Hacienda Uayamon
Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico[view map]
Reviewed by Mr & Mrs Smith.
Mr & Mrs Smith have a review trip to this Campeche boutique hotel in the diary, and just as soon as they’ve unpacked their bags, a full account of their stay in Mexico will be with you. In the meantime, just to whet your wanderlust, here’s a little taster of Hacienda Uayamon…
If it weren’t for the invention of synthetic fibre, Hacienda Uayamon might never have existed as a boutique hotel. But, thanks to the arrival of man-made polymers, the hacienda’s livelihood manufacturing henequen fibre came to an abrupt end. Abandoned for most of the 20th Century, Uayamon could have gradually disintegrated into its jungle surroundings, but instead it was rescued, renovated, and reinvented as a luxurious bolthole, with elements of its dereliction deliberately maintained to create a vibe of history, mystery and romance. The pool, for example, is jaw-dropping, fashioned into the floor of a crumbling chamber, with ageing stone pillars towering in its centre, and nothing but the sunny sky overhead. Ancient doorways in the mottled walls look out onto the well-kept gardens and a cotton hammock hung in the corner by the sundeck allows for swaying snoozes inches above the water. Peaceful, secluded, but close to the more urban attractions of Campeche, Hacienda Uayamon is the perfect place for intimate sojourns à deux.