Maroma Resort and Spa on Mexico's Riviera Maya

This intimate, child-free Orient-Express Hotels resort is among the Riviera Maya’s most deluxe, with commensurate rates. Lushly landscaped, tropically elegant white buildings hug a long, crystalline beach with turquoise waters.

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Maroma offers beauty, luxury, privacy, delightful service, good food, an exceptional spa and gym. There are no in-room TVs; two lounges feature satellite channels and DVD loans. A three-night minimum applies (five during peak, ten during Christmas).

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The 65 gracious rooms and spacious suites boast beach views, a tradewind-caressed porch with hammock, a seductive white-netted king bed, a mosaic-tiled bath with double sink and huge tub, CD player. “House of Heaven” beach villas flaunt multiple terraces, outdoor dining table, dip pool, extravagant bathroom, personal treadmill. All Maroma accommodations include daily breakfast, airport transfers, a snorkel trip, caftans, hemp slippers, handmade Mexican soaps, and Molton Brown toiletries.

A daily restaurant or room-service breakfast is included. Lunch and dinner at the resort’s indoor-outdoor eatery, El Sol, are a la carte. Casual lunches offer salads, sandwiches and Mexican specialties such as guacamole, ceviche, fajitas. Dinner is by candlelight. Women wear flowing skirts, men don polo shirts and khakis. Argentinean chef Guillermo Gomez pairs tender sea bass with squid and daubs rack of lamb with rosemary and honey. Friday nights at Maroma feature a beach barbecue.

An on-site catering planner assists with custom ceremonies and wedding dinners at Maroma. (Some Maroma brides bring their own planner.) Options are pricey: Judge’s fee is $800, blood test $500, huppah rental $280, harpist $650 an hour, “ceremony site fee” $350, etc. A three-day residence in Mexico is required for bride and groom. A 10% room discount is usually available for wedding parties.

About half of Maroma guests are honeymoon couples, but any trip to this luscious property is romantic. Getaway packages are available; check the hotel Web site. The four-night “Yucatan Exploration” includes a day trip with car; the five-night “Rejuvenation” comprises six spa treaments; “Romance” (five nights) provides a sailing trip and private dinner. Honeymooners are advised to avail themselves of the sensual, multi-course couples’ dinner feast concocted by Maroma’s talented chef.

The soaring design of the Maroma spa collects sunshine and confers it upon patrons in serene surroundings. Couples’ treatments include a Goddess/God Ritual: Lovers are swathed in intoxicatingly fragrant hot sheets for a meditative sweat wrap, then bathed in aromatic tea (and instructed to douse each other), and then treated to energetic yet soothing lomi-lomi massages they may wish will never end. Afterwards, swelter on the beach in the Mayan temazcal sweat lodge or relax with a spa massage.

Very little. Maroma is close to perfection. Only a few minor details emerge as less-than-ideal. Shower heads are a bit rinky-dink. Chambermaids chatter in the morning, when guests may still be sleeping. The house parrots have a limited vocabulary. And the minibars in the villas, which approach $2,000 per night, extort $128 for a bottle of Bacardi rum.

Maroma is chosen by travelers who can afford paradise (or can handle the splurge). Its privacy attracts honeymoon couples, lovebirds, and celebs such as Celine Dion, Elton John, Tom Cruise, Tony Blair. Secluded, sleepy Maroma isn’t the place to watch TV, go clubbing or restaurant-hopping. But if you’re intent on cuddling in lovely surroundings, napping under a palapa, savoring a massage and enjoying first-name service, Maroma is a world-class source of private, pampered relaxation at a price.