Get a grounding in Mayan culture at Chablé Yucatán in Mexico

If you’re looking for a get-away-from-it-all holiday with an ample helping of nature, let me suggest Chablé Yucatán, a charming five-star boutique hotel in the heart of the Mexican jungle, 45 minutes from Mérida airport. This is the first hotel from Mexican-owned company, Chablé. There’s a second hotel on the coast near Playa del Carmen and a third, which will focus on the farm-to-table experience and local wines, is due to open on the west coast (Baja, California) in the next few months.

From the moment you arrive at the sunny yellow casita (cottage) at the entrance to Chablé, everything about your stay is carefully curated to your personal likes and dislikes, yet it never feels stuffy or overly formal. After the friendly check-in process, you’re whisked through the vast grounds in a buggy to your own casita. If you’re lucky, as you pass by, you will get to see some of the cute white-tailed deer that make their home in the woods surrounding the hotel.

These private casitas (think Chateau Marmont bungalows) are nestled among the trees, each with its own winding path leading from the central road that circles the property. Bikes are left outside for you to use (although the buggies are always available) and there’s a handy privacy rope to mark yourself as do/do not disturb. The casitas come with their own private patio – split into a shaded area with a table and comfortable chairs, perfect for breakfast or after-dinner drinks, and a larger limestone sun terrace complete with a hammock and your very own plunge pool.

They are light, airy and capacious, with floor-to-ceiling glass windows and wooden doors that open onto the patio. There’s a huge indoor shower as well as an optional rain shower that’s open to the elements, if you fancy baring your skin to the jungle life (not me) and more useful toiletries than you could possibly get through in a short stay.

Family villas have two bedrooms and sleep up to six guests. There are also the top-of-the-range Presidential and Royal Villas, which sleep up to eight and have larger terraces with communal areas.

Food at Chablé Yucatán is focused on heritage

Chablé is a foodie’s delight. There’s a focus on local, seasonal cuisine, with much of the delicious fresh produce grown and then made from scratch on-site. A lovely example is the welcome gift of freshly-baked tartas margarita (tiny tequila and lemon tarts decorated with edible flowers) that were waiting for me when I arrived. Those lovely customised touches are seen everywhere, from bedside turn-down chocolate truffles to the daily hand-made warm pastry, madeleines or other sweet treats that appeared, as if by magic, on my patio table along with a fresh pot of tea or coffee every morning before breakfast.

Chablé’s Ixi’im restaurant (“corn” in Mayan) and Ki’ol, its (“healthy”) open-air, poolside eatery, both focus on foods from the Yucatán peninsula – corn, pumpkins (grown at Chablé), peppers, tomatoes, pork, and mezcal – a traditional Mexican spirit made from the agave plant, similar to tequila. Wines from the Baja California region of Mexico make an appearance on the menus in the various bars and restaurants. Pride in local heritage is woven into every part of the hotel experience.

The farm-to-table Ixi’im restaurant is Chablé’s Michelin-starred flagship. It has the world’s largest collection of tequila (3,600 bottles), some of which form part of an unusual but delicious pairing menu. Think spicy pumpkin soup with octopus, paired with an amber Mexican beer. Then a fresh fish taco followed by the most tender short-rib tamale paired with smoky mezcal (Real Minero Cuishe) and a venison risotto matched with an earthy red wine (Sic Itur Ad Astra). And to finish, a light-as-a-feather melon cream dish perfectly matched with a Mexican sparkling white (Vinaltura GW).

Activities and wellness

There’s a daily schedule of activities from the more usual mini golf, yoga and pilates classes to workshops on Mayan cooking, pressed flowers, breathwork and, lest it get too healthy, tequila tasting.

Of the activities not to be missed, there is the four-course Mayan breakfast prepared by local cook Doña Tere. The breakfast is not just delicious but also an absorbing cultural experience, as she makes everything from scratch using traditional methods in a small outdoor kitchen in the grounds. From fresh fruits to empanadas to tacos, the dishes kept coming. Huevos motuleños, a spicy egg, tomato and black bean concoction, was a particular favourite.

Another fun activity is the “Dimensions Experience” – a slightly confusing name for what turns out to be a delightful bike tour of the vast grounds, taking in the vegetable and flower gardens and the meliponarium – a walled sanctuary that houses the stingless Yucatán bees that make the delicious honey you get to sample at breakfast.

Just a short stroll or bike ride from your casita is the beautifully laid out wellness centre. There are daily exercise classes, two state-of-the-art fitness areas and an outdoor pool with ample loungers for relaxing after your exertions. There’s also an extensive menu of spa treatments – everything from open-air hydrotherapy pools, multi-temperature steam rooms, saunas and icy cold plunge pools, all set around the hotel’s cenote (a large natural water pool linked to an underground cave system common on the Yucatán peninsula). I wish I could go into more detail about the massage I had, but I was out cold from the moment the first drop of (specially curated) aromatherapy oil hit my skin. Absolute bliss.

Louise was a guest of Chablé Yucatán. From $1,019 a night for a casita with private pool, including breakfast and taxes, visit yucatan.chablehotels.com

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