I’m always on the lookout for great places for high-luxe R&R. My newest find: Coco B Isla on Isla Mujeres – the Island of Women – in Mexico.
It’s where my daughter and I spent a blissful 3 days in September, as guests of the luxury property on the shores of the Caribbean.
Pros of Coco B Isla
- English speakers do not need to speak any Spanish to stay at the luxury resort or shop and eat in town. Just about everyone we encountered spoke enough English to help us.
- Coco B employees and people around the island were VERY welcoming to Americans and my daughter and I felt very safe.
- The private villa experience is all about customization. Work with the onsite concierge to arrange everything, starting with your transportation from the airport to the island and including chef-curated meals, resort activities and island excursions.
- Villas offer all the space of an Airbnb-type house rental, from separate bedrooms to a full kitchen, combined with all of the services you expect from a high-end resort, from daily housekeeping to concierge service. Then Coco B extends the service with a private chef and a personal trip planner.
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Things You Need to Know About Coco B Isla
- It is not wheelchair friendly. While some villas have first-floor rooms, there are stairs into the villas and it’s a steep walk down to the beach.
- There isn’t much privacy in the rooms, including an open shower in our room. It was fine since I was staying there with my daughter. But I might have felt differently if I was traveling with a friend.
- The sleek Mediterranean design lacks some features I would like, such as drawers for my clothes, hooks to dry towels and shelving for toiletries around the bathroom sink.
- There are no TVs in the rooms or the villas, although you can request TVs be brought in if you simply can’t miss the next episode of your favorite show or the Big Game on Sunday — a request the owners say they often get from guests.
- This is a small Mexican island, so the infrastructure isn’t as reliable as you would want. During our 3-day stay, the power went out for about three hours one night and the water went out for a short period the next day. The Coco B staff jumped into action, but it still took an hour to get the generators up and running. The owners say it normally happens faster than that.
- It can be very hot in Mexico. Bring hats, hand fans and plenty of sunscreen.
The 3 Sides of Coco B Isla
The resort consists of three businesses:
- Luxury villa bed and breakfast rentals
- Wellness retreats
- Pop-up hotel
I’ll get into the details of each in a minute. But first, the history of this unique property and the people who created it.
The Alan Family
Jeffrey and Bridget Alan are the visionaries behind Coco B. Infused with a spirit of adventure, they moved to Mexico when their daughter, Coco, was 5. They were looking for a place they could call their own while treating guests to a concierge-level service.
The journey was bumpy. It included the disappointment of a deal that fell through after a year of negotiating, the Covid shutdown and the challenges of raising their daughter on a small Mexican island where buying groceries and finding a good school were not easy.
Fast forward 11 years and the company now operates four villas on the 5-mile-long Isla Mujeres, a speedy 25-minute boat ride from the Mexican mainland.
As a luxury villa with private chef breakfast service, Coco B operates like an elegant Airbnb with concierge-level hotel service. In other words, you get the space and luxury of a high-end home rental but no one has to cook, clean up or strip the beds when the vacation is over.
That’s because Coco B villa rentals come with all the amenities of a luxury hotel – daily housekeeping service, a staff to cook gourmet meals and a luxe concierge service to help you plan all the fun you can handle.
Private Group Vacation Rentals
Each of the villas has a full kitchen and its own pool, along with open air spaces that offer a front row seat to the breathtaking Caribbean sunsets.
All of the rooms have en suite bathrooms and the design is Architectural Digest-worthy. The villas are coated inside and out with a lime-based plaster cement with integrated color. It gives the buildings a fine pearlescent finish with restful muted colors.
Jeffrey Alan designed the villas and did much of the finish work – including spending three hours in the sweltering heat finishing a cast-in-place soaking tub in one of the rooms. He also chose the unique furniture pieces and ordered hand-made tiles and hand-crafted doors.
The design is a combination of features Jeffrey saw during his travels through Greece, Italy and France. He calls it “modern Mediterranean.” I call it minimalist and soothing. I especially love the way his design blends indoor and outdoor living.
When I visited, the six-bedroom Casa Encantada villa was rented for four days to a group of nine people celebrating an 80th birthday. I could see my large extended family booking one of the villas for a family reunion (although the stairs would make it a challenge for my blind mother-in-law who uses a walker).
