Habita ~ Mexico City’s temple of cool

It’s not difficult to imagine how fast the über cool Habita hotel entered the mindset (quickly followed by vocabulary) of Mexico City’s trendy urban set. Small hotel with attitude, furniture pieces like Eames chairs, and others from B&B Italia, TEN Arquitectos, Hermes toiletries, flat-screen TVs, rooftop chill bar, in-house urban Spa. Befitting the neighborhood of Polanco, Habita plays the trendsetting role like hand in glove.

Green & Chic ~ Blancaneaux’s Hollywood Connection

Francis Ford Coppola had purchased an abandoned property in the remote highlands of western Cayo district, Belize. He opened Blancaneaux Lodge in 1993, without destroying the natural beauty in the process. The lodge cottages are private, with huge decks and mesh windows letting the night air circulate.

Green & Chic ~ Maroma Resort, Riviera Maya, Mexico

The Maroma Resort is a top class resort, built in the style of the old Mexican haciendas. The hotel is made up of a series of huts with roofs made of palm leaves. The resort set along 25 acres of beachfront on Mexico’s Riviera Maya, just a 20 minute taxi ride from the Cancun airport.

The Great Blue Hole in the middle of the ocean

The Great Blue Hole is geographical phenomenon situated 60 miles off the mainland of Belize. There are numerous blue holes around the world but none as stunning as this one. The whole is part of the Lighthouse Reef System and lies approximately 60 miles off the mainland out of Belize City. The centre of the hole is very large, almost perfect circular hole, approximately one quarter of mile (4km across). Inside the hole the water is 480 feet (145 m) deep.

Improve your fluency of Iyengar, Ashtanga & Anusara in Tulum, Mexico

Meditating while smeared with clay and honey at a Tulum resort. Photo: Michael Nagle for The New York Times

The world of luxury travel may have anointed Riviera Maya as the “It” destination du jour, but just south of this location in Tulum is where action of a different kind takes place. One that touches the soul, through meditation and breathing exercises. Yes, we’re talking YOGA, and the area of Tulum has in recent years evolved into a must-go Yoga Destination. The following is an excerpt of a New York Times travel article a few years back that first saw this trend.

Volcano Boarding, anyone? You’ll never guess where!

Cerro Negro is a volcano in Nicaragua, about 10km from the village of Malpasillo. Cerro Negro is a very new volcano, the youngest one in Central America. This fresh magma landmark offers a sudden experience through a roughly 1,600- foot volcanic slope, having air-rushing trajectory previously occupied by you and your volcano board.

Eco Geometric in the Jungle ~ V Hotel, Yelapa, Mexico

By Dian Hasan | August 16, 2009

The hottest trend in hotel design today seems to stem for people’s inclination toward anything eco-friendly. Rustic lodges that don palapa or thatch roofs seem to be passé, so architects and designers are drumming up eco-conscious hotels and resorts that continue to make bolder design statements. And who said that geometric angular shapes are the exclusive domains of urban boutique hotels? V Hotel outside of Yelapa in Mexico, begs to differ.

Green & Chic ~ Turtle Inn, Belize

By Dian Hasan | July 27, 2009

The hotelier Francis Ford Coppola is generally better known for his films, and for a thriving sideline in Northern California wines. But his foray into the hospitality sector in his beloved Belize can be counted as one of his hits. After winning praise for his rustic, elegant Blancaneaux Lodge, built in 1993, he added to the empire with Turtle Inn, a wonderfully quirky, environmentally friendly beach hotel on an unspoiled patch of rainforested Caribbean coastal paradise.

Green & Chic ~ La Casa Que Canta, Zihuatanejo, Mexico

If the high-rise developments at Ixtapa put you off, you don’t have to go far — Zihuatanejo, just four miles up the coast, was until recently little more than a quiet fishing village, and even now is steeped in the kind of small-town charm Ixtapa never had.

Green & Chic ~ Esperanza Resort, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

If Esperanza looks familiar, you’ve probably seen it in a few Hollywood movies, or supermarket gossip tabloids where yet another vacationing celebrity was spotted at Esperanza. Such is the allure of Esperanza, with its setting as the main draw. At the tip of Baja Peninsula, just outside of Cabo San Lucas, where the Pacific meets the Sea of Cortez.