Rosewood Mandarina, in Riviera Nayarit, Mexico, Hotel Review

I bit into a slice of charred watermelon—the sweet fruit extinguishing the heat from the jalapeños and zesty leche de tigre I topped my seabass ceviche. Sitting at my teakwood eight-seat dining table, I buried my feet in the sand as I sat there, just steps from the Pacific Ocean. As I leaned forward in my chair I let the bright sunlight warm my face.

The new Rosewood Mandarina in Mexico’s Riviera Náyarit was only 40 minutes away, and I had already finished my lunch, soaked in the polished black Ekol plunge pools in my beach suite, and soaked in the pool of my beach suite. As I sat at the dining table on the beach, the afternoon heat melted away the water drops that dotted my shoulders.

Real life—and real responsibility—already felt far away. The resort itself felt distant. A bridge across an estuary, where my snappy neighbors the crocodiles lived, separated my room and the main gathering areas. Rosewood Mandarina opened just a few weeks earlier, on May 15. As the first journalist, I had an entire mile of beach to myself.

I have reported on almost 20 luxury resorts in Mexico—10 in Los Cabos, a hThe following are some examples of how to get started:ful on the Riviera Maya, and two just south of Mandarina in Punta Mita—and covered four Rosewood hotels, including the openings of Rosewood Vienna and Kona Village, a Rosewood Resort Hawaii Island. The brand-new Rosewood Mandarina tops my list of Mexican resorts I want to visit again. The resort is effortless and flawlessly executed. It’s only an hour away from Puerto Vallarta via a new highway. You can reach the resort in four minutes by golf cart. It’s the breathtaking architecture designed by Caroline Meersseman from Bando x Seidel Meersseman as well as the two restaurants helmed a Rosewood executive chef that really make it special.

On my first day, I rode 4 zip lines through the Mexican Jungle, then returned to my suite and had a tall iced chilaquiles poolside with a spicy red sauce and lots of cotija. The next day, I walked along the beach in the early morning haze from my suite to La Cocina, the resort’s heart. I sat at the open-air, outdoor restaurant in my bare feet, drinking a freshly-pressed green drink of pineapple, spinach, and ginger. I then donned my sneakers and went on a steep hike into the jungle to reach a massive 500-year old tree that the Indigenous tribes of Riviera Nayarit refer to as the Abuela (grandmother) tree.

The sprawling pool area was tempting each time I returned. It has four pools made of jade colored Sukabumi stones, with two of them directly on the beach. But I always chose to return to my suite—the pull of the beachfront private plunge pool, perfectly heated to a walk-right-in temperature, was too strong.

Rosewood Mandarina isn’t groundbreaking—major luxury developments with top hotels are popping up all over Central America, including in Baja California’s Cabo del Sol, where a Four Seasons just opened, and Costa PalmasCosta Rica’s Peninsula Papagayo will welcome an Aman for the first time this year. just got a Ritz-Carlton ReserveThe Riviera Maya’s Kanai is home to a new St. Regis hotel. The Edition. But the execution of this resort—the service, the food, the striking design, with suites on the beach, flora-surrounded flatland rooms, and still-to-come mountain accommodations on a peak overlooking the crescent-shaped beach—is near perfect.

“There are three ecosystems in the resort. One is the beach and another one is the flatlands that feel like jungles. And the third one is the mountain.” Juan Carlos Cardona Aquino is the managing director of Rosewood Mandarina. He tells me that it’s more like three boutiques than one large resort.

Of all the luxury resorts that exist in Mexico, this one is the most likely to offer travelers a unique experience each time they visit. This time, I visited alone and spent the day zip-lining, swimming in the plunge pool, and eating every local catch that La Cocina or Spanish Beach Club Buena Onda could grill, cube, or serve as ceviche. My son and husband will stay in the mountain suites when I return. We’ll come during polo season—yes, there’s a polo club at the Mandarina complex that you may recognize from a certain Kendall Jenner photoshoot—and watch a match before dining at the alfresco Argentinian grill, Chukker, and making our way back to Rosewood’s forthcoming mountaintop speakeasy.

The Rosewood Mexico Resort is the 33rd property in the Rosewood Portfolio. Here’s my full review.

The Rooms

Each of Rosewood Mandarina’s 134 rooms features a private plunge-pool. Every piece of furniture, every light fixture, and every decor piece is custom made for the resort, with a lot of the wood accents and objets d’art (like the gorgeous tornillo wood dining tables and the beaded jewelry holders, made by the local Indigenous Wixárika, or Huichol, nation) crafted in Latin America.

The beachfront suite I had was directly on the beach (a rarity along Mexico’s Pacific Coast where the rooms are usually set back from the beach because of rougher waters). It also included an outdoor lounge with a couch and loungers by the pool on either side. The bedroom was huge, at nearly 1,100 sq. feet. This included 300 sq. feet of outdoor area. The main part of the resort is located on the beach. To reach my room I either walked along the shoreline or took the bridge across a scenic estuary which feeds the Pacific Ocean. Currently, the beach and flatland suites—surrounded by lush native plants and blooming flowers and a short walk to the main pool area and two restaurants—are open. In September, 64 Mountain rooms will debut on a 400-foot-high peak that offers a panoramic view of the resort, including kilometer-long beach.