Special offer for readers of SheBuysTravel: Use the code MSNCindy10 to get 10 percent off a private villa rental.
Wellness Retreats at Coco B
As the Coco B Wellness retreat center, Coco B partners with yoga teachers who bring their students for intensive week-long yoga-centric vacations.
The yoga happens in rooftop shalas where the gentle Caribbean breezes blow over as you hold a pose. Bird calls mingle with the yoga instructor’s quiet voice. It is easily the most beautiful spot I have ever done yoga – and I’ve done a lot of yoga in a lot of spots over the years.
While yoga retreats are the biggest driver of wellness at Coco B Wellness, the resort has hosted a variety of other curated retreats, including culinary retreats, fitness retreats, professional development seminars, and retreats for men, women, young CEOs and even couples in need of relationship counseling.
Next on the agenda: A Coco B Isla-curated retreat for women over 50. Hosted by Coco B owner Bridget Alan, a yogi, and her sister, Abigail Boehm, a master practitioner in women’s health and wellness, the program called “Aging with Vitality, Joy, Inspiration & Power,” is set for Dec. 9-14, 2024.
Pop-Up Hotel
On those rare occasions when the villas are not booked with a wellness retreat or private group, the Alans list the rooms as a “pop-up hotel.” If you want to be on the list of people who get first dibs on those rooms, you can join the Coco B email list. But be forewarned: You’ll rarely have more than two week’s notice that a room is available for rent.
The Villas
There are four:
- Casa Coco (named for the Alans’ now-16-year-old daughter)
- Casa Cielo
- Casa Lola
- Villa Encantada
Casa Coco
The largest of the four villas, this 10-room villa is the place where the wellness magic happened during my stay. We ate delectable meals at the communal table, jumped into the aquamarine Caribbean Sea off the deck and practiced yoga in the rooftop shala. The shala is also where I had one of the best massages of my life.
Casa Cielo
Located next door to Casa Coco, this is a charming four-bedroom house with its own pool and oceanfront access. It was the home of the Alan family before their teenage daughter requested a move back to the U.S. so she could complete high school.
Larger groups can book Casa Coco and Casa Cielo together for a combined 14 suites.
Casa Lola
Located a 10-minute walk down the road from Casa Coco and Casa Cielo, Casa Lola is where my daughter and I stayed during our trip. Our room, located up 37 steps on the third floor, had a king bed, a huge balcony with comfy furnishings and view of the Isla Mujeres sunsets. We found the room to be comfortable, with soft sheets, a plush duvet and a minimalist design.
Casa Lola has seven rooms, all with en suite baths. There’s a lovely rooftop terrace with 360-degree views of the Caribbean. The private pool is in a shady spot, which meant the water was cool enough to be refreshing on a scorching hot September visit. And the small stretch of white sand beach made it easy to get in and out of the kayaks and paddleboards that waited for us on the shore.
Villa Encantada
Located next door to Casa Lola, this is a 6-bedroom villa. It’s the spot where the group of nine people were celebrating an 80th birthday during our visit.
These two villas also can be booked together, for a combined 13 suites.
Dining at Coco B
The culinary experience, which can be added to any villa rental, is as beautiful as it is delicious. While breakfasts are included in villa rentals, it’s possible to add on more chef-curated meals. If, unlike me, you think cooking is a fun thing to do on vacation, you can have the concierge stock the villa’s kitchen with groceries before your arrival.
We dined on shrimp and fish ceviche and a lobster and steak surf and turf dinner. Breakfasts were healthy and delicious offerings ranging from beautifully prepared fresh fruit and Greek yogurt to lobster Benedict and the best waffles I have ever eaten.
If you prefer to experience the local scene, there are a host of restaurants a short cab ride away from the resort.
SheBuysTravel Tip: Do not drive yourself if you plan on having a drink with your dinner. The island has a strict zero tolerance policy for drinking and driving and the local authorities regularly set up checkpoints. We found plenty of cabs waiting after we finished dinner in town.
Getting to Coco B
Fly into Cancun airport. The Coco B concierge can book a private car to take you to the boat launch and a high-speed boat for the ride to the island. After 25 minutes on the water, the boat will drop you at the Coco B dock, where you’ll be met by staff who will take your luggage to the villa.
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