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Cam and I got married a year ago on August 29, 2020! As travel was very restricted, we decided to do a mini honeymoon roadtrip to the Finger Lakes in NY and wait for a bigger trip this summer. As 2021 approached, it didn’t seem like a European vacation would be possible for the summer, so we decided to scrap that plan for another year and head to Mexico! I did a bit of searching around and through some googling and Pinterest searches I found the Excellence Group of resorts. I was pretty much floored by the beauty of the hotels, the amenities, rooms, and rave reviews everywhere I looked. So on a cold day in lockdown in February we booked a trip to Finest Playa Mujeres!
We decided to plan our trip over the weekend of our 1 year wedding anniversary. If you are celebrating your honeymoon or anniversary, they will add really special extras to your trip at no additional cost! We received a bottle of champagne in our room when we arrived, 15% off spa treatments, a romantic anniversary dinner at any restaurant of our choosing at the resort, a champagne breakfast in bed, and the royal treatment the length of our stay. All you need to do is mention you will be celebrating in the form when you book online! (P.S. upon booking, you don’t pay a thing until 1 month before your trip).
Finest Playa Mujeres
There are three resorts under the Excellence Group in the Playa Mujeres region of Cancun; the Excellence, Beloved, and the Finest. We chose the Finest, even though it is kid-friendly, because of the design aesthetic. It is the newest resort out of the three, only about 5 years old and the architecture is stunning, crisp, and clean. Beloved is couples only and much smaller with less of an activity schedule; no shows at night, etc. Excellence is also adults only and much bigger, but the design was not to our liking.
Within the Finest resort, there is an option to add two distinct club levels to your reservation; the Excellence Club or the Finest Club. The Excellence Club provides an adults only building, beach section, and private bars and restaurants. The Finest Club is an upgrade for families with children that includes their own bars too. We decided against the club and selected a Junior Swim Up Suite. We were placed in Building 4 which is a great location; farther from the main pool for a quieter atmosphere but very close to the main lobby, which contains most of the bars and restaurants. Our suite came with a king-sized bed, sectional sofa, tv, amazing rain shower, his and her sinks, robes and slippers, huge jacuzzi tub, a fully stocked and inclusive mini-bar and snack bar, 4 bottles of premium liquor (that we didnt use… whoops!), and of course a true swim up pool and massive deck.
The resort grounds are pristine. The staff takes such care of the gardens and pathways and buildings and pools each day. I was shocked at every corner I turned. I could’ve walked around and taken pictures all day long. The white buildings in contrast with the beautiful palms and blue of the pools is simply stunning. I had read so many reviews online before booking and before arriving at the resort and was slightly skeptical that a place could be so perfect. They were all completely right. As soon as we walked in the front doors we were handed our welcome champagne and the doorman said ‘welcome home’, I was hooked.
Fine Dining at the Finest
The Finest Playa Mujeres has 11 all-inclusive restaurants around its site. Options range from a casual buffet for breakfast, lunch, and dinner; a food truck with tacos and nachos; an asian fusion restaurant with a hibachi bar experience; a tapas restaurant with a sangria menu; and way way more. The restaurants do have dress codes which require men to wear long pants and collared shirts. We loved this part because we got to dress up each night for a special date.
The food was really delicious at this resort. Of course you can always find something you don’t care for, but overall I felt the quality of dining was exceptional. I had some of the best steaks and lobster tails of my life here! Our favorite meal was at La Petit Plaisir, the French cuisine restaurant, complete with a stunning wine cellar. We celebrated our anniversary here and had incredible roasted duck, beef tartare, champagne cocktails, and macarons for dessert. We also really loved Duke’s Lobster and Seafood that sits on and looks over the main pool. I had a wonderful surf & turf meal here and the waiters were so sweet to go out of their way to find the ingredients for a negroni for Cam. Shoji, the asian fusion restaurant, was very good but not our favorite as others’ reviews might suggest. I did love the tuna tartare, miso soup, and pineapple fried rice. Surf & Turf had the best…. surf & turf… no surprise there.
Our favorite breakfast spots were the Market Kitchen buffet with fresh squeezed tropical fruit juices and delicious pastries and the Sweet Corner nutella crepes. We found the coffee to be very odd tasting from the buffet and room service, but the Sweet Corner, which is the resort’s coffee shop, has delicious coffee options. You can also get ice cream here after dinner… or any time of day for that matter! The taco truck was the greatest lunch of all. We devoured the shrimp burrito and marinated pork tacos two days in a row. We also tried Duke’s Lobster and Las Dunas Beach House for lunch and they were great! Even though the resort is all-inclusive, the food portions are smaller scale so you don’t feel too poorly after a meal. This also allows you to try a number of different menu selections if you want!
Bottoms Up!
Cocktails were also a part of the all-inclusive experience and the Finest Playa Mujeres does not skimp on delicious drinks at every bar. The tropical drinks were so fresh with natural fruit juices and ingredients. We were most excited to sit at the Golden Bar which greets you impressively in the middle of the hotel lobby. They do have menus on the resort’s phone app to look up drinks, but it’s always best to ask other guests what they are drinking when you see something interesting looking. It helped us discover some of our favorite off-menu drinks.
