In the know

Our favourite rooms: Number 8 got us the most excited, on account of its secluded terrace and the plunge pool that leads off from the large bathroom. Hacienda bedrooms were traditionally designed to be airy rather than light, but rooms 4 and 7 are the hotel’s brightest. Room 7 also has the most extensive garden views, and big, black-and-white-tiled room 4 boasts a plunge pool set in a dainty private garden. La Casa del Patron (the owner’s house) is the largest and most private suite, with a full-size pool fashioned from the Hacienda’s erstwhile cistern and a vast bathroom with a Ticul-stone tub.
Packing tips: Hacienda Temozon’s glam, bordering on regal, atmosphere means that high heels and haute couture aren’t remotely out of place.
Also: The Hol Bé spa (named after the Mayan for ‘open way’ has treatment beds set up in a candlelit underground cavern, where you can experience traditional Mayan massage techniques.

Mexico hotels: Hacienda Temozon, need to know

Current offers

Smith card offer: 10 per cent off spa treatments
Current special offer: 25 per cent off room rates

Hacienda Temozon

Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico [view map]

Style: Belle époque Mexicana
Setting: Peninsular palm-tree gardens

Once the most productive sisal estate in Yucatan, now the Peninsula’s largest and most luxurious hacienda hotel, Hacienda Temozon is the grand dame of plantation estates in the region. Its cattle-market/rope-making past is still visible in the ruins and artisans’ workshops that line it, and the 17th-century ruby-red architecture still reigns resplendent, but, in terms of service or style, it couldn’t be more up-to-date.

Need to know

Rooms: 28, including nine suites.
Rates: Low season, $359–$689; high season, $424–$754, excluding breakfast and 22 per cent service charge and tax.
Check-out: Midday. Later check-out is subject to availability and a charge of $40.
Facilities: Heliport, spa, library, tennis court, pool table, TV room, free WiFi in the main buildings. In rooms: CD/MP3 player, hammock, minibar.
Poolside: The hacienda’s glorious pool is one of the hotel’s highlights. Its fountain-fed length stretches across the gardens like a swathe of blue carpet, with four columns rising high out of the water. There are plenty of loungers too.
Eco-friendly: The hotel recycles where possible, reuses water through irrigation and Temozon’s owners are behind the World Haciendas Foundation, which supports henequen rope-making communities in the Mexican southeast.
Also: Smoking is allowed throughout.

Food & drink

Hotel restaurant: Overlooking the pool, the Yucatecan restaurant, Casa Principal, blends European and Mexican cuisine in the traditional manner of the region, to produce spicy organic dishes and a range of marmalades and jams.
Dress code: While the devil may care by day, he has more elegant requirements at night.
Top table: For a quirky private dinner in a romantic setting, as staff to set up a candlelit table in the gardens or one of the Hacienda’s tumbledown buildings.
Last orders: Casa Principal’s ovens cool at 10.30pm, when the bar closes too.
Room service: Meals can be served in-room during restaurant hours.
Hotel bar: The hotel’s little bar, Gárgolas, is a quiet spot for enjoying views of the garden over a tamarind margarita. It’s especially attractive when the Hacienda’s illuminated at night.

Other facilities

Children: Up to two under-12s can share their parents’ room free. Babysitting can be arranged, with a day’s notice. There’s a children’s area in the restaurant. more info
Weddings: This hotel is suitable for weddings click here for more info.

Smith card offer

10 per cent off spa treatments

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