A Home Away from Home in Mexico | Finest Playa Mujeres Hotel Review

As I write this, it’s 2nd January 2018, it’s pouring with rain outside and it’s the dreaded first day back at work for many after the Christmas and new year break. Lucky for me, I booked today off as annual leave just to give myself that extra bit of a break before going back to work tomorrow.

Naturally on the 1st of Jan I was looking for holidays and city breaks to take away my January blues – I know I’m not the only one as the ‘I need a holiday’ tweets are allllll over my Twitter feed right now. So, what better to post than a bit of travel inspiration.If you follow me on any of my social media, you will no doubt be aware that after spending just over 3 days in New York last month we flew straight out to Mexico for 9 nights. Trust me when I say, it was well and truly needed after trudging around Manhattan in the freezing temperatures. We flew with United Airlines (the less said about that, the better) and it was just a short 4 and a half hour flight so we we left a cold and wintery New York in the morning and were in a Summer paradise by the afternoon – it was like an absolute dream!

After our (not so amazing) flight we arrived in Cancun & took a private transfer to the Finest Playa Mujeres, where we would be staying for the next 9 nights. Finest Playa Mujeres is part of the Excellence Group who are a resort group specialising in hotel management. Their current portfolio consists of Excellence, Beloved and Finest resorts all of which are luxury all-inclusive resorts with different audiences in mind. The Finest Playa Mujeres is one of their newest resorts and opened in February 2015.

From the second we arrived at reception and were greeted with cold towels & champagne we were in pure paradise. I was floating on cloud nine constantly and didn’t get down until the transfer back to the airport for the flight home. I don’t think there’s any way for me to give justice to the amazing stay that we had through words and pictures alone, but I’m going to try.

The Room

We stayed in a Junior Swim Up Suite and I was over-whelmed from the second we stepped into the room. It’s a ground floor suite, in order to accommodate having your own little mini pool and hammock leading into a pool stretching the length of the building. There’s also a huge jacuzzi and sun beds opposite all of the swim-up rooms so you don’t need to leave the area at all if you don’t wish to.
Having a spacious terrace or balcony is something I adore and always look for when booking holiday properties. I’m such a lover of sitting out with a coffee taking in the morning sun.

The room facilities are all 5 star and have such a luxurious feel. There’s a king-size bed as well as a living area with corner sofa and flat screen tv, a walk-in wardrobe, fully stocked mini-bar (re-stocked every day might I add), liquor cabinet, huge bathroom with double sink, rainfall shower and in-room jacuzzi. The extras such as complimentary toiletries, all inclusive room service and a fully stocked mini-bar just make your stay that bit more special.

I don’t think there is anything I could ask for as the guys at Finest really have thought of everything needed to make the hotel rooms feel like your home away from home. To be honest, even if there is anything extra you want, the staff are more than happy to accommodate your every need to make sure you have a happy stay.

The Grounds

The hotel being still very new has a contemporary, sleek style to it. I’m not one for high rise hotel buildings in beach destinations, so I was pleased to see the highest floor was – I think – the 6th or 7th so not too tall or over bearing in the slightest. There are immaculately preened gardens all around the resort making the surroundings so peaceful and serene.

Everything is easy to find but just incase you forget where you’re headed, there are little signs at every turn listing the restaurants and facilities in each direction, as well as there being a couple of resort maps dotted around too.

The Beach

I’m usually much more of a pool girl than a beach lover on holiday, but Mexico has completely changed me. For a start the sea and sand is obviously stunning, but the facilities provided by the hotel here made things so comfortable and easy. The hotel provide towel huts every 20 metres so there’s no need to carry one anywhere with you and there’s also a waiter service so there’s no need to move for hours if you really don’t want to.
Las Dunas Beach House is one of the resorts eateries and is located right on the beach front, serving freshly cooked snacks and meals every day.

If you have booked into either the Finest Club or Excellence Club for your stay, you are lucky enough to have a private section of the beach with extra service and facilities. Excellence Club which is the adults only area for example have raised double loungers with a mattress topper and beach bag, amongst other things.

The other thing to mention is the water sports on the beach. All non-motorised sports are included and anything such as jet-ski’s or paragliding features a small extra fee. We did a spot of jet-skiing (first timers might I add) and it was well worth it. I think we paid $50 for the two of us for 30 minutes, which is much lower than prices I’ve seen at other destinations and resorts.

The Food

I’ll be honest with you, I don’t know where to start with the food other than saying it was absolutely outstanding and for me, was one of the highlights that made the holiday so special.
Finest Playa Mujeres has 12 unique restaurants, all beautifully designed with carefully curated menus at each. There is only one buffet restaurant and there’s no need for reservations at any others. Yep, thats right. No reservations, no wristbands, no ‘you can only eat at this one once per day’. You can choose to eat wherever you like, whenever you like and that – for someone who can NEVER decide what they want to eat (i.e. me) – is absolute perfection.

So we ate at various restaurants throughout our stay but a couple of our favourites have to be Shoji which is an Asian restaurant who even do a separate Teppanyaki experience (highly recommended), the Brass Steakhouse and Duke’s Lobster & Seafood which would probably be my no.1 recommendation. Lobster, fries & champagne overlooking the beach – could you want anything more?! Exactly!

Another special little touch that I mentioned earlier, is the 24 hour all-inclusive room service menu. There is an extensive menu and you can order as much as you like, at any time of the day. We opted for breakfast room service a few times throughout our stay and it was without a doubt, the best room service I’ve ever ordered.

The resort has 16 different bars and lounges to drink at, including a swim-up pool bar and one of my favourites – the Sky Bar pictured below. The Sky Bar as you might imagine, is a rooftop bar overlooking the pool area as well as the beach and has the most chilled out vibes with huge double loungers and cool seating areas. It’s open throughout the day and night, but is also available as an exclusive venue for wedding drinks and more.

The Staff

The staff at Finest Playa Mujeres really do know how to provide a luxury experience to match the surroundings. Nothing is ever too challenging and it’s like they know your thoughts before you’ve even spoken them. I would literally think to myself ‘I’d love another drink’ and a waiter would be at my side.
Our beach waiter Francesco definitely stood out, as he made our days at the beach so comfortable. We would go into the sea and come back to made up beds with fresh towel pillows and footrests, he remembered our drink preferences and we were never left with an empty glass and he even brought Dave a little drinks mixture to help with his heart burn late one afternoon.

There’s so much more I could have written about our stay but this post is already long enough and I think it would be much better for you guys to just book and find out yourselves!

If you’re thinking of a trip to Mexico this year, I would highly, highly recommend booking Finest Playa Mujeres or even the Excellence Playa Mujeres which is the adults only alternative just next door. We had THE best holiday and like I say, we did not come down off cloud nine for our entire time away.

Before I go, I need to say a special thank you to Finest for looking after us during our stay and my Soul Sister Hayley and Bluebay Travel who booked the whole NYC/Mexico trip for us and made our travel dreams come true.