The best drinks from the Golden Bar were the passion fruit jalapeno spicy margaritas, the espresso martinis, and 1921 tequila crema straight up (if you know you know). We loved swinging by this bar before dinner for a cocktail and chatting with other guests and the bartenders or taking our drinks for a game of pool in the Legends Sports Bar.
Although the Golden Bar was spectacular, our favorite bar was the swim up Aqua Bar in the main pool. The bar opens at 10 am every day and guests were so ready and swarming the bar already. It was a sight to behold! The best pool bar drinks were the mango margarita, mai tai, coconut margarita, and caipirinhas. We learned to love getting the spicy tajin rim on every drink. Although my pictures tend to avoid other people, the pool bar was bumping from 11-5 every day. I joined in on an aqua zoomba class while proudly holding my strawberry mango margarita and ‘exercising’. They play fun island music and most days there is a floating casino where you can try your hand at black jack. The pool was so fun and we typically got there early each day to reserve our loungers and relax.
Aside from these two bars, you can get drink service by the pool and beach from the Las Dunas Beach House bar. The main lobby contains a piano bar, cigar bar, sports bar, and a bar in the open air theatre where there are entertaining performances and shows each night. You also won’t want to miss the tropical juice bar tucked remotely across the resort. You can get delicious fruit smoothies and juices here all day long, as well as cocktails, and fresh coconuts hacked open to drink from. Unfortunately the Sky Bar has been closed due to the pandemic but you can still go up to the roof deck to view the gorgeous property and ocean.
The Beach & the Pool at the Finest
Although I am typically a beach girl, the pools at Finest Playa Mujeres outshine the beach in my opinion. We spent a few hours at the beach and it was very beautiful, but there is a lot of seaweed on the sand and in the ocean. The waves are also very choppy, which is a bit different than the calm island tides that I love. This truly didn’t change my opinion of the resort at all because the pools were so great. The sand and palm trees were still stunning. Since it was 90 degrees every day, we preferred cooling off in a clean pool instead of a seaweed ocean. Keep in mind you should arrive early, at least by 9, to get a set of chairs at the pool or the beach.
We spent most of our days by the main pool and the Aqua Bar. Before our trip, the forecast predicted a 90% chance of thunderstorms every day. Although it is hurricane season and you could really get a massive storm, this forecast was completely false. We had one 15 minute rain storm before dinner one night and that’s it. We shouldn’t have even worried about it!
One of our favorite things to do every day was to head back to our swim up pool between 2-3 to have our own private pool party. Staff members come by and serve you drinks and whatever you want at your own pool and it was so fun to play our music and be together in our beautiful spot. We had very great pool neighbors, but if you want to ensure there are no loud kids nearby, you should spend the money to get the Excellence Club.
One Spa at Finest Playa Mujeres
My sister and brother-in-law surprised us for our anniversary by venmo-ing us a little cash to hit up the spa at the resort 🙂 We decided to indulge in the One Aqua water therapy treatment. The One Aqua session consists of a number of consecutive water therapies that ease and relax your senses. We started with an alternating cold and hot shower with water jets, then 6 minutes in the hot sauna, a dip in the freezing pool, 5 minutes in the steam room, another cold pool dip, a few rounds of water jet massages, a hot shower with lemon grass, and ended with a head massage on heated tile beds. It was really fun to do as a couple and we felt super relaxed afterwards. Especially after drinking the magical spa cucumber water to rehydrate.
Finest Playa Mujeres Travel Tips
Since the resort is all-inclusive, there are no limitations to the fun and food and drinks you can enjoy. You could sit at your private pool all day or you could enjoy every activity on the daily schedule from arts & crafts to late night karaoke. By the way, have a few drinks before the Michael Jackson Tribute Show and you’ll be dancing along to the entire Thriller dance in no time. Speaking from experience…
Here are a few tips we picked up from our time there that might help you plan your trip to Mexico!
- Our trip lasted 4.5 days which was the perfect amount of time to enjoy and relax! If we had stayed any longer, we would’ve planned an excursion day to Isla Mujeres right across from the resort.
- Try the guided bike tour! This gave us a great perspective of the region we were in and we learned a lot about local plants and animals.
- The resort is equipped with tennis courts and a soccer field. You can head over at any time to play a game and get your sweat on.
- Bring a noise machine or ask the concierge for a fan if you need a little noise to sleep. The rooms are very quiet and it can help muffle the noise of guests in the halls.
- Bring bug spray and sunscreen! There is a gift shop with some essentials in the resort but it is much more expensive than the USA.
- Bring US dollars to tip as you go; the more you tip, the more special extras they throw in for you! I brought a waterproof phone case to bring cash with me to the swim up bar.
- Keep passports, extra money, and valuables locked in your suitcase or bring a travel safe for peace of mind!
- Currently you need a negative COVID test to travel back to the US. The resort provides a test for free. You can schedule your test at check in with the concierge. The test must be within 72 hours of your return flight. It was very easy and we got our negative results emailed to us within 3 hours.
On our last day, I must’ve teared up 8 times out of gratefulness for such a wonderful trip and sadness to leave such a special place. Cam kept looking at me and saying ‘I am having the time of my life’ and I couldn’t have agreed more. From the beautiful property to the beautiful people, Finest Playa Mujeres is just different. I am already saving all of my pennies so we can return soon. Drop any questions you may have below! I could talk about this place all day.
xoxo,
jojo
p.s. You can shop all of my vacation looks on the Shop My Look page of my website!
