Inside Casa Chablé, a New Mexican Retreat in the Heart of a Biosphere Reserve

After settling in, I’m introduced to the general manager Ronald Cruz, who explains just how complex the project was to realize. The main building began as a private house in 1998, originally built by a Mexican family who grew palm trees to harvest coconuts. In 2016, Blue Equity, a U.S. investment fund, bought the property and added five bungalows to open it as a nature retreat. When the property went up for auction a few years later, Chablé Hotels, a hotel group with properties in Yucatán’s interior and Riviera Maya, won the bid. Today, no new construction is permitted in the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve, meaning the entire property was a renovation project that had to closely adhere to the laws of the reserve, including being completely powered by renewable solar and wind energy. While the designer Paulina Moran set about adding more luxurious touches to the interiors, only local materials were used to spruce up the foundations, from tropical parota wood and palapa-style roofing to stones and marble from the region.

After our first night’s rest, we steal out of bed before sunrise to meet the property’s wellness curator Alejandra by the beach. She already has two yoga mats prepared for us, before instructing us to close our eyes and select a stone that will symbolize what we are currently experiencing in our life. Each color represents a chakra, she says. I go first, picking up a red stone; she explains this symbolizes the sacral chakra, which represents sexuality and creativity. My friend chooses a green stone, a symbol of the heart chakra that is a pathway for physical and emotional healing. If there’s any place to do just that, it’s here in the heart of nature—and after a chakra-balancing meditation, we head straight for the plush beach loungers to read and soak up the sun. 

By the time sunset rolls around, we’ve already eaten multiple meals at the property’s thatched-roof restaurant, with a menu created by chef Jorge Vallejo of Quintonil in Mexico City. When we arrive at the lagoon side of the property, a group of guests is already there for the same reason we are: to enjoy a rare Yucatán sunset. (In most of the region, it’s usually shaded by jungle.) We cheers over chilled sauvignon blanc as the sky fades into swirls of rose and tangerine.