Travel and Leisure’s Top 25 Resorts in Mexico

This year’s World’s Best Awards Survey done by T&L brought some interesting results for Mexico.  Lots of Cabo places on the list (interesting because Cabo beaches are black-flagged in many areas (unswimmable–injury or death “imminent” if you enter the water), some for Puerto Vallarta (understandable, it’s a beautiful area surrounded by jungle and mountains), Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo (I’ve only been to the Ixtapa Club Med and that area was very nice), one for Acapulco (Acapulco is too crime-ridden to risk it in my opinion), and a few for Cancun/Riviera Maya.  Here are the ones listed for Cancun and the Riviera Maya; not all are all-inclusive. Continue reading

New Xcaret Resort Opening Date…

Surprisingly, right on the heels of the recent opening of Hotel Xcaret Arte, the opening date of the newest luxury Xcaret hotel has been announced.  La Casa de la Playa, a boutique adults-only resort situated right next to Hotel Xcaret Arte, is now supposed to be open this December–that’s a YEAR ahead of schedule.  Wow, what a change from most other new resorts!

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Wanna See Some Highlights of the New Nickelodeon Resort?

Take a quick look at a video highlighting several areas of the new Nickelodeon resort including the Lair Suite–the suite looks very nice with lots of room and a large swim-up pool.

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New Nickelodeon Resort Finally Open

Well, I’ve seen the videos so I have no choice but to believe it.  The brand new Nickelodeon Riviera Maya resort by Karisma is finally open August 1, 2021 after many years of postponements.  It offers a 6-acre water park with 20 water slides, rooms for families of five, access to 20 Nickelodeon characters, six restaurants, three bars, and an oceanfront infinity pool.

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New Video of Hotel Xcaret Arte…

The soft opening is definitely happening!!  There’s a new video of Hotel Xcaret Arte which shows several resort areas including the beach–as in any new resort opening, construction is being completed (I see from the video that some construction is going on in one of the guest room buildings).  Looks a LOT like Hotel Xcaret Mexico including the main pool, views from the lobby area to the main pool and beach, river as part of the resort grounds, architecture, design, etc.  Opening date for this resort was July 1.

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In Case You Missed the Grand Palladium Fire….

For those of you who haven’t seen the video yet of the Grand Palladium fire which occurred a couple of weeks ago, I thought I’d post it so you can get an idea of how quickly a palapa roof fire can burn at a Mexico resort and potentially spread to other structures.  Seeing this video makes me realize how lucky it was that no one was hurt and no other significant structures were burned beside the lobbies.

Another Riu Resort Reopening…

I just read that Riu Tequila reopened June 1!!!  Many have been eagerly awaiting this reopening since there are many fans of this resort.  While it’s not on the beach (it’s actually across the street), it has more of a party atmosphere and attracts lots of fun loving guests.

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Beach Resort Section at Barcelo to Reopen

Looks like the Beach resort section at the Barcelo Riviera Maya mega-resort will be reopening soon.  It is the last of the six resorts at this location to reopen since being closed due to COVID.  Rumor has it that it will open tomorrow which is sooner than initially posted.

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Don’t Expect Lobster on Some Resort Menus…

Riu posted that their resorts, for the time being, will not be serving lobsters, clams, or oysters.  This is being done with respect to an order from the Mexico Secretariat of Agriculture and Rural Development–from how I understand it, there is a time of year when capturing certain marine life is banned in order to avoid endangering the species overall.  (If someone has a better explanation, please let me know).

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Grand Palladium Lobbies On Fire??

FYI:  Not a rumor, it’s been officially verified.

I just read on FB that the lobbies of the Grand Palladium Kantenah and Colonial  in the Riviera Maya are on fire and guests are being evacuated to the beach….right now this is just a rumor, I will post more if it becomes available.

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