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An Exclusive Peek at the New Gardenias Inn Tulum

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 71 Calle Sol Oriente, Tulum, Quintana Roo, Mexico
October 31, 2012 at 5:13 PM | by | Comments (0)

While shacking up at a beachfront resort in Tulum is a no-brainer, we're making an exception for Gardenias Inn Tulum. This downtown boutique (just one block from the main drag) will serve a plateful of culinary awesome in Riviera Maya's most bohemian-minded, yoga-centric, beach-bum paradise--a place not particularly known as a gastronomic destination. But you'll have to wait until mid-December to see for yourself.

The three-room hotel theoretically works as a fancy B&B (it's that "home-y") yet it still stands as a super intimate hotel. Foodies and non-foodies alike will surely fall for it, but make no mistake, Gardenias Inn is all about food. And good food, mind you. Owner Francois is a James Beard scholar, veteran of Philly's Chanterelle and has worked amongst chefs like George Perrier and Jean Marie Lacroix. She will feed well-heeled guests with eclectic global flavors (obviously with a French twist) like foie gras mousse with fresh fruit chutney. And if you hanker for local chow, the in can arrange gastronomic day trips to Merida to sample authentic Mayan regional cooking.

The main public area is an al fresco organic garden full of lemongrass, Cuban oregano, Mayan spinach, heirloom tomatoes, dill and basil, and a beehive straight from the jungle hangs from a canopy to produce Mayan honey. Then there's the firepit that ensures all your meats and fish get a good ol' fashioned slow cook.

A formal dining experience inside a candle-lit tent (it's more "glamp" than "camp") includes a ten-meal tasting course and a daily gourmet breakfast is brought to your door in a large basket (the oatmeal is TDF). After eating your way through the day, wind down in the outdoor whirlpool, insanely romantic under a starlit sky.

The three spacious guest rooms are all decked out in contemporary, elegant Caribbean decor and furnishings and feature tiled sinks constructed from pottery fragments, colorful tapestries and Mexican artisanal ornaments. There's also A/C, iPod docks, and Caswell-Massey soaps.

Another reason to ditch the beach hotel? Rates include daily breakfast, round-trip beach shuttle, access to a beach club, beach bag with towels, afternoon snacks like homemade popsicles, mini-bar with complimentary non-alcoholic drinks and cookies, a pre-loaded local cell phone and WiFi. All this for the sick starting price of $119 a night when it officially opens in the December high season!

Wait, isn't that when the Mayans predicted the world will end? Let's hope they did the math wrong.

[Photo:Jimmy Im/HotelChatter]

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