Vibe: You know that bubbling-under house music soundtrack that sounds like nothing and never ends? That. The CHIC Punta Cana is rather a scene, but you don’t have to participate if you don’t want to. A big casino with Blackjack, Roulette and slot machines is open from noon until 3 a.m. This is balanced out with a Detox Oxygen Bar that serves recreational oxygen shots and healthy drinks.

Rooms: The 320 rooms at the CHIC Punta Cana are super modern, mostly all white with black trim and purple light. That sounds like the ’90s, but it’s actually fun; you feel like you’re starring in a Disaronno TV commercial.

F&B: The à la carte restaurants are an interesting mix: Italian, Japanese, Middle Eastern and steak house, all lavishly decorated and trying really hard. There’s a giant round bar between the lobby and the casino and a sports bar cum nightclub combo that also has billiards. This is good if you want to escape the heat for a couple of hours and watch the game, whatever your game is.

Extras: The Diamond Club upgrade is worth the splurge, as they lay it on thick: butler service, better room-service menus, private check-in lounge, exclusive pool and beach areas, and a Club Lounge that you should not pooh-pooh, because this is where all the nicer booze is. But the Diamond Club kicker is access to the glass-walled, mosaic-tiled Mermaid Pool.

Off-Site: Try to make it over to the coast of Bavaro to soak up the surf vibe and hop on a catamaran for a few hours. You can snorkel in the Cortesito Reef and relax in the natural pools. These are party boats, so bring a fit liver.

Rate: $$$

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Vibe: Designed by French firm AW2 with the international jet-set circuit in mind, the minimalist 43-suite, nine-villa Silversands is a sea of tranquility, its blond wood, neutral tones and pale marble buoyed by exquisite furniture from Spanish architect Patricia Urquiola.

Rooms: The Silversands rooms are done in neutral-toned glam—oatmeal is the new oatmeal—and lots of vertical wooden slats shooting up walls and camouflaging the cupboards and closets. The seating areas are so inviting you may actually spend time sitting in them. I fell asleep on a giant chaise longue on the balcony (with earplugs to mute all the birds), which is something I never do.

THINGS TO DO: IN GRENADA
TASTE TO TRY: GRENADA GASTRONOMY

F&B: There’s a wine cellar with 1,000 bottles in it. Is this big? I don’t know, but it sounds like I want to drink all of it. Breakfast at Asiatique is stellar—do not skip this. In the evening, it pumps out Modern Thai underneath huge, curlicued wooden ceiling installations. At the beachside Grenadian Grill, we sipped rosé and lunched on salmon tartare and French fries—it was two hours of heaven. Having rum nightcaps under the canopies of the beachfront lounge, we miraculously blended in with the jet-set crowd grooving to the DJ, but really, anyone can fit in here and have a good time and not feel intimidated by the rather posh peeps.

Extras: The Silversands Spa offers locally inspired treatments, sauna, hammam and private pool, plus a tricked-out fitness centre. With a rum and cigar lounge (which seems kinda ’90s to me), the resort is destined for the society pages.

Off-Site: With few high rises and less development, Grenada still manages to possess the kind of charm that appears slightly manufactured elsewhere. Do the hikes up rainforest mountains and find time to book an afternoon on a wooden boat sailing. Make sure you eat the chocolate; it will be the freshest you will ever taste. Prime scuba diving at the Underwater Sculpture Park is well worth it, even if you’re snorkelling.

Word Googled While Writing This: Curlicue

Rate: $$$$

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It’s location is key: The 352-room East Miami is anchored to Brickell City Centre, downtown Miami’s the new $1-billion mixed-use development project. Here, you’re close to South Beach, Wynwood and the Design District, and the airport is only 15 minutes away. Rooms are fresh and minimal, with a complete control system you manage with the hotel’s app. Be sure to ask for a room with one of the cute balconies.

