Best Resorts in Mexico: World's Best in 2021

Note: If you’re looking for our most recent recommendations, check out the 2023 list of our favorite resorts in Mexico.

This year's World's Best Awards survey was open for voting January 11 through May 10, 2021, as destinations around the world were lifting COVID-19 restrictions. Survey rules have always allowed readers to reflect on their travel experiences over a three year period. We hope that this year's honorees will inspire your own travels as you get back out into the world.

If you're booking a resort getaway in Mexico, certain things are a given no matter where you check in. Sun, sand, and surf, naturally — or at least cabanas and chlorine. Mezcal- and tequila-based drinks that flow like water, and maybe even a few bottles of local spirits like bacalar or raicilla behind the bar. You'll undoubtedly find calaca-inspired pieces with fanciful skeleton imagery in the gift shop, and there will almost certainly be some kind of taco on the menu. But the hotels that Travel + Leisure readers voted as the best resorts in Mexico — the ones that feel not merely in the place, but of the place — go beyond that surface-level experience to weave a true connection to Mexico throughout every traveler's stay.

Viceroy Riviera Maya, Playa del Carmen, Mexico — Viceroy Riviera Maya, hotel pool, Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Courtesy of Viceroy Riviera Maya

Every year for our World's Best Awards survey, T+L asks readers to weigh in on travel experiences around the globe — to share their opinions on the top hotels, resorts, cities, islands, cruise ships, spas, airlines, and more. Hotels were rated on their facilities, location, service, food, and overall value. Properties were classified as city or resort based on their locations and amenities.

Each of the spots on this list offers distinct ways to connect with the culture and environment of its region. At No. 15 Esperanza, Auberge Resorts Collection, local artisans converge on the resort each week, giving guests the chance to learn from these creatives about Huichol beadwork or foraging native botanicals, and to take home a souvenir with a substantive tie to the place itself. A shaman-led multiday wellness ritual at No. 6 Rosewood Mayakoba weaves in Indigenous teachings, enriching guests' understanding of Mexico's pre-Hispanic cultures while they unwind. And guests at the Montage Los Cabos, which earned the No. 7 spot, will find that the bar menu doesn't stop at agave-based spirits: a guided tasting of Mexican wines introduces travelers to the vintners who have brought international acclaim to modern Mexico's wine scene. Connections to the country don't stop with these hotels' cultural and gastronomic details. The Ambassadors of the Environment program at No. 3 Zadún, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve, taps professional biologists to lead programs that teach guests about the marine and desert ecosystems surrounding the resort.

Certainly you could go to any one of these places and stay glued beneath a beach umbrella, with nothing more than a few margaritas and an order of guac to clue you in to your cultural surroundings. But then you'd be missing out on what makes the resorts on this list so special, and missing out on a chance to fully embrace one of the great joys of travel: learning about the people and places that make our world so vibrant, and such a thrill to explore. Ahead, more on our winner and this year's winners for the best resorts in Mexico.

1. Viceroy Riviera Maya, Playa del Carmen

Viceroy private villa pool Riviera Maya — Courtesy of Viceroy Riviera Maya

Travel + Leisure readers have long admired this 41-villa property, which has risen to the top spot after being absent from last year's list and placing fourth in 2019. There's no such thing as a lackluster room here: villas start at 1,000 square feet, and each has a private patio with a heated plunge pool, hammock, and an outdoor shower, so you're guaranteed seclusion, space, and indoor-outdoor living. And in a destination as popular as Playa del Carmen, Viceroy stands out for marrying away-from-it-all energy with easy access. "The intimacy of the resort combined with the private jungle villas lead you to feel like you are on a private island when really you are just a quick plane ride away from home," wrote one reader. Still, it's worth pulling yourself away from your plunge pool to experience all the activities on offer: ATV rides past jungle ruins and remote caves, tamale-making lessons at the resort's La Marea restaurant, and guided visits to Chichén Itzá and the nearby cenotes are just a few of the possibilities that await. When it's time to head home, there's no better last hurrah than a candlelit dinner under a palapa, a glass of Valle de Guadalupe Chardonnay in hand, your feet in the sand, and the lapping waves of the Caribbean just steps away.

Score: 97.92
More information: viceroyhotelsandresorts.com