PLACES TO STAY Hotel Esencia, Tulum, Mexico hotel review

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PLACES TO STAY

Hotel Esencia, Tulum, Mexico hotel review
A boho-chic bolthole steps away from secret sandy spots

BY MICHAELA TRIMBLE
14 November 2022

Why book?

This 50-acre estate, with its sprawling guest suites and expansive villas, is perhaps the most private and intimate hotel in the entire region of Riviera
Maya, offering a sense of seclusion while also offering immediate access to the white-sand beaches and tucked-away cenotes of the pristine Xpu-Ha
cove.
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Hotel Esencia

Set the scene

After a sunrise yoga class at the property’s two-story, ocean-facing palapa, urbanites on an escape from the city trickle into breakfast with their
finest athletic garb intact. Healthful breakfasts like omelettes and fruit bowls are served at the beachfront palapa, an open-air space replete with
expansive views of the turquoise Caribbean. When afternoon sets in, guests can usually be found swimming laps in one of the property’s two heated
pools or lounging at one of Hotel Esencia’s oceanfront cabanas set along the white-sand shores of Xpu-Ha cove.

Hotel Esencia
The backstory

Originally built as a private hideaway for an Italian duchess, the 50-acre estate where Hotel Esencia resides was purchased by the Hollywood
producer and entrepreneur Kevin Wendle in 2014, who has since turned the property into the area’s chicest, most intimate beachside retreat. Due to
its intimacy and privacy that’s seldom found in this stretch of Riviera Maya coast, the property is beloved by travellers who prefer to go unnoticed –
as well as stars like Bella Hadid and Lupita Nyong.

Hotel Esencia

The rooms

Beyond the original house, stone footpaths lead to four expansive guest villas staffed with private butlers and an additional 47 suites, each with
private terraces and some with their own heated pool and solarium that look to the Caribbean. The latest and most luxurious lodging to debut on
the grounds is the Esencia Mansion, a four-bedroom villa with three swimming pools, a screening room with seating for 20, and a subterranean
speakeasy accessible by a clandestine entrance.

Hotel Esencia
Food and drink

Guests need not venture far for breakfast: each morning, the Hotel Esencia team delivers hot coffee or tea on the outdoor table of each guest room, as
well as a basket full of pastries. For larger meals, there’s an on-site café with orange muffins and buttery croissants, a juice bar serving up fresh
smoothies and acai bowls, and three restaurants: an omakase, a beef bar, and a Yucatán eatery offering dishes with a Mediterranean flair, from a
green gazpacho topped with fresh crab to grilled octopus layered with a creamy garlic mole. For evening cocktails, there’s also a split-level, palapa-
style beach bar where the property hosts mezcal and tequila tastings.

Hotel Esencia

The spa

When guests first enter the property’s circular spa compound, they’re greeted by an altar with a figure of the goddess Ixchel at its centre, the Maya
deity of love, the moon, and fertility. The statue is surrounded by glowing lanterns, palm fronds, and plumes of copal smoke billowing from a clay
cup, which practitioners use to cleanse guests upon arrival. Myriad spa treatments inspired by traditional Maya healing rituals are on offer, as are
facial therapies from the all-natural skincare brand Tata Harper. Before or after a treatment, guests can also enjoy the spa’s many amenities: steam
rooms, jacuzzi-style plunge pools, swiss showers, an infrared dry sauna with jungle views, and a relaxing waterfall pool. There’s also an on-site
temazcal, which guests can book with advance notice to experience an ancestral healing ritual that offers deep detoxification through a hot steam
bath created by pouring herbal infusions over hot stones.

Hotel Esencia
The neighbourhood

While Playa del Carmen and Tulum in Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula teeter towards overdevelopment, the stretch of beach and jungle where Hotel
Esencia resides, known as Xpu-Ha, offers a reprieve from the region’s bustling resorts and hedonistic eco-hotels. It’s private, remote, and feels
completely removed from the world outside. It’s the type of hotel where nightlife looks like guiding sea turtle hatchlings to the water.

Hotel Esencia

The service

Due to its boutique size and intimate setting, the property offers hands-on service and plenty of bespoke experiences such as morning
paddleboarding excursions in a nearby cenote, where a sighting of the resident manatee family is likely.

For families

Although there are no outright amenities for children, the hotel does offer babysitting services to families.

Hotel Esencia
Eco effort

From March to October, Xpu Ha beach welcomes the arrival of six of the seven species of sea turtles found around the world. The Hotel Esencia
team is trained to protect and release thousands of baby turtles every year, an activity in which guests are encouraged to partake. The team also
participates in conservation projects such as the protection of coastal dunes and plant species such as red and white mangroves, as well as the
reforestation of the jungle. When it comes to daily operations, the hotel composts all of its organic waste and food scraps and treats around 300,000
litres of water per day, which is used to irrigate its abundant gardens and green areas.

Hotel Esencia

Anything left to mention?

The property centres around the original main house, originally built as a private hideaway for an Italian duchess. Today, the abode’s library is used
as the base for the property’s afternoon tea and cookies, which guests can enjoy daily with views of the ocean.

Hotel address: Tulum km 265 Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo 77750 Mexico
Price: from doubles from about £1,150

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