But where are we heading first? To Sugar, the 40th-floor rooftop bar and Asian-inspired garden, of course. This is Miami’s new spot to grab a cocktail at the Balinese bar, plus a bite or two of Asian tapas, and soak in the jaw-dropping panoramic view. An upper level sports a wrap-around teak deck.

Quinto La Huella restaurant on the fifth floor is an offshoot of Uruguay’s swank Parador La Huella in Punta del Este. It’s focus is barbecue, of course, with oak-fired ovens churning out classic grilled fare. It’s also quite massive, with seating for 350+ over almost 10,000 square feet.

First-time visitors get special offers and rates during the hotel’s opening phase, so take advantage. From $340. Visit east-miami.com.

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It’s also the name of an online boutique hotel finder that we turn to to unearth off-the-beaten-path places to lay our heads via SmithHotels.com.

Co-founders James and Tamara Lohan have been helping people find the perfect hotel for more than a decade, well-known for “dirty weekends in the best possible taste,” says James. “We’re marketing small, independent, unique hotels that have quirks. We act as matchmaker between the customer and the hotels.”

Now operating in Canada with smithhotels.com, the Lohans know what you should be looking for in a boutique hotel room. “Size will determine the kind of experience you’re going to have,” says James. “Sometimes you want a buzzy atmosphere and sometimes you want something intimate. From the size, you can work out what kind of experience the hotel is going to deliver.”

Food is probably the next most important thing to consider. “Try to find out about the chef; have they won any awards? Is it formal or casual? We also look for spas—this is an indulgent weekend away, after all.” The site also lists the top places to eat, drink and be merry in the vicinity of each hotel that gets their stamp of approval.

SMITHHOTELS.COM

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And just 40 minutes south from Cancun, the city of Playa del Carmen (population 150,000) sits near the middle of the Riviera, opposite the island of Cozumel. Calm, cool and collected, the vibe is assuredly unhurried. And whether you’re touring around, enjoying the water, hunting for souvenirs or just sitting in a chair, you’ll find great people, sublime scenery and amazing food.

Drag the main drag. Avenida Quinta (Fifth Avenue) is the main pedestrian strip, where you can get your shop on any time of the day or night. Hundreds of restaurants, bars and stores line this little main drag, catering to the daily influx of tourists popping off cruise ships for a poke around town. They dock near the south end of Fifth Avenue, making it more touristy; stick to the north end for some peace and quiet, plus a better quality of both shopping and dining.

Do a day trip. While sitting in a chair staring at the surf has it’s benefits, block off a day to rent a car for a drive to Tulum, and a visit to both the 13th-century ruins and the surrounding beaches. The only Mayan city built on a coastline, the Tulum pre-hispanic ruins are ringed by a limestone wall seven metres thick, with the prominent castle sitting at the top of the limestone bluffs. This is a very popular tourist site, so try to get there as close to opening time as possible (8 a.m.) to avoid the throngs and take advantage of the best sunlight of the day for your photos.

ALSO VISIT: COZUMEL

Check out the reef. Scuba diving put Playa del Carmen on the map. It was just a sleepy little fishing town until a ferry service began from there to the island of Cozumel, one of the best places to dive in the world. The Great Mesoamerican Reef, which stretches 725 kilometres from Cancun south to the Bay Islands of Honduras, is the world’s second largest reef. It marks the spot for surveying 150 varieties of reef fish and 100 species of coral.

Swim in a cave. Freshwater sinkholes, called cenotes, make for a fun afternoon of crystal-clear diving or snorkelling in and around caves where the visibility can reach up to 125 metres year-round.

Learn something. The Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve, at 1.3 million acres, is the largest protected area in the Mexican Caribbean, and includes the 23 archeological sites of the Maya civilization. Promoting ecosystem conservation and the sustainability of natural resources, the Centro Ecológico champions low-impact tourist activities, while educating visitors about the region at the same time. Pasttimes include flyfishing, kayaking, “ponga” boat tours and more, and you can even stay at the centre in deluxe, eco-friendly cabins.

VISITMEXICO.COM

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