There are no coincidences in life. So, when my breakfast arrives before the sun rises at Palmaïa – The House of AïA, a transportive wellness retreat on the Riviera Maya, I momentarily look past the avocado toast, green juice, and vegan croissant to focus on my cappuccino. With a heart beautifully sketched into almond milk foam, the coffee speaks to me. Sure, I could use the caffeine. It’s 5 am and I have a long, enlightening day of transformation planned. But, just for a moment, I see only the heart. It seems to grow larger as I gaze at it, filling the cup with … love? Like a metaphor for what happens to guests at this extraordinary, all-inclusive, five-star resort, the heart atop my coffee embodies the healing haven’s ethos and spirt. Palmaïa, edging one of the region’s most idyllic private beaches, is more than another pretty face. It’s a retreat that expands the heart and awakens something within — even if that isn’t why you’ve come.
Celebrated for its outstanding plant-based menus and multiplicity of activities and offerings meant to engender inner growth, Palmaïa lies pocketed away from the bustle of touristic Playa del Carmen in Playacar, the town’s chicest and safest neighborhood. Guests looking for solitude can feel blissfully sequestered, ensconced in an alternative world.
Providing richly rewarding opportunities to satisfy curiosity and take interior journeys of discovery, Palmaïa represents founder Alex Ferri’s vision to create a meaningful vacation spot, a destination where guests can relinquish burdens, experiment with new wellness modalities, be playful, and perhaps initiate a pivot. “Health does not need to be complicated,” he says.
With deep spiritual — even mystical — underpinnings, constructed on land that emanates something sacred, Palmaïa invites us to step across a threshold to new horizons. During their stay, guests can seek out a more authentic existence, to define the direction they wish to go next. An onsite shaman (Baldur) and other teachers, cleverly referred to as “Architects of Life,” guide guests in explorations that range from drawing classes to mantra chanting to gratitude rituals to yoga.
Non-judgemental, with both classic vacation vibes and untraditional resort options, Palmaïa applauds choices. Families are welcome, but so are solo travelers on a quest. Honeymooners will be as happy as wellness buffs, active folks as fulfilled as the languorous. While plant-based is the resort’s dominating culinary principle, meat eaters and vegetarians will also be well sated. Little shifts happen here. Palmaïa somehow kindles fearlessness. It prods you gently to try new things, to think deeper, to reflect.
More About the Resort
With 234 suites, either first-floor fantasies that open to the river-like swimming pools or upper-floor marvels with stupendous sea views, the resort’s footprint meanders through 14 acres of junglescape. A typical day for me at Palmaïa blended profound introspection with guilt-free hedonism — think: meditation followed by a margarita. One day, I rose early to watch the sunrise, rode a cruiser bike through the jungle pathways to attend pranayama practice with views of the sea, joined a Hatha yoga class during which silly coatis and monkeys played together in the surrounding trees, and gobbled up guacamole and vegan tacos seaside. Later, I splashed in the pool with friends, singing and sipping Cava. The next day, I melted into the ecstasy of a three-hour spa treatment at the al fresco Atlantis Spa, complete with time in a steaming temazcal and a dip in a chilly cenote. I also journaled, did a mantra workshop, then tiptoed into a Forgiveness Ritual, designed to clean our slate, whether pardoning ourselves or someone else — or both, as the case may be. At all hours, music wafts, coming from various venues. Miraculously, it always fits your mood, as if it were your own soundtrack, primed to spur your trek toward change.
Dining
It’s not just that the food at Palmaïa’s bevy of restaurants rates as outstanding, it’s also that the cuisine, referred to as the “nourishing biome” by Ferri, presents with such purity. Committed to remove and eschew the most toxic ingredients (seed oils, refined sugar, for example), Palmaïa works with local farmers for the best products and resulting menu options. Creating meals with lofty possible end goals such as weight loss and stress relief, the various restaurants have themes from contemporary Mexican to Asian to simple seaside barefoot cuisine. Each makes healthy eating a joy. The bars are as good at making mezcal cocktails as whipping up mocktails. Mexican wine and beer flow.
Atlantis Spa
Woven into the jungle, intimate and accessed through an auspicious door that promises wonder, this understated yet assiduously designed spa melds into the terrain, as if it had grown from seeds planted centuries ago. Deeply moving, with a rustic temazcal and a cenote with a waterfall that filters through ancient limestone, Atlantis has healing practitioners that envelop guests in both traditional and locally inspired rituals.
Transcendent, Palmaïa proves to be an unexpected wellspring of possibilities, the sort of place to unlock that inaccessible part of your self and celebrate your true being. Though Mexican in flavor and soul, it also embraces ancient philosophies from many eras and cultures. It brings everything together to underscore Ferri’s philosophy that we are all one. Just remember the heart.
Featured image courtesy of Palmaïa – The House of AïA
