Cancún at Punta Nizuc

Four nights with nothing fixed, on the point at the southern end of Cancún where the Presidential Retreat once stood, between the Caribbean and the mangroves. The reef runs past the beach and the spa keeps Maya ceremonies, with a private day at Chichén Itzá and Valladolid or a dive among the statues of the underwater museum when wanted.

Length: Four nights
Pace: One house, day trips out
Style: Beach, leisure, spa
Route: Punta Nizuc, Cancún
Best time: Jan to Feb, Nov

An aerial view of the resort on its peninsula, with white beaches, turquoise shallows and mangroves. — Photo: NIZUC Resort & Spa

Days 1 to 5 · four nights

Punta Nizuc, Cancún

Met at Cancún airport by a private driver for the short run to the resort. Then days at leisure: the beach, the galleries in town, or a dive on the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, which runs along this coast. The spa draws on Maya healing traditions and holds Maya ceremonies and fire rituals, and the hotel can arrange a private day to Chichén Itzá and Valladolid, which, subject to permit, can begin at sunrise before the site opens, for El Castillo without the crowds, a scuba dive among the coral-covered statues of the Cancún Underwater Museum, the underground river at Río Secreto, or a morning offshore for sailfish and marlin. El Rey, the closest Maya site to the resort, keeps the outlines of its buildings and plazas.

Where you stay

NIZUC Resort & Spa

NIZUC stands on the secluded point of Punta Nizuc, less than 15 minutes from Cancún airport, with 274 suites and private villas across 29 acres. Many suites have their own pools, the villas have infinity pools, and the resort holds six restaurants and the first ESPA spa in the Mexican Caribbean.

Arranged on request

Chichén Itzá and Valladolid, privately

A private day to the Kukulkán Pyramid at Chichén Itzá and on to the colonial town of Valladolid, arranged by the hotel.

The Cancún Underwater Museum

A scuba dive among the hundreds of coral-covered statues sunk off Cancún.

Maya ceremonies at the spa

The spa holds Maya ceremonies, fire rituals and pre-Hispanic dance alongside treatments drawn from Maya healing traditions.

Río Secreto

An underground river among thousands of stalactites and stalagmites, south along the coast.

Chichén Itzá before it opens

Subject to permit, a privately guided visit at sunrise, before the public opening, to see El Castillo and the city without crowds.

Subject to availability.

Ways to make it yours

A day at Tulum, the Maya city on the Riviera Maya coast.
Sailing and snorkelling to Isla Contoy and Isla Mujeres.
A day in the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve, with a jungle walk to the Maya temple at Muyil, then a boat through the reserve's waterways to a cenote and a float down the lazy river.

This is a sample. The hotels, the pace and the order are where we start, not where we finish: every journey is designed around the people taking it.

Made around you

Most travel is bought. This is designed.

Before anything is booked, we talk: who is travelling, how you like to spend a morning, and the hotel preferences below the obvious, from the kind of bath you like to the time you wake and how much daylight you need in a room. You see options where options matter and clean recommendations where they don't.

The same person remains your point of contact from the first reply to the trip after next. No handovers. No team.