Hacienda Chekul

Morning comes like a secret at Hacienda Chekul, with trade winds lifting the palms and the Caribbean drawing a silver line across six acres of sugar-soft sand and private jungle.

With the immaculate Campechén Lagoon directly behind and a fringe of reef offshore, the house is situated where Sian Ka’an’s biosphere reserve starts to seem limitless. The award-winning Salvador Reyes Ríos designed the hacienda, which is a modern tribute to the great houses of the peninsula: long sightlines that entice you outside; a rooftop garden that carries a 30-foot infinity pool to the edge of the sky; thick, cool walls and arched, shaded galleries.

Deeply local in design but subtly high-tech, it’s an off-grid estate with wind and solar systems humming in the background, allowing you to live comfortably with modern conveniences like fast Wi-Fi, Sky TV and movie nights, and air conditioning in every bedroom without sacrificing the quiet that makes this place unique.

The water beats the rhythm of the days. Coconut palms lean toward a reef that paints the horizon in shifting blues, and 328 feet of empty beach stretch out from the terrace. The breeze is scented with copal and salt. As you head inland, the lagoon awaits you in the shade of mangroves, its egret and osprey slipstream and its clear canals tangled with turtle grass.

Morning light streams across cool stone floors, afternoon shadows gather beneath arches, and dinner is a leisurely conversation that lasts until the hour when the jungle begins to sing. The main living and dining room opens on all sides to let the reserve in. There is enough space for families and couples to congregate in the four bedrooms, each with its own bathroom; there is also ample space for escaping with a book and the sound of the surf. The kitchens here are workspaces rather than furniture; they are fully furnished for a chef and functional for informal breakfasts. The service is discreetly attentive, and the menus are tailored to your tastes before you arrive.

The subtle luxury that unifies your stay is hospitality. Under the management of Nalum Private Retreats, the house operates with the kind of attention to detail that streamlines every plan: all meals, snacks, and non-alcoholic beverages are included in the price, airport transfers are included, and all staff members live on-site.

The meticulous preparation—fresh salsas an hour before lunch, a second ice bucket before you ask, the projector ready for a movie under the terrace vaults the moment the stars take over—makes it feel impromptu. The reserve opens up in all directions when you climb to the roof at sunset, with the sea on one side, the lagoon on the other, and the pool catching the last of the amber light like a breath of air.

Location is important when you want to explore. South of the Tulum hotel area and past the stone arch designating the reserve gate, Hacienda Chekul is located inside Sian Ka’an on Boca Paila Road. Imagine it as a narrow barrier island with a single coastal road running the length, a lagoon to the west, and a Caribbean beach to the east. Depending on traffic, the drive from Cancún International Airport (CUN) to Tulum usually takes one hour and forty-five to two hours and fifteen minutes. Depending on the season, it takes fifteen to twenty-five minutes to get from Tulum Beach to the Biosphere gate, and twenty to forty-five minutes to get to the hacienda from the gate.

Up until the reserve, the approach is entirely paved; however, inside Sian Ka’an, the terrain alternates between graded dirt with potholes and paved areas. Daytime arrivals and a high-clearance SUV are highly advised; your included transfer takes care of this with ease.

Plan a provisioning run to Chedraui or AKI in Tulum Pueblo for groceries and pharmacies (45 to 60 minutes back toward town); depending on the time of day, boutique dining in the Tulum hotel zone is typically 35 to 55 minutes north. Nearby landmarks are more directional than far-off: the boat dock and boardwalk at Muyil/Chunyaxché on Highway 307 are 45 to 60 minutes west-southwest for lagoon floating, and Punta Allen at the tip of the peninsula can take 1.5 to 2.5 hours each way in dry conditions—beautiful, but not a late-start excursion.

Sian Ka’an takes care of the rest; plan your days around the weather. Take a guided boat through the lagoon’s historic Maya canals and float for a leisurely mile in water so clear it appears to glow; search for bonefish and permit by casting a fly over the flats at dawn; and, on a calm morning, snorkel the reef and observe the color change from turquoise to deep cobalt as the sun rises.

An architect-designed, completely off-grid beachfront estate between the Caribbean and the lagoon, all-inclusive staffing with transfers and chef-driven dining, and the seclusion of a six-acre Sian Ka’an holding where sustainability is the silent engine of true comfort are the three things that make Hacienda Chekul unique.

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