Playa Mujeres Holidays

Playa Mujeres bags the title of the newest luxury retreat in Mexico. Location-wise, it stretches out along a peninsula on the Caribbean Coast. Box-fresh hotels with sand-side bars are divvied up along its barely-touched beach, and everything overlooks the island of Isla Mujeres. The tempo cranks up as you head further south. The marina and its polished prom mark the southern edge of Playa Mujeres. And if you drive for another 15 minutes, you’ll hit lively Cancun.

The beach at Playa Mujeres lays out more than 3 kilometres of talc-soft sand. Hotels load the odd patch with sunloungers and parasols, but the rest is left au naturel. Even more beaches can be found on Isla Mujeres – a long, lanky island that sits on the horizon. A 20-minute boat ride from the marina will whisk you to its seafood restaurants and souvenir shops.

Lake-splattered mangrove reserves back Playa Mujeres. One of the best ways to explore them is to book a game at the Mujeres Golf Club. The greens, bunkers and fairways wind between watery forests and lagoons. It’s bird-watching central, too, so expect to spy bright red cardinals and speedy hummingbirds. That’s not all there is to the local wildlife, either. Grab a snorkel and mask, and you’ll discover that the waters off Playa Mujeres are stacked with turtle-friendly reefs.

Cancun is only a 20-minute taxi ride away. Here, you’ve got 24-hour bars, themed restaurants and clubs on tap. As for the Riviera Maya, it’s just an hour’s drive south. The area is a mash-up of laid-back beach towns and Mayan ruins straight out of an Indiana Jones film.