Hacienda Xcanatun

Nr Mérida, The Yucatan, Mexico

Overview

Hacienda Xcanatun (ssh-kana-toon) translates as Tall Stone House in Maya and offers luxury, attention to detail and gracious hospitality. Ex-advertising executives, Jorge and Cristina Ruz, put their heart and soul into creating an authentic hacienda experience. With the help of the best local craftsmen, it took a gruelling five years to restore this abandoned 18th century sisal hacienda well beyond its original grandeur. The result is a beautiful 18-suite hotel where traditional elegance is married with contemporary style and comfort. The former Machine Room is now home to an award-winning gourmet restaurant; the old chapel has become a salon for functions. Outside, acres of vibrant tropical gardens lead to manicured lawns and two freshwater swimming pools.

Located a few miles north of Mérida, the hacienda is a great starting point for exploring Mexico's ancient Mayan sites. It's also a welcome retreat: the spa offers relaxing holistic treatments using indigenous herbs, flowers and honey; the only sounds are from birds and fountains.

Guest Ratings

Room:		100%
Food:		100%
Service:		100%
Value:		100%
Overall:		100%

Hacienda Xcanatun: View all reviews

Highs

• Impeccable, personal and caring service
  
• Luxurious yet full of character, history and charm
  
• Two swimming pools and wonderful spa treatments
  
• Award-winning restaurant and hotel (winner of Condé Nast Johansen's best boutique hotel in Mexico 2006)
  
• Tranquil, romantic and pampering
  
• Handy base for exploring the ancient Mayan cities

Lows

• You're in the tropics so watch out for mosquitoes and bring repellent
  
• The hacienda is a 20-minute drive from Mérida's historic district so hire car is recommended for exploring (though not essential as transfers from Mérida airport and private cars with drivers for excursions can be arranged)
  
• Don't expect TVs in the rooms (there is a communal TV room for those who need to tune in)

Rooms

Privacy is a priority here and all 18 suites and rooms are scattered in one- and two-storey clusters throughout the flowering nine-acre gardens. Each has its own private veranda or balcony slung with hammocks and lush garden views.  Rooms are large and decorated with an appealing combination of Mexican and Far Eastern antiques, colonial Caribbean hand-carved furnishings, hand-woven textiles and original oil paintings. All have high beamed ceilings, full-length windows, grand carved cedar wood doors, polished stone and marble floors and big comfy beds (either kingsize or twin 4-posters).

Bathrooms are huge (even in the cheaper Superior Rooms) and spotlessly clean with hydrotherapy or soaking tub and shower, fluffy towels, bathrobes and hairdryer.

The nine light and airy Deluxe Suites have a comfortable sitting area with a jacuzzi tub and loungers set outdoors on a big private veranda screened by greenery. The slightly more expensive Master Suites have a separate, rather formal, living room and two of them have bathrooms with an incredible handcrafted stone tub replenished by a cascade. We stayed in the Anna Master Suite (room 102), which was fabulous.

Other features common to all rooms include air-conditioning, overhead fans, mini-bar and CD player; welcome fruit baskets await you in the Master Suites. There are no TVs but a DVD player, fax, e-mail and internet connection services can be ordered from the reception desk. Tea/coffee making facilities are also available on request.

Room includes:

• Phone
• CD player
• Radio
• Internet Connection
• WiFi Internet
• Safe box
• Air-Conditioning
• Fan
• Baby Cots
• Extra Beds
• Bathrobes
• Minibar
• Hairdryer

Eating

Fine dining is an essential ingredient of Hacienda Xcanatun’s hospitality, and its restaurant, Casa de Piedra is popular with both local well-heeled Meridianos and guests. Occupying the plantation’s former sisal machine house, the sophisticated restaurant also offers two private dining rooms and a romantic candlelit veranda.

Expect a fusion of European techniques with the freshest Caribbean and Yucatecan ingredients. Menus change frequently although favourites might include: grilled salmon with creamed leeks and a tomatillo-sesame seed sauce; sauteed tamarind chicken breast served with mango and jicama salad; and achiote marinated quail on pilaf rice. Few diners can resist the pastry chef’s memorable desserts. Special diets and vegetarians are catered for with advance notice.

The extensive wine list features labels from the world's great vintners, and the bar is stocked with favourite spirits, including a selection of Mexico’s premium sipping tequilas. Adjacent to the dining room, the carved antique mahogany bar, baby grand piano and comfortable rattan seating tempt guests to linger and sample Xcanatun’s special cocktail made with Xtabentun, a honey-based Yucatecan liquor. On weekends the bar and restaurant are filled with the sound of live music.

Please note the restaurant closes at 6pm on Sundays; on all other days it is open until 11pm. Room service is available 7.30am - 10pm.

