Essence at the Fives Beach

Essence at The Fives Beach is a joy and wellness resort on the Riviera Maya, in Playa del Carmen, around forty minutes south of Cancun International Airport. Rooms and residences are luxurious and spacious, and the à la carte all inclusive board runs across ten restaurants and eight bars. An all senses philosophy invites you to see, taste, feel, hear and smell the Mexican Caribbean, and the resort suits couples, families and groups who want room to spread out.

Deluxe Rooms offer a furnished balcony or terrace with terrace or garden views, air conditioning and bathrooms with rain showers. Residences go further, with one, two or three bedrooms, a separate living room, a full size kitchen and a king bed in the main bedroom. Swim-up residences open onto a pool, penthouse residences add a terrace with a jacuzzi and sunbeds, and the largest sleep up to ten. Lifts serve every building.

Aluxitos Kids Club opens daily for children aged four to twelve, with an exclusive kids pool and a playground, while teens have an outdoor activities programme of their own. Evening entertainment is staged around the Plaza, which also holds the shops and an ice cream parlour, and the fitness centre is there for anyone who wants to keep moving between swims.

The Fives Spa spreads across 15,000 square feet, with eleven treatment rooms, a beauty salon and a hydrotherapy circuit, so wellbeing can fill a morning or an afternoon of your holiday. Four pool bars keep refreshments close at hand, including Bar Palmas, the swim-up bar, while the landscaped gardens around the Plaza are a natural place to stroll. A fitness centre is there for anyone who prefers to stay active.

Ten restaurants cover a wide map of flavours, from Mestizo for Mexican cuisine and Oka for sushi to Koh Thai, Arezzo for Tuscan style cooking and La Brasserie for a touch of French. Five pop up food corners add casual bites. Cantina 1910 pours mezcal and local beer, The Gin Bar mixes handcrafted cocktails, and Zky Bar looks out over the Caribbean sea. Eight bars across the resort, from pool to beachfront, mean a drink is never far away.

Downtown Playa del Carmen is just ten minutes from the hotel, with charming restaurants, shops and local attractions to explore on the Riviera Maya. A cenote lies nearby for a day beyond the resort gates, and Cancun International Airport is about forty minutes to the north, which keeps the journey to and from your holiday short.