Lush Hotel Viceroy in the Riviera Maya

Mar 13

Written By Sky

After a slightly elongated journey, we picked up a tiny Smart Cabriolet and made a sun-drenched dash to Playa del Carmen for lunch at the Hotel Viceroy Riviera Maya. After months in parts of South America where the food was flavour-shy, arriving in Mexico, where flavours are bold and fearless, felt like stepping back into joy.

The Viceroy is truly wonderful: a leafy maze of palms, tropical blooms, and winding paths that lead you through a private jungle towards the sea. Guided by the lovely Fernando, we wandered past a rather confident mid-sized iguana and caught a fleeting glimpse of a basilisk, a lizard that seems to skim across water before you can even blink.

Each guest room is its own private cabaña, complete with a secluded garden plunge pool, a spacious bathroom with both indoor and outdoor showers, and a bed that could easily swallow you whole. The design is clean and self-assured without ever needing to shout.

The spa is gorgeous — organic, open, and scented with copal, the pre-Columbian incense favoured by the Maya. There’s an energy-spiral hammam and a brazier flickering quietly nearby, adding to the sense of ritual calm.

The patio restaurant sits just twenty metres from the Caribbean — an effortless introduction to the Riviera Maya, with blue-blue water stretching out in front of you.

We started with two Micheladas, icy and with a perfectly salted rim. Every bartender has their own version, many leaning toward a beer Bloody Mary; at the Viceroy, it was a mix of Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, Tabasco, and a local condiment called Maggi (though I’m still not entirely sure what Maggi actually is!). The Michelada is the perfect drink for hot weather—cool, refreshing, and quietly restorative. Our rapidly condensing, ice-cold mugs were followed by guacamole with lightly fried totopos (chips). The guacamole was finished with fresh white cheese and the bold herb epazote, mashed to that magical midpoint between creamy and chunky.

Then came three perfect fish tacos — Robalo (Caribbean sea bass), simply grilled over fire and served with mango, shallots, cabbage, and a habanero aioli. Fresh, bright, balanced, and ideal vehicles for the trio of salsas: a green tomatillo, a smooth tomato-based one, and another built around Yucatecan Xcatic chile with a subtle bite. Best of all was the green tomatillo salsa, roasted and tart — the kind that wakes up every corner of your mouth.

A molcajete — the volcanic mortar — is baked directly in the wood-burning oven, transforming it into a bubbling cauldron of flavour. We ordered the vegetarian version, swapping the traditional beef for creamy panela cheese. It arrived scorching hot, loaded with red, yellow, and green bell peppers, tomatoes, carrots, courgette, aubergine, flame-roasted Cambray onion, and hearty nopal cactus, all bathed in a tomato–guajillo base that made the entire dish explode with flavour.