Banyan Tree Mayakoba

Banyan Tree Mayakoba

Banyan Tree Mayakoba sits inside a private gated community threaded by canal waterways and mangrove, seven kilometres from the beach strip and street life of Playa del Carmen, past Xcaret and the El Rey ruins. Built in 2009, it holds only 161 rooms across two floors, so there is no tower to queue at and no shared pool deck to fight for a chair on. Most categories carry their own plunge pool, from the Oceanfront Veranda Pool Suite to the three-bedroom Standard Residence and the Bliss King Villa with Pool, and after dark, dinner at Ixchel is served aboard a traditional trajinera gliding those same canals, a way of eating no neighbouring resort offers. Saffron works through Thai tradition, Tomahawk runs an open fire for steaks, Suna pairs Peruvian flavours with Japanese technique, and Sands Beach Club runs from breakfast through cocktail hour to dinner on the sand. Between meals there is a spa with sauna, steam room and solarium, a golf course, and a diving club, while a kids club and family residences mean travelling with children is planned for rather than tolerated. Anyone wanting a lively pool scene or a walk into town should look elsewhere; this is a property built around distance and quiet. Extra beds run 2,500 pesos a night, a pet stay requires a 1,000-peso deposit, and Quintana Roo's visitor tax applies on top of the room rate. What lingers afterward is the scale: two floors, water on every side, a resort designed to be entered slowly rather than checked into. Banyan Tree Mayakoba is a low-rise resort of 161 rooms strung along private canals seven kilometres from central Playa del Carmen, where dinner can be taken aboard a traditional trajinera drifting past mangrove at night. It rewards travellers who want distance and quiet over a lively pool scene.