My Trip to Fairmont Mayakoba Resort in Mexico
Mexico has been on my wish list of places to visit for literally years. So, when the team at Fairmont Mayakoba invited me + a few other content creators to come out for a visit, it was an easy YES. I was even able to bring my fiancé Andrew along for the trip. By the way, all photos in this post were taken by Andrew, including the incredible drone shots. SWOON.
It’s always an adventure anytime Andrew and I travel together, and this trip was no exception. Long story short, we found ourselves on an impromptu road trip from Austin to Dallas at 2am in a Mustang convertible. Despite going 24 hours without sleep (ahem, American Airlines…), all of our exhaustion and frustration was well worth it once we landed at the resort.
My first impression of Fairmont Mayakoba was the impeccable location. This 5-star luxury resort is located smack dab within the tropical forest intersected by gorgeous crystal clear lagoons and is surrounded by the Caribbean shoreline. It was truly breathtaking, and it’s the best of both worlds for both beach-goers and jungle-lovers.
Day One // relax, unwind, pool time
Since we were operating on zero sleep and felt (and looked) like zombies, the team at Fairmont kindly granted both of us spa access for the day. We were escorted to our Signature Casita Room to drop our bags off, and we went straight to the Willow Stream Spa. We spent the rest of the afternoon lounging on the spa’s rooftop, relaxing in the sea-mineral soaking pool, and biking around the resort. It was delightful after a long day (and night) of travel. Since our group was all flying in at different times, we had most of the day open to decompress, get acquainted with the resort, and explore the property before jumping into all of the activities awaiting us that week.
We ended our evening with a beautiful dinner at La Laguna where we met up with all of the other lovely content creators on this trip. La Laguna serves up modern Mexican cuisine, and it’s where I discovered my love for the Mexican vegetable chaya (a.k.a. ‘tree spinach’). Holy moly. Ever since that night, I requested sautéed chaya for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It tastes like a hybrid of spinach, kale, and chard… all of my favorite greens.
Day Two // yoga, coral reefs, and snorkeling
After a GLORIOUS night of much-needed sleep, we kickstarted the day with a refreshing sunrise yoga session on the beach. We ate breakfast at Las Brisas, where I had gluten-free almond pancakes, turkey sausage, and a side of sautéed chaya, of course.
After breakfast, we headed back to the beach to learn all about Fairmont Mayakoba’s coral reef restoration project. It’s one of the many eco-initiatives here at the resort, and it was really cool to hear about the process firsthand. Coral reefs are a vital ecosystem for our planet, and with climate change the rate at which they are dying is incredibly unsettling. Coral reefs have been around for more than 50 million years, yet at this rate could be extinct by the end of this century.
The team behind the reef restoration project takes pieces of broken off coral and propagate them, so they can reproduce more coral. I’m obviously not an expert, but you can see the set up in the photo below. I stepped wayyy out of my comfort zone and went snorkeling to see healthy, living coral up close and personal. It was beautiful, scary, and yes, all I kept thinking about were sharks. Haha! I’ve never swam so far out in the deep blue, but we were fine, and I’m glad I experienced it.
DAY THREE // lagoon tour, spa day, and cenote excursion
This was our last full day at Fairmont Mayakoba, and it was definitely the highlight of our trip. We packed so much into our final day! The morning started out with a boat tour along the lagoons. It was so freakin’ beautiful. The water was crystal clear. After the boat tour, our group split up for our individual spa treatments. I went with a classic deep tissue massage.
Mid-afternoon we all hopped on a bus and drove about an hour to the Sac Actun Cenote, which is a natural sinkhole/cave system that’s been around for 65 MILLION years. We swam in the dark cave (no photos, since I don’t have a waterproof camera), saw bats, fish, and other wildlife. It was quite an experience I will never forget.
We ended our trip with a farewell dinner held at El Puerto, which serves delicious and super fresh latin-asian cuisine. The sushi was amazing. As much as I love guacamole, you just can’t beat fresh AF sushi. It was the perfect end to our trip.
Thank you to Fairmont Mayakoba for hosting me and my boo thang! While the resort is beautiful and filled with wonderful activities and things to do, I’d say the highlight of it all was the kindness from everyone on the property. It’s the people the make the experience, and you all get an A+++ in my book. I was so impressed with this resort, their dedication to sustainable tourism, and their rad wellness offerings. I highly recommend you consider Fairmont Mayakoba for your next adventure.
Until next time,
Jules x
