NIZUC Resort & Spa

NIZUC covers 29 acres at Punta Nizuc, once a private retreat for the presidents of Mexico, facing the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef; Michelin notes that the point was said to be a place where Maya astronomers watched the night sky. The resort opened in September 2013, designed by the architect Alejandro Escudero in local stone with ziricote and pucté woods, with Maya hieroglyphs reproduced with the Museo Nacional de Antropología. There are 274 suites and villas, 109 pools and two private beaches. The NIZUC Spa by ESPA, of 30,000 square feet, was the first ESPA spa in the Mexican Caribbean. Six restaurants under executive chef Sylvain Desbois include Ni, Terra Nostra, La Punta and Indochine, set among shallow reflecting pools. The airport is only minutes away, which makes NIZUC an easy first or last night on the Riviera Maya as well as a stay in its own right. The Presidential Villa has two bedrooms across 5,543 square feet inside and out, with an infinity pool in a tropical garden, a rooftop sun terrace and butler service. January and February usually avoid both sargassum and hurricane season.