As we speed across the lagoon, I can’t resolve if I’m more in awe of the natural beauty around us, or the captain’s ability to navigate the network of canals, lined with twisting mangroves. There’s scarcely one other human in these parts, though we do catch sight of an osprey eagle. After we arrive, greater than a little bit windswept, we’re greeted with fresh guava juice. Our bags are swept away as we’re invited to explore the grounds of Casa Chablé.
Situated between the lagoon and the open ocean on a stretch of untouched white sand beach, the brand new boutique hotel Casa Chablé offers the final word in tranquil luxury. Here, you discover that each aspect has been rigorously considered to create the right stay for guests, while also protecting and celebrating its setting.
The Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve, a 1.3-million-acre Unesco World Heritage Site on Mexico’s Yucatan coast, encompasses lush jungles, pristine wetlands and ancient ruins alongside the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef. Its Mayan name translates to “gateway to heaven”, and over the subsequent few days, Casa Chablé works to point out us just how true that name is.
Stay
For the way distant it feels, Casa Chablé is remarkably accessible: reached by a drive through the Sian Ka’an Reserve or, because the hotel recommends, by a 45-minute boat journey from Tulum’s hotel zone. Last week, manager Ronald Cruz tells us, Casa Chablé had their first guests arrive by helicopter, landing on the beach.
The hotel comprises just 10 residences – five rooms within the Casa Principal (major house), and five standalone bungalows. In style, award-winning Mexican interior designer Paulina Morán was inspired by the hotel’s natural surroundings, using wood and wicker textures alongside local prints and patterns to attach the space to its cultural roots through color and shape.
The bungalows are scattered across the white sand beach, where their frond-topped roofs mix seamlessly into the palm trees surrounding them.
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The three ocean-view bungalows, one master beachfront bungalow and one premium-oceanfront bungalow with a non-public garden have breathtaking views, moon showers, and terraces to benefit from the environment.
Inside, every last detail is assumed of, all the way in which right down to the small lamp provided for night-time walks along the beach, in order that the wonderful map of stars above won’t be disturbed by light pollution.
Sustainability runs throughout the hotel’s ethos: the property is powered by renewable solar and wind energy and uses eco-sensitive filtration. Water is drawn from an on-site well and treated using reverse osmosis and biodigester technology to be repurposed for irrigation.
And some of the special parts of the experience is that it’s going to at all times stay this intimate, on account of strict environmental regulations in Sian Ka’an that nearly entirely limit recent construction. This may occasionally be frustrating for some local hoteliers, but there may be joy in knowing that the preservation of the Biosphere Reserve comes above all else, and that Casa Chablé will likely never be any greater than this.
Dine
Within the morning we’re greeted by fresh pastries and occasional on our terrace, before heading over to the Ku’um for breakfast overlooking the beach.
Casa Chable’s dining offer is led by Jorge Vallejo, who has gained worldwide recognition for his award-winning Mexico City restaurant. Guintonil has been included on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list since 2015 and brings his expertise and keenness for cooking to the center of K’uum.
The menu centers on regionally-inspired dishes that highlight the freshness of the ingredients. Fish and seafood, caught day by day within the nearby village, are complemented by wealthy sauces, zingy salsas and an abundance of locally-sourced vegatables and fruits.
And the restaurant isn’t the one place you’ll be able to benefit from the culinary delights that Casa Chablé has to supply. The staff can arrange breakfast in your balcony, or dinner on the beach or in a jungle clearing, for a romantic private meal.
Loosen up
For the final word in rest and balance, Casa Chable offers a wide range of spa treatments. The Massage Casa Lagoon Chablé combines ancient techniques and using universal energy to align the “chakras”. The celebrates nature and herbal remedies with a mix of flower petals and essential oils that nourish the skin, accompanied by a pure hydrating facial.
For those looking for to reconnect with nature, try the treatment. This sunset therapy in front of the ocean offers profound advantages for the body, with a calming massage accompanied by the sound of ocean waves and the white sand of Sian Ka’an.
Explore
For those in search of adventure, the hotel offers an enormous array of activities from kayaking and paddle boarding to mezcal tasting and cooking classes. But one of the best activities undoubtedly come while you enterprise beyond the hotel grounds into the Biosphere Reserve.
The hotel has tour guides on retainer, so we take a ship trip out into the lagoon. We visit “bird island” where our captain Laura points out frigatebirds, their throats vivid red for mating season, baby pelicans still learning to fly and pink spoonbills in the ultimate days before they migrate back to Canada.
Laura’s expert eye tracks down a dolphin keen to impress us and a leaping ray. Then, braving the choppy waves of the open ocean, we see a surprising sea turtle, breaching the water’s surface just feet from our boat. We snorkel within the coral reef alongside day-trippers from Tulum and bathe in the nice and cozy, clear natural pools.
Mayan culture and ritual is embedded within the hotel. Cruz shows us the makeshift shrine where the staff leave offerings for the , to appease the mischievous invisible creatures and produce luck for the hotel.
Before sunset, guests and staff join together for a Mayan ceremony, using incense and bells to provide thanks for our natural surroundings.
It doesn’t feel gimmicky or tokenistic, removed from it. As you look across the vast expanse of the lagoon and the blazing sun on the horizon, whatever you think, it’s hard to not be overcome with gratitude for the natural forces that made this possible.