Need to know
Rooms
129 suites and villas
Check–Out
11am, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 3pm.
More details
Rates don’t include breakfast, but it can be purchased for $35–55. With classic chilaquiles and traditional sopes on offer, we advise you to cough up the extra dollars.
Also
Guests are encouraged to embrace their inner Anthony Bourdain and travel two hours to Valladolid, where residents still dress in traditional Mayan clothing.
At the hotel
Spa, fitness facilities, tennis courts, golf course, dry cleaning/laundry service, private beach, four pools, eight restaurants and bars, kids club, bicycles, Wi-Fi. In rooms: personalised butler service, room service, TV, plunge pool, Maison Caulières bath products.
Our favourite rooms
Any one of the secluded-away Lagoon Suites gives the impression you’re floating over the waterways – the type of place where Graham Greene could hole up with a bottle of something strong and while away the hours bashing away at the typewriter. The private boat dock also allows for a quick escape when you’re in need of a late-night mole fix. For a toes-in-the-sand feel, the Beachfront Suite has unbroken blue vistas of sky and sea.
Poolside
There are four options, including a family-friendly beachfront infinity pool and an oval-shaped hydrotherapy pool.
Spa
Sense is set on its own island and includes eight overnight wellness suites. Specialities include treatments influenced by Mayan herbal medicine rituals.
Packing tips
A pair of tailored, yet stretchy, Orlebar Brown trunks and a muted Sunspel polo is a classic duo that will take you from beach to bar.
Also
Mezcal is offered on arrival, allowing you to swing into the nonchalant rhythms of beachlife from the get go.
Pet‐friendly
All pets are welcome; there’s a $100 charge per dog per stay. See more pet-friendly hotels in Playa del Carmen.
Children
Children of all ages are welcome, and the bevy of explorer activities is likely to inspire the next generation of thrill-seeking globetrotters.
Best for
Babies and up
Recommended rooms
With three- to six-bedroom configurations, as well as living and dining areas, any one of the signature suites offers plenty of room for young travellers to kick back in.
Crèche
There’s no onsite crèche, but the kids’ club is open 9am–5pm.
Activities
Rosewood Mayakoba caters to small explorers, offering more than the usual soft-ball pits and climbing frames. The exhaustive programme includes yoga classes, scavenger hunts for mini-Indys, and lessons in Spanish and Mayan. Those looking to follow in the footsteps of David Attenborough can go on eco-tours with a biologist who’ll educate guests in local fauna and flora, and there are also opportunities to learn about the release of nesting sea turtles into the sea.
Swimming pool
Of the four options, we recommend taking your Smithlets to the Punta Bonita family pool, a lively beachside hangout.
Meals
Highchairs, menus, cutlery, bibs, times for children, kitchen happy to adapt menu, minibar.
Babysitting
Babysitting must be booked 24 hours in advance. There’s a two-hour minimum, and nannies can care for two children at a time. It’s $25 per hour (7am–11.59pm); $30 (12 midnight–6.59am). Changes or cancellations must be made four hours in advance.
No need to pack
Skincare products and bottle warmers.
Also
Spa services are available to children, allowing them to decompress following some arduous hours of building sandcastles on the beach.
Sustainability efforts
There’s an all-encompassing approach to sustainability at Rosewood Mayakoba. Guests arrive at their accommodation via an electric boat, and can also use electric golf carts and bicycles to get around the 620-acre development. The hotel is committed to protecting its mangroves, home to hundreds of species of native flora and fauna. There are daily eco-tours that educate participants about Mexican wildlife and the protection of indigenous sea turtles, there’s an extensive effort to use alternatives to plastic, and there’s a system that recycles water that is then used for landscape irrigation.
