Hotel Esencia review: a secret retreat and day trips to Chichén Itzá

This hotel on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula offers chic accommodation and a private beach

The 50-acre Hotel Esencia estate is located between Tulum and Playa del Carmen in Mexico
The 50-acre estate is located between Tulum and Playa del Carmen in Mexico
(Image credit: hotelesencia.com)

The Yucatán Peninsula, in the south-east of Mexico abutting Belize, is home to the ancient Mayan people. Covered in sprawling, dense jungles, the region is distinctly unusual in its geology due to the Chicxulub impact crater from the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs – shifting tectonic plates, forcing the seabed up to the surface and creating a thin layer of limestone which crumbles away all over this area creating sinkholes known locally as cenotes. There's more on these gateways to the underworld here, but for now we venture into the coastal province of Quintana Roo.

The bustling town of Puerto Aventuras sits on the Riviera Maya, a coast dotted with hotels big and small, on the road south of the hub of Cancun and about 30 minutes north of the confluence of hippy chill and party in Tulum.

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