Luxury Mexico Honeymoon: Riviera Maya & Tulum

Your base for the first week is Rosewood Mayakoba, set within a private reserve of mangrove waterways and tropical forest just south of Playa del Carmen.

Rooms are accessed by boat or golf buggy, and the property manages to feel secluded while delivering the kind of service and food that justifies its reputation as the best resort on the coast.

A three-hour drive each way, so an early start is non-negotiable. Go with a private guide rather than a group tour, take breakfast in the car, and arrive before the site fills up. The pyramid is at its most impressive in the first hour.

Lunch on the return at a hacienda restaurant in Valladolid, a small colonial city worth an hour of your time, then a relaxed evening back at the resort.

A short transfer south shifts the mood entirely. The jungle is denser, the architecture more considered, and the restaurant scene genuinely rivals anything in Mexico City.

Check in to Azulik, a collection of eco-villas built into the cliffs above the Caribbean, connected by rope bridges and open to the ocean on three sides. No televisions, no air conditioning, no right angles. It is one of the more singular places to stay in the Americas.

Dinner at Sfer Ik, Azulik’s cavernous restaurant carved into the clifftop, is the meal of the trip. Book ahead. Spend your days at the Tulum ruins at sunrise before the crowds arrive, at the beach clubs in the afternoon, and at the cluster of restaurants along the hotel zone road in the evenings.