Banyan Tree Mayakoba

While luxury and splendour is aplenty you will instantly notice that it’s the helpful staff distinguishes Banyan Tree's prestige. Staff members will remove their shoes whenever they enter your villa as this a gesture that's both handy and considerate sand tends to get everywhere.

The resort has also been smartly designed, as every villa has a large private pool, carefully positioned for maximum seclusion. This generous detail renders the half mile between the beach and the Banyan Tree's core a relative non-issue.

Couples on romantic retreat need never leave their inland palaces, while families spread out in the two- and three-bedroom compounds that line the beach. The company's Asian roots show best in the spa, staffed entirely with expert Thai masseuses, and at Saffron, where the Thai kitchen crew serve up flawless papaya salad and steamed fish in chilli sauce. But in the rooms, the best local embroidered pillows, hand-painted tile sinks and impeccably woven hammocks remind you that you're at what's now one of the best resorts on Mexico's Caribbean coast.