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A Favorite on the Riviera Maya

Shhhh….Let me introduce you to “the best kept secret in the Riviera Maya“

One of my most favorite spots is somewhere that, so far, has only been used as the kick off meeting spot our bi-annual ladies trip. On two occasions, my friends and I “set up camp” at this beautiful boutique hotel on the Riviera Maya while everyone flew in from around the U.S. It provided a much appreciated day of relaxation, celebration and reconnecting before heading off to our villa for the week in Tulum and Cozumel. Although I hate to reveal the secret of this magical little hotel so it will remain the hidden gem that it is, I just have to tell you about it!

Tucked outside of the crazy area of Playa del Carmen, lies a lovely “oasis of tranquility” called Petit Lafitte Hotel. Honestly, from the moment I walked into the lobby area, I felt the most incredible sigh of relief, feeling all the pressures, the stress and travel fatigue just melt away. Petit Lafitte is a lovely setting with super comfortable accommodations. But, it’s the many little things that truly make this such a special place.

On both of our trips, we arrived on a Friday. As we all arrived and got settled, we enjoyed the pool, the wonderful bar services, the hammocks on the beach and the views. On Friday nights, Petit Lafitte offers an awesome outdoor banquet (weather permitting). Both times we stayed here, we were blessed with this fun outdoor dining. Our first visit was post-Covid, so we hadn’t seen each other for 3 years. As a special treat to celebrate our reunion, the management surprised us with a Mariachi band! It was an absolutely wonderful, magical night. On our second trip, we were again treated to great food and wonderful music, which solidified our love of the place. Just a lovely, peaceful evening with friends to kick off an incredible week with some of my favorite people!

The next morning, after enjoying coffee on our balcony overlooking the Caribbean, we got the day started with a wonderful hour of yoga. We then enjoyed a yummy breakfast, gathered our stuff and headed off to our next adventure.

And Such a Deal!

The most amazing value here- breakfast, dinner and yoga is all included in the very reasonable nightly rate. And the staff was super accommodating and fun.

Lastly, I just want to bring your attention to another wonderful feature of this little slice of zen. Kuxtal is a lovely sanctuary offering a variety of Mayan wellness experiences. I loved the morning yoga, so I am really excited to return to check out all of these other options. Kuxtal offers a little bit of everything: different yoga styles (including aerial yoga), massage, sound healing, a temazcal (steam temple), cacao ceremony, and other interesting workshops. Everything is created to help us find balance. As quoted on their website, “[Kuxtal] is a refuge where dreams intertwine with reality, where nature’s whispers guide you to fulfillment, and where self-love blooms like a flower in the garden of life.” I love that! Yes, you might find it’s a little woo-woo… but who couldn’t use a little woo-woo balancing in this crazy world! I’m working on a organizing a wellness retreat and cannot wait to really experience all that Kuxtal has to offer. (https://www.petitlafitte.com/en/wellness/inghome-kuxtal – check it out)

I hope everyone gets an opportunity to stop off at this wonderful little oasis – even if only for the night. It really is a special place! I’ll be back for sure!

As always, if you want help in planning your next girls getaway, I’d love hear from you!!

Be blessed friends!

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The magical little town of Bucerias, Nayarit, Mexico

While looking for a place for our ladies’ trip for 2018, we stumbled across the most lovely little town in Mexico. It actually started from a kind of selfish desire to find a location that was within a 2-3 hour direct flight from our home in San Diego, where most of the women in my group live. For several years, the San Diego contingency ended up on crazy flights and we were always the last to arrive at our destination. With the Tijuana airport directly across our border and with the new CBX airport border crossing (so awesome), we decided to see what we could come up with. Puerto Vallarta is about a 3-hour flight from Tijuana. We were able to find great flights on Volaris (the Mexico equivalent of Southwest Airlines) for around $200. So this is where we began our search. We discovered a lot of cool little towns north of Puerto Vallarta. After several very impressive possibilities -which were ultimately rejected for various reasons – we found Bucerias. And then we found what appeared to be the most amazing house (and it was amazing, but it deserves its own post, so more on that later).

By way of introduction, Bucerías means “place of divers.” It is a small beach resort town on the Riviera Nayarit, on the Bay of Banderas, between La Cruz de Huanacaxtle and Nuevo Vallarta. It’s about a 30-40 minute drive from the Puerto Vallarta airport. While researching this little town, we saw nothing by rave reviews. The property manager of the house we were interested in (Shayne) was delightful and so willing to help us pull together all the fun activities. While looking for things to do, we found some really amazing possibilities. By the time we left for our trip, I already felt a sense of family with the people I had been communicating with and was confident we had made the right choice.

Miles and miles of walkable, beautiful beaches!

And we were definitely not disappointed! Bucerias is a charming town, full of wonderful people, great food, fun activities, a lovely beach and some really unique little places that pleased everyone in our group. One of the things that really struck me was how clean this little town was and the pride the residents took in keeping it that way. Every corner had a can for recycling. These cans must have been emptied every day because I never saw one filled up. I was advised that take the environment very seriously here, so the fewer plastic bottles we used, the better.

The flea market is a fun adventure in shopping!

The beach was great and went on for miles and miles. The water was pleasant and the sunsets were amazing! While many of the shops contained similar items, there was always a shop that contained that special item you had your heart set on finding. There were a lot of different restaurants along the beach with some really, really good food. Art was plentiful and there’s actually an art walk that takes place on Thursday nights.

Camarones platter from The Fat Boys on the beach…. YUM!

But what really struck me the most was the people. So loving. So kind. So determined to make us feel special. So incredibly caring. Everything about our visit there was special and memorable. Definitely coming back!!!!!