The Best New Hotel Openings in Mexico for 2018

The luxury hotel company Fairmont has plans to open a new 250-suite property along the increasingly popular Riviera Nayarit. Scheduled to open in late 2018, the hotel will form a part of the new Costa Canuva beachfront community. The development features more than 600 acres of beach, forest and mountains and will offer a total of five hotels, including the Fairmont. Visitors to the hotel will enjoy first-rate services and facilities, six restaurants and bars and an expansive outdoor swimming pool. They will also have access to a stunning golf course designed by Greg Norman and Lorena Ochoa, the Australian and Mexican former golfing champions.

The Palladium Hotel Group has two new hotels planned for a fall 2018 opening. The Grand Palladium Costa Mujeres Resort & Spa is a spectacular 5-star hotel situated about 30 minutes from Cancún International airport. The complex has 529 suites, 5 swimming pools and a spa. Guests at the all-inclusive resort will also be able to enjoy white sandy beaches and clear turquoise waters, as well as explore the nearby Mayan ruins. The Grand Palladium shares a village with the slightly smaller Royal Suites Coral, an adults only hotel. The village contains shops, 7 themed restaurants, a sports bar and an amphitheater where nightly shows are performed.

Debuting in the historic center of Puerto Vallarta in February 2018, Hotel Amapa is aiming to fuse contemporary luxury with authentic Mexican design. Just a block from Playa Los Muertos, one of Mexico’s most iconic beaches, the hotel will offer 55 elegantly designed rooms in a picture-perfect location. Inside, the hotel will showcase artisanal Mexican craftsmanship, with hammocks from the Yucatán Peninsula and handmade textiles by the artist Mariella Motilla. The hotel is also close to the very best bars, restaurants and beaches in town. Unlike all-inclusive coastal resorts, the Amapa is designed to immerse guests in Mexican culture, putting them in touch with the vibrant town life and rich history of Puerto Vallarta.

The Ritz-Carlton will bring Zadún, a new oceanfront resort, to the city of San José del Cabo on the Mexican peninsula of Baja California in early 2018. The resort will offer 115 luxury villas, each with a private butler and many with a swimming pool. Zadún will also boast two championship golf courses and a botanical park. Set along the Sea of Cortez, which was memorably called “the world’s aquarium,” by the French explorer Jacques Cousteau, the resort is also an ideal location for tourists interested in whale or dolphin-watching.

Set on the banks of the Nopalitos Lagoon on Mexico’s Caribbean coast, Awakening is a boutique hotel designed to cater to human happiness. The project began in 2015 when Adriana Chardi and Martin Loeffler decided to create a property that blends spectacular architectural design with a rigorous sustainability strategy. Guests at Awakening will stay in “human cocoons,” which fuse elements of a treehouse with a cabin. The innovative structures mimic natural forms, with soft lines that blend seamlessly with their jungle surroundings. Scheduled to open in December 2018, Awakening has already been shortlisted twice for the Best International Hotel Design Award.