Triple Crown Favorites From A CNT Editor
REBECCA MISNER
Features Director
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The Caribbean often gets talked about like it’s a mono-destination; almost as if it’s one enormous white-sand beach. In reality, and what I love about the region, is that each island, and in some instances each side of an island (I’m looking at you, St. Martin), is a wonderful world unto itself with distinct history, culture and natural beauty. Likewise, it’s the vast range of experiences throughout the various corners of Mexico that keep me returning to this country more than any other on the globe. What I’ll eat and drink in, say, Baja (fish tacos and tequila) compared to Oaxaca (mole and mezcal) and the craft traditions and architecture I’ll witness in each varies significantly.
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The best hotels throughout the Caribbean and Mexico–and there are some truly marvelous ones including Triple Crown winners like the beloved Peter Island Resort in the British Virgin Islands or Rosewood San Miguel de Allende – are those that act as portals to their surroundings. The hotels where you feel like you’re experiencing a distinct place–in big and small ways, from the ingredients that appear on the hotel restaurant’s menu, to the landscaping choices, and, importantly, the people who keep the hotel running smoothly. Here are a few of my all-time, take-me-back-now favorites.
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CNT Triple Crown winners have appeared on all three of our most prestigious lists at least once over the past 30 years—our annual Hot List, for the best new hotels, Gold List, for the editors favourites, and Readers’ Choice, the best as chosen by our audience.
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Rebecca's Triple Crown Hotel Picks
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Naviva, A Four Seasons Resort, Punta Mita, Mexico
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Few hotels have made me rethink what a luxury hotel could–and maybe should–be the way Naviva has. In part because the hotel is all-inclusive; which means I wasn’t thinking how much things cost or what to tip. The small size–just 15 tented suites, all with Pacific views–also meant lots of privacy and plenty of pool chairs. But what really blew my mind was the absence of typical hotel conceits: there’s no formal lobby, just an open-air arrival area; no spa, but two private freestanding treatment pods and a traditional temazcal, and the restaurant has no set hours (go when you’re hungry). It felt like the future of luxury.
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It’s embarrassing to admit, but I feel more glamorous just saying the words: St. Barths. The island immediately conjures up sunkissed sophistication, and no hotel channels St. Barths’ elegance like Eden Rock. When the hotel opened in the 1950s, it instantly became a magnet for the day’s jetset. And while it changed owners in the 90s, and underwent a rebuild after Hurricane Irma, it’s as chic and discreet as ever–you still half expect to see Jackie O in a striped tee and a Pucci headscarf taking in the view. The design is great (Martin Brudnizki did the public spaces) and the food is impeccable (overseen by Jean-Georges Vongerichten) but it’s the sum of its fabulous parts that make it a pinch-me destination. To this day, my daydreams involve sipping a glass of rosé while sunbathing on one of Eden Rock’s iconic red-and-white strip chaise lounges and then going for a long swim in the warm cyan sea.
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One&Only Mandarina, Mexico
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There are hotels that make you wish you had brought your kids along and those that make you high-five yourself for having the brilliance to have left them at home. It’s not that the hotel isn’t family-friendly, it is, but I went with two friends over a fall weekend and it was the perfect spot for an adult getaway. We slept late (well, until 7:30 am), swam and body surfed for hours in the ocean, played afternoon tennis, went to the excellent spa, and had long dinners at Carao, chef Enrique Olvera’s restaurant, where we always had the local catch and maybe one too many margaritas.
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