If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.
Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (MXN4,757.14), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.
Milam Hotel is an Earth-kind ode to Mayan heritage, neatly wrapped in a tropical cream-hued retreat just beyond Tulum’s town center. Calming, curved interiors match the sleepy pace of life that’s given this beachside spot its cool cachet, and scattered palm trees invite slithers of Quintana Roo’s sought-after sunshine onto private pools and cloud-like loungers. Inside, things may look a little too contemporary for the Mayans, but they’ve certainly left their healing mark: shaman-led ceremonies are held in heated temazcals, ancient fire rituals reform the soul, sound-bath sessions align those pesky unbalanced chakras, and guided yoga flows start days slowly. And if you’d rather embrace modernity, you’re more than welcome to stick with poolside picante sipping.
Smith Extra
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Early check-in from 1pm or late check-out until 2pm
Noon; check-in is at 3pm. Both are flexible (until 2pm for check-out and from 1pm for check-in), subject to availability and a charge equal to 50 per cent of the nightly room rate.
Prices
Double rooms from £268.61 (MXN5,756), including tax at 21 per cent. Please note the hotel charges an additional government tax of MXN31.12 per person per night on check-out.
More details
Rates don’t usually include breakfast, but à la carte options are available at the restaurant.
Also
Walkways are all wheelchair-friendly and the ground-floor villas can be adapted for guests with limited mobility.
At the hotel
Concierge, free-to-borrow bikes, and free WiFi throughout. In rooms: air-conditioning and ceiling fans, minibar, tea- and coffee-making kit, free bottled water, and custom organic bath products.
Our favourite rooms
Residences are decked out with private pools, rooftop terraces and four king-size bedrooms, making them the best bet for big groups. But if you’re traveling as a duo, we’d suggest one of the villas for their bed-bordering indoor plunge pools.
Poolside
Weaving through the tropics, the lengthy outdoor pool is flanked with plush sunloungers and palm trees. All rooms have private pools: the villas have smaller indoor plunge pools and the residences are blessed with more sizable swimming spots.
Spa
Everything at Milam Hotel stays in tune with Mayan traditions, and treatments at Xunan Spa – open between 8am and 8pm – are certainly no different. Masseurs are trained in ancient healing methods that bring together the Earth’s elements for soul-soothing massages and refreshing facials. And to immerse guests in native practices, there are shaman-led temazcal ceremonies and holistic fire rituals, too.
Packing tips
Your best bikini and a good book is all you’ll need at Milam Hotel.
Milam Hotel was built in tune with its surroundings so as not to disturb the jungle’s ecosystem, and all the products in the hotel are sourced sustainably and recycled once discarded.
It’s tough to be let down by tables here; but if you’re at the bar, we’d suggest bagging a spot on the curved, botanical-print banquette.
Dress Code
The only uniform here is flowy cottons and loose, light linens.
Hotel restaurant
Curved, rattan interiors set the tone at Milam’s restaurant, where chefs dish up refined regional fare, cooked with locally sourced ingredients and inspired by the Yucatán Peninsula’s traditional flavors (think lemon-marinated ceviche, slow-roasted pork bao buns, and punchy sikil pak tacos).
Hotel bar
Steps from the pool with curved designs inspired by the sacred rebirth cycle central to both Mayan and Tibetan cultures, Samsara Bar serves what you’d expect when in Tulum (ie: star turns by mezcal and tequila on the cocktail menus) and light bar bites under an opulent copper ceiling that’s been warped to weave around the surrounding tropics.
Last orders
Breakfast is from 7.30am till noon; lunch is 12.30pm to 6pm; and dinner is between 6.30pm and 10pm. The bar stops serving at 11pm.
Room service
Meals from the restaurant’s menu can be delivered to your room between 7.30am and 10pm.
Milam Hotel is 10 minutes from the center of Tulum, along the Yucatán Peninsula in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo.
Planes
Tulum’s international airport is the closest to the hotel (just over an hour’s drive), but there aren’t many direct routes from Europe yet; so if you’re arriving from the Continent, we’d suggest flying directly into Cancún Airport, which is around an hour and 45 minutes from Milam. Arriving into Cozumel Airport – a two-hour drive away – is another choice. Private transfers can be arranged from all three airports for an additional charge.
Automobiles
Whether or not you need a set of wheels will depend on how far you’re planning on venturing – if you do decide to pick some up, there are rental booths at the airports and the hotel has free parking.
Worth getting out of bed for
Everything is about enlightening the senses at Milam Hotel, so there’s plenty here to keep wellness warriors busy. Guided yoga and meditation classes start mornings slowly, and there’s a temazcal lodge for traditional shaman-led ceremonies. Continue the serenity with a sound-healing session, where chakras are aligned with sacred instruments; or, if you’d rather let it all out, ‘animal flow’ combines yoga, gymnastics and bodyweight exercises aimed to unleash your inner big cat.
For those looking to explore more of Tulum’s underwater world, head for one of its many cenotes (the Two Eyes Cenote, Gran Cenote and Laguna Kaan Luum are popular choices) for cavernous snorkeling sessions and to Akumal Bay, where sea turtles might swim alongside you. Kayaking and boating through the Sian Ka’an Biosphere make for more idyllic adventures – or explore it at a slower pace down the lazy river. Mexico has no shortage of dreamy beaches and many of them can be found along these very shores – Playa Ruínas, Playa Paraíso and Playa Las Palmas, to name a few, are frequently filled with sun baskers. If the hotel’s focus on Mayan culture has got you wanting to learn more, the Tulum Ruins are riddled with ancient stories of the indigenous civilization; and you’ll find the Yucatán Peninsula’s tallest Mayan pyramid at the Coba Ruins, just outside the walled city.
Local restaurants
Unsurprisingly, tacos are not hard to come by in Tulum and La Taqueria serves them every which way (meat, fish, veggie, vegan) on your doorstep. Hartwood is a slightly further 20-minute drive away, but it’s well worth the trip for its farm-to-fork fare. This creative spot was set up by New Yorkers Eric Warner and Mya Henry, with an eco-friendly ethos in mind: the open-air kitchen runs entirely on solar panels and dishes change daily depending on the whims of the water.
Local bars
Tulum tycoon James Gardner has set up Gitano Beach, sandy outpost of his famed Gitano that’s been hosting parties among the palms since 2013. The bohemian beach club is set along a golden stretch of sand in the Parque Nacional Tulum, where barmen serve craft cocktails and light bites to striped tipis, and sunseekers sip along to drum-based beats.
Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this hushed hotel in Mexico and unpacked their bikinis and bandanas, a full account of their beachy break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Milam Hotel in Tulum…
Make like the Mayans at Milam Hotel, where healing temazcal ceremonies, spirit-speaking shamans and soul-renewing fire rituals are all just part of the day-to-day. But there are plenty of other (perhaps less intense) ways to balance the body here, too: masseurs await with restorative remedies at the spa, Palomas are poured under a cast-in-copper roof at the poolside bar, and the rattan-dosed restaurant impresses with refined Yucatán fare. Even interiors invoke a sense of serenity with curved cream architecture, underlit alcoves and tropical accents that frame indoor (or outdoor, if you’re in one of the coveted residences) pools. Tulum town is a short cycle away, and the region’s famed stretch of caster-sugar sands are less than half an hour away by car, but within Milam’s palms everything is about aligning mind, body and soul – whether that’s by sipping spicy margaritas at the bar, basking in rays or seeking out the spirits is all up to you.
