Mayan Riviera Makeover: Mayakoba Resort

PHOTO: InStock

While the crowded hotel strip of Cancún, Mexico, is an environmentalist's nightmare, headway is being made by a more enlightened resort forty-two miles farther south on the Caribbean coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. Last year, OHL, a Spanish development company that has made respecting the environment its mandate, unveiled Mayakoba, a 593-acre resort that will eventually house four hotels. The first to open, last spring, was from Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, which advocates eco-friendly practices at all of its properties. (Over the next two years, hotels from Banyan Tree, Rosewood and Viceroy will also be completed.) During construction of the 401-room Fairmont Mayakoba, thousands of indigenous plants and trees were dug up and stored at a nursery, then later replanted. Much of the limestone quarried from the site was recycled to build the casitas. The bulk of the hotel was deliberately set far from the beach, beyond a wide preserve of mangrove trees; this serves as a wildlife habitat and as a filter to help protect the coral reef, the second largest in the world. (The few casitas near the ocean are among the priciest, ranging from $549 to $4,900 per night, and they are more than a mile by electric car from the main building.) The hotel seems to be a bit understaffed and has some service issues to work out, but its Willow Stream Spa is world-class, as is the eighteen-hole Greg Norman–designed golf course, where nature reigns: iguanas make regular appearances, and players may spot a crocodile lounging among the mangroves. The Fairmont also employs a full-time marine biologist, who is creating educational activities for visitors and initiatives to assist birds and sea turtles nesting in the area. To view a wilder landscape, ask the concierge to arrange an excursion to the 1.3 million–acre Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve, a United Nations World Heritage Site about an hour away. Fairmont has partnered with the organization to improve its sustainable-tourism program; tours of the jungles, Mayan ruins and lagoons at the reserve are given by natives of the biosphere. Just be forewarned: you'll need some herbal bug repellent in the dense jungle. Rooms from $299. 800-441-1414; fairmont.com.