Food and Drink

Buena Onda serves Spanish meals and lunches, while La Cocina offers Mexican cuisine all day. Mandarina also provides excellent Mexican food for the entire family at its all-day dining venue. La Cocina feels like a Mexican art gallery, with wooden shelving units displaying ceramics and beaded Wixárika-made figurines, light fixtures made of fine strands of rope, black-and-white woven side tables, and whimsical cushioned swings in the open-air dining room. The beach table was the perfect place to enjoy a meal of lobster tacos and charred shrimp. comal In the open kitchen. I finished off the meal with a carajillo Cocktail, which I brought with me, as I walked to the water and let the ocean nibble at my toes, as the sun set into the Pacific.

On my very first night in the resort, I ordered a mocktail of Nawa with tamarind, a pineapple platter, and grilled fish at Buena Onda. The Spanish-inspired restaurant, perched on the rocks on the far northern edge of the resort’s elongated crescent–shaped beach, served up the famed Joselito jamonImported from Jabugo in Spain, this appetizer is a delicious treat. I was tempted to order more of the grilled prawns and lobsters caught in the cool Pacific waters, which were brushed with parsley and olive oil, and served alongside a whole head roasted garlic.

Toppu, the Nikkei, is a Peruvian/Japanese fusion restaurant. A speakeasy will also be built on the mountain. There are also restaurants within the 565-acre Mandarina complex, for guests of Rosewood, One&Only Mandarina, Mandarina residents, and the public, including Chukker, the Argentinian grill right alongside the polo field, where the kitchen is six grills under a tarp and the bar is built into a string light-heavy tree. The shared Mandarina Beach Club with Italian restaurant Allora is also charming.

Activities and Experiences 

The main pool is made up of 4 pools and is surrounded by beautiful wooden pavilions. It’s set on a mile-long sandy beach, with lounge chairs covered. The Mandarina complex offers a variety of activities, including a four-zip line over the jungle.

Also available are tennis courts and pickleball courts. There is also a guided hike and a 9-hole golf course. The polo and horse stables were my first stop. I met the 54 horses who call Mandarina their home and three kittens that had set up in the stables. All of these activities are available, including horseback riding lessons (seasonal polo), beach rides, and horseback lessons. The pros are on the field every weekend during polo’s peak season (November through May). Gustavo Mejia runs Mandarina and played 53 matches with professional players last year. 

Offers Family Friendly

I stepped into the kids’ club and was immediately greeted by a bevy of hanging wooden toys—rings, a rope swing—plus a small stage, a surplus of interactive and colorful toys, and a spacious yard area outside. The kids’ club had a narrative that followed a deer in the Mexican fairytale, “The Journey of Tunuri & the Blue Deer.” It tells the Indigenous Wixárika story of the blue deer in the Riviera Nayarit’s Sierra Madre Mountains, who helps a little boy, Tunuri, who is lost in the woods. The magical blue deer is a messenger between the dream world—a recurring theme in Wixárika culture and artwork—and the real world, and introduces Tunuri to Mother Earth and Father Sun, all in service of getting him back home to his family. The story is told in painted scenes that are displayed within the children’s club. They feature vibrant beading as well as rainbow colored ropes and a large blue deer.

The Spa

As I entered the Asaya Spa, my massage therapist instructed me to close all my eyes and sniff three essential oils. She said that my body would choose the right oil for me based on the scent I liked. I chose a blend of eucalyptus, lemongrass, and chamomile to promote healing. (I had given birth 10 months earlier, so it seemed right), and she massaged the oil into my back, and down my legs, for an hour. I opted to skip the steam room, cold plunge, and sauna circuits in favor of an soaking in my private plunge. The spa was built around a beautiful plunge pool. Higuera EviDens, a Japanese-French skincare brand that I have used for years, offers me a range of luxurious facials.

Accessibility and sustainability

Rosewood Mandarina has three accessible rooms—one in each of the eco-systems. The La Cocina Restaurant is accessible. However, the beach or any sand pathways leading to other gathering spots are not.

Rosewood is committed to sustainability. They take care of the estuary on site and work with local biologists in order to care for crocodiles and other wildlife. The resort team planted only native plants on the property and is currently working on a bigger replanting project, creating a large wild garden near Asaya Spa. The hotel’s art and materials are mostly sourced from Mexico, and the artists who created them. I saw very little single-use plastic during my stay.

Location

As Riviera Nayarit—the 192-mile stretch between the Sierra Madre Mountains and the Pacific Ocean—expands as a resort destination, the area’s resort communities, including Mandarina and Punta de Mita, become more accessible. This is largely due to the brand new section of the Puerto Vallarta – Guadalajara Highway. The expanded highway—a much-anticipated multimillion-dollar Mexican infrastructure project—got me from Puerto Vallarta International Airport (PVR) to Rosewood Mandarina in less than an hour, and it was a very smooth ride. Rosewood Mandarina travelers should fly to PVR. It’s only a 2.5-hour trip from Los Angeles International Airport or a quick hop from other West Coast hubs. Flying from the East Coast will require a connecting flight, usually in Atlanta for Delta fans or Dallas for Oneworld.

What to Expect from Your Stay

Amex Platinum cardholders can enjoy a range of benefits, including a $100 resort voucher and a complimentary breakfast each day for two. Amex also states that cardholders can book 30-percent-off stays through December 15, 2025Rosewood Mandarina offers a 30 percent discount on the first night’s stay for guests who book directly through the hotel. Rosewood has no loyalty program.

Get special rates on nights at Rosewood Mandarina start at $1,200.

Every T+L review is written either by an editor, reporter or photographer who has actually stayed in the hotel. Each hotel is selected based on its alignment with our core values.