Christmas break to many of us with families means over priced hotels and airfares, getting up the crack of dawn to get to the pool to reserve chairs and praying for good weather. We feel we spend more than we should with inflated high season prices and dread the food and beverage bill upon check out. Well there’s a place in the Riviera Maya that has the cure for this.
How about a huge resort with beach front cabanas, 3 pools, over 8 restaurants including Spanish, French, Asian, Italian and impressive buffets, not forgetting Mexican fare? And add entertainment such as Cirque du Soleil right on the property. Pack your bags and head to Cancun with only a 30 minute ride to the doors to Vidanta.
Vidanta is one of Mexico’s biggest resort companies and it’s still growing and growing. They have a membership model and five resort hotels on property for non-members to book including the Grand Luxxe, The Grand Bliss, The Grand Mayan, Mayan Palace and The Bliss.
Our unit went for around $4,300 for a week and included hotel services such as housekeeping, turn down service, room service and much more. Our room must have been 2,000 square feet. 2 and ½ bedrooms, a massive living room and 2 full bathrooms with an extra lavatory. Rooms are opulent and beautifully furnished with full working kitchen and appliances. Amenities such as Clarins suntan lotion and L’occitane shampoo are also included.
The resort was at almost 100% capacity but you never would have known it. Every pool and beach had chairs available for the entire trip. Service for food and drinks was always efficient and you never felt the rush and were never kept waiting. Even breakfast buffets had a calm low key pace and ordering personal omelettes took no time at all. Service is so very friendly on the resort and nothing is too much trouble. It reminds me of the Asian service at 5 star hotels.
One of the best things about the hotel was how reasonably priced everything was. I know we have all been to hotels and dread to think what the kids order by the pool as a mac and cheese in Florida at a big hotel can be $20. Well, this was a different story altogether. We once had a beautiful spot at the beach club where the lunch was out of this world. I had grilled octopus which beat anything I have had at a resort before and 6 huge tiger prawns grilled in garlic. A kids burger that was the juiciest kids meal I have seen, a tiger shrimp salad, a chicken salad all for 4 people with 3 large bottles of water for the day, all totaling only $78 USD. I thought that was amazing for the quality . They also have happy hour noon-2pm every day at every venue . Then breakfasts buffets came in at only around $45USD for the family.
Activates by the pool are endless. Bead making, trivia games, chess, water aerobics and even Spanish classes.
There are constant golf carts that take you around as the resort is big. Its tranquil and groomed in its manicured landscaping but still feels like you’re in the jungle. You can see the flamingos on the property and even the see feeding of the crocodiles. This only happens every 15 days but you can go see them anytime.
There is a huge store called Jade on site where you can buy anything from lotions to grocery’s and alcohol. They also have a deli, ice cream parlour and an outlet for French crepes.
We never left the property once to eat as we felt no need to with this variety of outlets . We did not have enough nights but here are a few we tried.
Gong
Asian menu from sushi to a chef preparing grilled food like a Benihana.
Azur
We ate there twice it was so good. Traditional French where I got my 2 favourites, steak tartar and bouillabaisse. It’s a smart restaurant that has staff with a great knowledge of French cuisine and wines. They even do an amuse bouche. Dinner for 4 with a few glasses of wine was about $120.00 which is hard to find for this price and ambiance anywhere in the world
Tramonto
A traditional Italian dining experience with fresh made pasta.
Frida’s
Very casual and a nice insight to regional Mexican fare. Real local spice level and fantastic grilled seafood .
We spent about $80 for 4 with 2 cocktails.
Havana Moon
We ate there for breakfast every day and the buffet continually changed. Apart from the staple omelettes, pancakes and cereals, they had hot food that changed like tamales, grilled salmon, spicy chicken and beef .
Blue Fish
Casual great seafood. Whole local fish grilled with options like grilled shrimp. The ceviche was in every restaurant and they were all amazing.
Chiringuito
This was the place that prepares lunch for the beach club so I got another fix of octopus. This time more of a Spanish style with great tapas options and we all devoured 2 kinds of paella.
Largo
This has a buffet themed dinner and every Thursday night is a Mexican Fiesta with local crafts and jewelry sold before you walk in,. They also host special events like Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, NYE and so on. We went Christmas Eve and I have only ever seen buffet food this extravagant in the Far East. This was like being at the Shangri-La Bangkok with the stations of grilled food, seafood and salads. The food was constantly being replenished and the quality was fantastic.
They hosted over 600 covers that night and you never would have known. Then at the end of the night there was some entertainment with dancers and a Christmas themed show . This was the most expensive dinners of the week but for Christmas Eve you would expect it . It came to about $340 for 4 with 4 cocktails.
All in all it does not get better than this. There are very few times I have headed to the airport and felt I just had the best vacation ever. Great value, lovely staff and nothing was hard work. Mainly this was down to the two exceptional concierge members we had, Lluvia and Anna who took such great care of us. They booked every meal and made sure we had everything we wanted. Every day there were little snacks in the room. We can’t thank them enough
Winter time Delta have a huge amount of direct flights to the Riviera Maya from Minneapolis, Boston, NY and Detroit while American Airlines flies from Miami, LA and several other destinations. Untied have Newark flights and Chicago. International routes are catered by charter flights as well as carriers such as Air France, Lufthansa and Virgin Atlantic.
Daniel Green, the Model Cook is a Celebrity Chef known for his healthy approach to food and living well. With TV, books, magazines and live appearances, Daniel spends his time helping fans to cook better, feel better and live better. He’s also an avid traveler and a self-confessed Foodie.
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