious scale. Colorful paintings by Mexican artists provide a bit of a modern edge. The flooring throughout is a kind of copper/terracotta marble, which feels like it comes from a Roman or Tuscan villa. There are big sea shells in little coves inside the walls. The rooms look especially pleasant and atmospheric at night, when staff come in to do an extensive turn down service, lighting candles on tall candlebras and your selection of four fragrances in the aromatherapy burner.

The bathroom's also huge, with two sizable separate his-and-hers sink areas on either side, framed by cool lanterns, with space between the sinks for a romantic bathtub, big enough, at least, for two people. There are more candles arranged around the main tub or ‘pool'. The products provided are organic and homemade, including aromatic honey shampoo and conditioner, and oatmeal soap. Here at Belmond Maroma, one shower wouldn't be enough, though; there are two showers inside the shower room, for showering together, should it take your fancy, and on the other side of the glass, a door leads to an outdoor shower that's surrounded by forest (and a privacy wall).



We're not nearly done yet. Next to the bathroom, there's a personal gym area, with a running machine, yoga mat, and exercise ball, all of which goes guiltily underused during my stay. Outside, there's a second lounging area, with a private plunge pool looking out onto the ocean, along with chairs, a table and, this part of the Mexican coast's essential item, a hammock, hanging wall to wall. I explore up a small staircase to find a roof space. It's empty, but some guests apparently use it for doing yoga, looking out onto the ocean. This is a place where I could, and do, happily spend a lot of time, not least on the balcony, drinking a good bottle of Pinot Noir and looking out over crashing waves.

The next day starts with a delivery of coffee, tea, biscuits and a newspaper, before we take a lazy stroll down to breakfast in the restaurant. Waiters in the El Sol restaurant speak flawless English and are genuine and friendly, introducing themselves by name, making recommendations from the menu, stopping for occasional chats, without ever being intrusive. We take a table by the window, with a view of the beach and ocean, a woman nearby making fresh tortillas on a hot plate. Gentle guitar music twangs in the background. Breakfast starts with fresh, warm croissants and pastries, natural yoghurt with crunchy granola, butter and preserves all elegantly presented in little wooden and glass trays. For my main, I go for enchiladas with eggs and veggies. A rich creamy chipotle sauce already packs plenty of heat, though the waiter brings a tiny jug filled with an additional hot salsa (these diverse spicy sauces are a big part of the fun of eating in Mexico). There are other thoughtful extras, like slices of lemon for the water and a little jug of honey to go with the yogurt, while a waitress makes the rounds offering cups of creamy hot chocolate with cinnamon. All days should probably start this way.



We're back in El Sol later for lunch, with corn tortilla chips (called ‘totopos' here in Mexico) served on the table along with four sauces, from traditional salsa to sweet potato with chipotle. I order a ceviche of bay scallops with pineapple, cucumber, mint and habanero pepper, which comes served on a neat wooden tray over ice, and tastes tangy and fresh, then the Catch of the Day, a meaty chunk of grouper, which is perfectly cooked, served with a spicy sweet tamarind sauce, a pot of soft, sweet and blackened roasted veg and warm fresh bread.

We take a look around. The main deep blue pool, surrounded by loungers, goes unused during our stay and I don't see anyone else in it; as in a lot of the region's hotel, the thinking must be: why swim in a pool when you have such a gorgeous ocean just a few metres away? We spend a little time out on the beach and resting on the balcony, before an early evening spa treatment. The pathways are lit with torches to keep away the bugs. The spa has a tall triangular ceiling, the building atmospherically it, and there are snakes, turtles and lizard symbols in the chunky floor tiles. Small pools have ‘waterfalls' cascading down into them.



“Relax your mind, your body and your spirit,” the masseuse whispers in my ear, which is pretty easy to do when there's a hot towel around my neck and shoulders, her hands gently massaging my skull. She wafts a fragrance of eucalyptus and ginger under my nose before a quick footbath and footrub, then begins a 50-minute full body massage to a soundtrack of Indian sitars and Brian Eno's ambient works. It's a great, firm massage with rosemary oil, working aches from shoulders and back, head to toe, so relaxing that I think, perhaps, I briefly nod off once or twice.

We're greeted by name again by the waiters in the evening, taking our table by the window and ordering, first, cocktails, then a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon for a good wine list. My girlfriend thinks the tlayuda de pulpo Maya (Mayan octopus) might be the best she's ever eaten, perfectly cooked, soft and delicious, and my starter of Mexican crispy brie cheese is hard to fault too, indulgent and served with guava sauce and hibiscus jelly. Good seafood is abundant on the Riviera Maya, one of the reasons I like eating here so much, so while my girlfriend goes for the chef's recommendation of roaster snapper with sautéed potatoes, saffron aioli and fennel, I tuck into seared blackened yellowtail amberjack, with roasted veg and celeriac puree. We leave, full and happy, warmed by mescal and wine.

With such a fine and friendly restaurant, the luxurious villa and the sunny beachfront, we're in no rush to leave next day and have nowhere to be until the mid-afternoon, so the hotel kindly arranges a late checkout and an early afternoon taxi into Playa del Carmen. Like everything here, it's all done in a quick, stress-free and friendly way. In fact, everything at Belmond Maroma is exactly how you want it to be: comfortable, stylish and supremely relaxing, from the first moment to the last.



cazenove+loyd (cazloyd.com, 020 7384 2332) offer 2 nights in Belmond Maroma Resort & Spa, in 1 Deluxe Ocean View Room (b+b) from US$1,665, based on 2 adults traveling between June and October 2017.

Dinner for two with house wine costs around US$230 in total.
A 50 minute Spa Treatment costs US$171 (including taxes and service fee).