Hacienda Xcanatun’s Money-Saving Summer Living Luxe Package Offers
Free 4th Night for Each 3-Night Booking + Tasty Perks
MERIDA. Mexico –Feeling ripped off with escalating summer travel prices, the low US dollar, and gas prices shooting for the stars? Consider a place closer to home – yet totally foreign: An extravagantly restored hacienda in a garden setting near a colonial city filled with neo-classic mansions, fine museums, open-air concerts and an innovative cuisine. All located only a 1 ½ flight from Miami or Houston, with connections throughout North America.
Hacienda Xcanatun, 10 minutes from Merida, the Yucatan’s vibrant capital, offers all these possibilities, and the added benefit of being within a two-hour drive of some of the Maya world’s finest ancient cities – Uxmal, Dzibilchaltun, Ek Balam, and Chichen Itza. Small villages, set along the roads to these sites, provide a visual link between the ancient and living Maya in their architecture and traditional lifestyle.
Organizing a Visit:
Using Hacienda Xcanatun (ssh-cana-toon), an elegantly restored 18th century former plantation turned boutique hotel as home base, guests enjoy a sense of history and romance, plus easy access to the Yucatan’s riches. All of this is made even sweeter with Xcanatun’s summer Living Luxe Package featuring s a free 4th night with every 3-night booking. The cost for two people sharing an accommodation starts at $750 for 3 nights (with the option for a free 4th), from June 1 through September 30, 2008, a welcome savings over normal pricing. (Taxes and service are additional.) Living Luxe guests also receive a Welcome cocktail, daily Xcanatun breakfast, a treasure of Mayan artisanal chocolates, and a bottle of French sparkling wine.
Owners and managers, Cristina Baker and Jorge Ruz, long-time residents of the Yucatan, know everyone and everything going on in the area. They have the special entrée to help guests organize experiences unavailable to the general public. These might include a dinner discussion with a respected archaeologist; after-hours museum tours; an invitation to a private mansion or garden; private Yucatecan cooking classes; or a tasting of excellent Mexican wine and/or tequila.
All of the hacienda’s 18 air-conditioned suites and superior rooms contain 18-foot beamed ceilings, private verandas, marble-wrapped bathrooms, hand-carved furnishings and antiques. Their gourmet restaurant specializes in fusion Yucatecan specialties, while the Maya-themed spa offers beauty and holistic healings to balance body and soul. Two freshwater swimming pools are surrounded by gardens.
Getting Around:
Maps and descriptive materials, road tips and new discoveries are freely available to self-drivers and those traveling with a private guide. Even today, a highly-trained guide-driver and an air-conditioned car cost only $25 per hour or $180 for a full day. Daytrip highlights include coastal fishing villages with deserted beaches; eco-biospheres protecting enormous flocks of flamingos; a network of 16th century convents filled with colonial art treasures; craft villages and solitary cenotes, (freshwater caverns) for scuba divers and snorkeling.
For additional information on Hacienda Xcanatun or to reserve the Living Luxe Package, call 1-888-883-3633 toll-free from the USA or Canada or e-mail: hacienda@xcanatun.com. Hacienda Xcanatun has a 4 Diamond ranking from AAA; is a member of Virtuoso and Mexico Boutique Hotels; and their restaurant has received the Star-Diamond Award from the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences for six years.