This is not your average all-inclusive resort.
Tucked away on Punta Mita — an ultraluxe 1,500-acre private peninsula 45 minutes from Mexico’s bustling Puerto Vallarta — Naviva, A Four Seasons Resort is a new “glamping” concept from the industry giant, and its first all-inclusive resort in North America.
With just 15 tented, safari-style cabins perched over the Pacific Ocean, the resort is meant to recreate the laid-back feeling of staying at a friend’s home (staff is on a first-name basis with guests) but with top-flight service.
Before setting foot on the property, guests are contacted by a concierge, who curates an itinerary of activities and menu of food and beverage preferences, setting the tone for a truly tailored experience.
The immersive feel of Naviva — which means “nature of life” — begins when you enter the resort’s biophilic entryway and are greeted by the soothing sounds of a natural waterfall.
Naviva’s staff likens passing through the resort’s tunnellike lattice bamboo walkway to “entering a cocoon,” where you are meant to unplug from the harried pace of everyday life and immerse yourself in the 48-acre resort’s lush coastal jungle.
Opened in December 2022, Naviva was built as an alternative to other traditional luxury hotels in Punta Mita — including the Four Seasons’ own property just five minutes away. It was billed as a haven for adults to reconnect with nature, their partners and themselves. The property is kid-free; rooms come with Wi-Fi but no televisions.
Unlike sprawling traditional hotels in the area, Naviva’s common facilities are minimal. There’s a jewel box-sized open-air spa, a pool and lounge area with ocean views, a restaurant with an adjacent private beach and an outdoor gym with weights carved from stone.
The rest of the resort encompasses hiking trails and designated areas to meditate, practice yoga or watch humpback whales as they migrate past the property in the winter months.
There’s also, of course, your tent — which is essentially a luxury bungalow with decorative zipped-canvas walls. Tents are air-conditioned and include a spacious bedroom and ensuite bathroom. They offer a fully stocked bar, an array of handcarved board games, an open-air sitting room and a spacious terrace that houses an outdoor shower, heated plunge pool, lounge chairs and an eating area.
But this small slice of serenity doesn’t come cheap. Nightly rates start at $3,300 for solo travelers and $4,100 for double occupancy. Mind you, that nightly rate includes all the food and drink you can consume, prepared by a culinary team led by chef Sofía Mojica, who has made it a point to select the freshest ingredients and stock the bar with spirits that include organic wines from female-run vineyards. Guests can also dine at the Four Seasons next door, including its oceanfront, Asian-inspired Aramara restaurant, which recently reopened.
The Naviva price tag encompasses a wide array of activities, from spearfishing and private Mexican boxing lessons to spa treatments, mezcal tastings and private cooking classes with Chef Mojica.
The guides can also arrange wilderness hikes, personal training lessons, cliffside fishing, whale watching via kayak or boat, snorkeling and art classes, among other diversions. Guests can make off-script requests, like a tarot card reader, a band or even a beachside bonfire.
Bottom line: If you want something, Naviva’s staff will do everything possible to make it happen.
One of the most popular activities at the resort is a traditional temazcal ceremony, a highly recommended way to set the tone for your Naviva journey.
The experience, which lasts roughly 90 minutes, takes place in a small, cement igloolike dome or sweat lodge. Led by a shaman, the ceremony — which is meant to purify the mind and body — begins after hot lava rocks are brought into the small space.
The entryway is sealed with thick blankets and you’re left sitting in complete darkness — minus the glowing of the rocks that will later flicker orange and go black.
At the beginning of the experience, the shaman asks for your intention, and devotes each round to an element — earth, fire, wind and water. Each round lasts about 20 minutes and gets progressively hotter as the shaman trickles water over the hissing, steaming molten rocks.
When the round ends, the shaman calls for the entrance to be opened. Light and cool air flows into the space for a few moments before more hot rocks are brought in for the next round. Entryway sealed again.
Sitting in darkness, the biggest challenge, like the Naviva experience itself, is to quiet your mind and disconnect. But as soon as you do? You feel reborn.
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