Dining features:

• Restaurant
• Room Service
• Bar
• Vegetarian Menu
• Minibar

Activities

At the Hacienda:

• Xcanatun is the only hacienda in the Yucatan to offer full spa services and ancient Maya treatments from a therapist schooled in holistic healing practices by her shaman grandfather, to maintain life's balance and positive energy. In addition to the Maya treatments, a long list of wraps, facials, and massages to reduce stress, detoxify and rehydrate are available throughout the day and evening – in the spa, in your suite or in the garden Maya palapa.
  
  
• Or lounge around the two freshwater swimming pools set in the garden. There's plenty of space, comfortable hammocks and parasols.
  
  
• The lounge and satellite TV room occupies the restored 18th century chapel which also serves as meeting space for small groups up to 80.
  
  
• If you can tear yourself out of your hammock, a game of tennis or golf 5 minutes away at a private country club can be arranged.
  
  
• If you want to arrange a wedding party here please note that in Mexico Catholic weddings can only be performed in a cathedral. Other types of marriage ceremonies can be performed at the family chapel at the Hacienda, but the license, etc has to be secured prior to the ceremony. The hacienda’s free wedding planner takes care of all these details. For a Maya wedding or vow renewal ceremony there are no legalities to be taken care of ahead of time.

Exploring the region:

• Because of the owners’ deep ties to the Yucatan, guests enjoy access to private gardens, artists’ studios, designers and exhibitions not usually available to the general public
  
  
• Xcanatun’s location makes it convenient for exploring ancient Maya ceremonial cities such as Uxmal, Chichen Itza, Dzibilchaltun and Yaxunach, and learning about their complex archaeology. A private, bilingual guide accompanies each air-conditioned car and sets unique itineraries to showcase both the ancient and living Mayas (see Rates).
  
  
• There are also charming colonial villages to see nearby such as Izamal and Mani, where Fray Diego de Landa burned all the Maya codices.
  
  
• Check out the fine museums and architecture, shopping and outdoor concerts in colonial Mérida, twenty minutes away. The Sunday outdoor market is an irresistible emporium of local crafts, colour and street dancing.
  
  
• Birders and eco-buffs will love the mangroves in the Celestun Nature Reserve which features over 100 different bird species including a large colony of pink flamingos.
  
  
• Maya sites also include cenotes (sacred underground wells) where you can snorkel along a network of subterranean rivers and caves - a wonderland of stalagmite rock formations.
  
  
• Half-day cooking classes can be arranged in nearby Merida.

Activities on site or nearby include:

• Bird watching
• Cooking classes
• Fishing
• Food and wine
• Golf
• Historical sites
• Museums/galleries
• Private guided tours
• Sailing
• Shopping/markets
• Swimming
• Tennis
• Tennis coaching
• Traditional cultures
• Well being
• Windsurfing
• Yoga

Essentials

Who goes?

They hosted President Bush and President Calderon of Mexico the week before our stay in March 2007. Generally it's a mix of Americans, Mexicans and Europeans seeking the privacy and romance of an historic luxury hacienda (expect to see smart suitcases rather than backpacks). Those who love nature, exploring archaeological sites and historical Mexico. Destination wedding parties, honeymooners and couples who want to celebrate a Maya Vow Renewal with an authentic ceremony. Small corporate groups, 'think tanks', or incentive groups.

When to go?

October - April when it's generally sunnier and warm (though it can get cool in the evenings). May - September are hotter, wetter and more humid (afternoon showers turn the peninsula green). We went in March which was perfect. Sundays in Merida are great fun - everyone goes downtown for a knees up and a margarita in the plaza. 

Features

• 18 luxurious air-conditioned suites and rooms, all with garden views, double-height ceilings, thick adobe walls, polished stone and marble floors, marble-encased bathrooms with skylights
  
  
• Room amenities include hydrotherapy tubs, fine cotton bathrobes and linen, minibars, coffee and tea making facilities on request, internet and WiFi connection, hairdryer, natural soaps and lotions, telephone, radio, CD player, safe, and nightly turn down service
  
  
• 9 acres of lush tropical gardens with local ornamental shrubs and fruit trees, pools, fountains and gazebos
  
  
• Award-winning Casa de Piedra restaurant
  
  
• Holistic Maya-influenced wellness full service spa with five massage rooms
  
  
• Two freshwater swimming pools
  
  
• Reception area, restaurant, bar and kitchen in the old machine house where henequen was turned into sisal
  
  
• Former chapel now a high-tech meeting room with TV
  
  
• Half- and full-day excursions to Merida, ancient Mayan ceremonial cities, colonial towns and nature reserves. Guide and private car can be arranged by the hotel
  
  
• Destination wedding venue

Location

Location
Hacienda Xcanatun is located in the Yucatan peninsula, about a 15 km/25-minute drive north of Merida.

By Air:
Merida (25km). Click on the link below for a list of airlines.

From the airport
Xcanatun is a 20-minute car ride from Merida airport and hotel transfers are available (see Rates).

