The Royal Hideaway

Photos and article by Eleanor S. Morris

Couples find a hideaway fit for a king and queen along the glamorous Mexican Riviera.

The royal treatment begins when you drive through the elegant porte-cochere of this Caribbean all-inclusive resort on the glamorous Mayan Riviera. Greeted by a smiling staff with refreshing scented towels after your drive down from Cancun to the beautiful suburb of Playa del Carmen's Playacar, you'll further relax with champagne while sinking into a soft chair to check in. The Royal Hideaway offers 192 rooms, six Junior Suites, and two Presidential Suites in villas offering either views of powdery-white sand beaches on the azure Caribbean or of exquisitely landscaped gardens. You'll enter your villa through a courtyard with gardens and fountain, and you'll be met by your villa's own concierge, who insures that every guest's need is met.

Each room opens onto a private balcony or terrace and is equipped with every amenity, including cable TV with DVD players, stereo with CD player and VCR, robes and slippers. Large bathrooms feature a separate shower and a hydromassage bathtub.

Four gourmet restaurants present a varied cuisine: Spices serves Mediterrean-Caribbean, Palazzo Italian, Ventanas Continental and Azia Pan-Asian. There's room service 24-hours a day, and the Alegria Bar serves drinks all day. High tea? Every afternoon at 4 pm at the Ventanas Restaurant, and there's even the Cigar Lounge, a quiet sanctuary for cigar smokers.

The Royal Hideaway Spa is a first for this hemisphere, offering Thalassotherapy, designed by Thalgo, Europe's leading Spa company. Thalassotherapy is the use of marine products to promote health and well-being in a seaside environment. Treatments include many types of body wraps, massages, facials, and more, with two rooms designed for couples who would like a massage and hot tub together.

A fitness trainer is available at the fitness center. And of course there are swimming pools--six of them, not to mention the Caribbean just a step away. Water sports include snorkeling, sailing, windsurfing, Hobie Cat sailing, kayaking, water polo, aqua arobics and boogie boards.

Land sports include two tennis courts (with free tennis lessons), bicycling, shuffleboard, basketball, beach volleyball, horseshoes, table tennis, outdoor chess--and anything else you can think of! As for golfers, the Playacar Golf Course is just across the road.

But--you won't want to be in the Yucatan and miss the nearby Mayan Archaeological Site of Tulum, the only walled city the Maya even built on the Caribbean coast. Built during the Post-Classic period (1000-1500 AD) Tulum was once one of the most important commercial centers of this ancient civilization. More than sixty well-preserved buildings lie within three massive walls surrounding the site. One of the most important is the Castle, crowned by a two-room temple with serpent columns. The Temple of Kulkulcan and the Temple of the Descending God are hanging on a high cliff just over the second largest barrier reef in the world. If you're sure-footed, you can walk behind the temples and take a look at the lovely beach far below.

Also nearby is beautiful Xcaret Eco-archaeological Park where you can swim in an underwater river or at the beach, feed and pet dolphins, visit a museum and an aviary, see the famous Papantla Flyers and many other attractions for a close encounter with wonderful animals and the most exotic ecosystem. The park was created to promote the respectful enjoyment of the visitor with the nature and cultural heritage of the Maya world: to show how we can benefit from nature without subduing it.

Water plays a starring role, forming beaches, inlets, and natural rivers that open a path through dense jungle and provide a home for numerous aquatic species. You'll get to explore the mysterious and marvelous past of the Maya, one of antiquities most advanced culture.

And there's always the Royal Hideaway awaiting you, ready to pamper you some more.

For more information:

• www.royalhideaway.com