Why We Love Hotel Esencia:
- With only 29 rooms and cottages, Hotel Esencia offers the most intimate experience of all the luxury options in the region
- Private cottages featuring private outdoor courtyards with plunge pools are the perfect option for couples looking for a serene and highly private environment. These cottages are also a good option for families looking for villa-style accommodations. Still, this property may not be a good fit for kids who need lots of activities and sources of entertainment.
- The inviting yoga pavilion with complimentary morning lessons is a great feature for anyone looking for a health-conscious environment.
- The Ceviche menu is the largest I’ve seen, with ingredients and flavor combinations that allow you to taste both the traditional recipes and something more inventive and adventurous.
- You can bike to Tulum! The perfect location offers a gorgeous beach, ultimate privacy and exclusivity, and convenient access to the famous site of Tulum.
When clients consider the many luxury hotels in Riviera Maya, the Hotel Esencia is the most often overlooked. It is a smaller boutique property with no recognizable brand name and is far from the Cancun airport. But, depending on your preferences, this charming hotel could be just the right fit.
See all the pictures from my site inspection on the Ourisman Travel Flickr page.
Originally built as a private home for a duchess, this boutique hotel has a “royal villa” feel. The arrival experience is unique and almost whimsical in the way to arrive at a thatched hut decorated with a collection of Mayan artifacts. You check in at the welcome lounge and wait for a buggy to whisk you away down a narrow path through the jungle. You first see the private cottages with their private outdoor courtyards with plunge pools, and then the main resort grounds reveal themselves through the vegetation. As you walk up a small hill to the lawn and get your first ocean view, you realize this resort is an exclusive mini-paradise ready for you to dive in!
The rooms here are decorated with a minimalist design with just a few touches of color against a bright white background. But, the adobe architecture, organic landscapes, and Mayan accents give you an immediate sense of place.
The real highlight of Hotel Esencia is the picture-perfect beach. It isn’t huge, but it is very private and just the right size for the property. Other highlights include the yoga pavilion, which hosts complimentary morning yoga sessions, and the extensive and creative ceviche menu at the pool-side restaurant. This hotel is the farthest from the airport, with an hour’s drive each way, but that also means you are closer to the sights of Tulum – you can even bike to the Tulum ruins, and there is a new nature trail for easy hikes.
If you are looking for ultimate exclusivity, simple and genuine local cuisine, and warm yet discreet service, do not ignore this great option!
Hotel Esencia offers the following amenities to our clients via Virtuoso:
- Upgrade on arrival, subject to availability
- Daily full breakfast for up to two in-room guests, served in the restaurant
- USD 100 Resort or Hotel credit, to be utilized during stay (not combinable, not valid on room rate, no cash value if not redeemed in full)
- Early check-in/late check-out, subject to availability