For Cancun arrivals: connecting flights to Merida, or a private car or helicopter transfer can be arranged from Cancun Airport - transfer prices for the 3 hour drive or brief helicopter trip from Cancun are available on request. There is also a luxury-class bus service available from Cancun to Merida (3 hours). The hacienda is a 10-minute taxi ride from Merida bus station.

By Car:
We recommend Holiday Autos which offers competitive prices and discounts for internet bookings.

If you are already in the Yucatan with a hire car, approximate distances are: from Cancun airport (3-4 hrs), Tulum/Playa del Carmen 4-5 hrs), Chichen Itza (2-3 hrs).

Detailed directions are provided when booking is confirmed.

More on getting to Mexico and getting around.

Rates

Reviews

Press Reviews

Conde Nast
"Recipient of The American Academy of Hospitality Sciences Star Diamond Award for 6 consecutive years and rated AAA 4 Diamonds, this former 18th-century sisal plantation offers privacy, 5-star cuisine and attentive service. Set in 9 acres of gardens, all of the spacious, romantic suites feature carved cedar doors, Caribbean Colonial furnishings and original oil paintings. Each has a veranda or balcony strung with hammocks and sky-lit marble-wrapped bathrooms fitted with a hydrotherapy tub/shower or hand-crafted stone tub filled by a waterfall. Start the day by taking breakfast on the dining terrace or in your own suite, and savor international-Caribbean cuisine and Yucatecan specialties in Casa de Piedra. Stress-reducing massages, body-wraps and Mayan healing treatments are available in the spa. Private meetings, weddings and parties are accommodated in the family chapel with on-site planners."

Bride Guide, February 2008
"One of the most elegant of these rustic resorts is the Hacienda Xcanatun which is situated in the outskirts of Merida about 3 hours west of Cancun airport. Founded in the late 1700s, the plantation lay abandoned for many years until the early 1990s when Mexican filmmaker Jorge Ruiz and his American-born wife, Christina, purchased the property and trnasformed the ruins into a hip jungle hideaway. Stone paths wind through gardens overflowing with bougainvillea and other tropical blooms to the old hacienda reservoir (now a swimming pool) and to a restored 18th-century chapel remade into a lounge and entertainment room. There's also a posh little spa with a menu that includes a Mayan hot-stone massage, detoxifying puuc clay treatments and a relaxing-and sweet-honey and flower massage. Many of the treatments are given by a local therapist whose grandfather was a Mayan shaman.
In Mayan, Xcanatun means tall stone house, and the main building retains a bygone romantic ambience through a mosaic of elegant archways, thick ocher-coloured walls and high wood-beam ceilings. The hotel's 13 suites and 5 guest rooms are bastions of old-world charm, featuring carved wooden colonial furniture and locally sourced stone."

Telegraph, July 2007
"Xcanatun was considered beyond redemption when Cristina Baker and Jorge Ruiz Buenfil purchased this ruined 18th-century hacienda - only to turn it into one of the most exquisite and sensitively-restored properties in the region, with original wood, wrought-iron, gesso, stone and tile features to which a hint of modernism has been added.
Beautiful antiques and paintings grace the 18 suites, each of which oozes with unique charm - even the bathrooms have their own character.
Spacious grounds incorporate tropical gardens, lily pond, two swimming pools fed by underground rivers and a modern spa, while the former chapel houses the property's only TV. The restaurant - both its setting, in the splendid old henequén machine house, and its award-winning fusion Yucatecan cuisine - is a tour de force, not to be missed."

Rob report Magazine, August 2006
"Xcanatun, Merida's best hotel, is about 15 minutes from the plaza on a former agave plantation that was left in ruins following the hurricane Gilbert in 1998. Six years after the hurricane, Jorge Ruz - whose father unearthed the tomb of the Mayan ruler Lord Pacal, - purchased the plantation's 18th century hacienda and fruit gardens. Ruz and his american wife spent five years rebuilding the hotel which has 18 rooms and suites, using a limestone wash with natural pigments - to color the thick stone walls, and they remodeled the interiors with native hardwoods, painted tiles, local marble and coral stone to evoke a setting from Mexico's baronial past. Just as tempting is Xcanatun's small but superb spa, where therapist Carolina Martinez, the granddaughter of the Mayan shaman, enhances contemporary pampering techniques with healing rituals passed down from her ancestors."

Guest Reviews

Reviews are from people who have booked through us.

• “Hotel exceeded expectations on all counts, a wonderful example of a superbly managed boutique hotel, with friendly and helpful staff, wonderful service. The quality of ingredients in the restaurant was superb, and the cooking of meat and fish dishes exemplary (the best and freshest tuna we had ever tasted). Would recommend hotel to anyone, with only one caveat - the shaded swimming pool is distinctly bracing!”

  Henry, United Kingdom (20.03.08)