Canopy By Hilton Cancun La Isla ★★★★★

A Rooftop Over the Lagoon, Where the Strip Gets Interesting

Kilometre 12.5 is where the Hotel Zone stops being only hotels. La Isla sits on one side, the Nichupte on the other, and in between HBA International built an interior that works harder than the brand required: a two storey lobby bar with a granite counter that falls like water, Caledonia granite underfoot patterned after cenote rock, rope screens, tree stump seating, pastel shutters. Above the bar there is an alebrije fox. The pool and the bar are on the roof, facing the lagoon and the sunset, and that single decision reorganises how a stay here works.

Why It Works

We chose it because it commits. Canopy is Hiltons lifestyle brand and this was its first address in Mexico, so the design brief went further than a logo swap: local materials, local street art references, Mexican folk art in the public rooms. The rooftop pool gives the lagoon side of the strip its best vantage point, the junior suites are properly large, and bikes are lent out at the door in a district where most guests are driven everywhere. It is also one of the few hotels here that takes dogs without making a performance of it.

Why This Location

La Isla Entertainment Village is a hundred metres away, which in practice means restaurants, cinema, an aquarium and shops without a taxi. The hotel sits on the lagoon side of the boulevard, so the rooms and the roof look west over the Nichupte and its mangrove edges; the Caribbean beaches are across the road and a short walk. Mandala Beach Club is about four kilometres north, the Mayan Museum and the El Rey ruins are within a few kilometres south, and the airport is around twenty kilometres away, closer than from the top of the strip. The R1 and R2 buses run along Kukulcan at the door.

Fast Facts

• Price: Premium

• Vibe: design led, urban, sociable, unfussy

• Rooms: 174 rooms and suites, including junior suites of around sixty square metres with ocean views, connecting rooms available

• Best For: design minded couples, solo travellers, remote workers, dog owners

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: Wander Rooftop Bar and Juicery, on the pool level, facing the lagoon

• Dining: the two storey lobby bar with its granite waterfall counter, a cafe in a banquette niche, and Wander on the roof for juices by day and cocktails after dark

• Amenities: rooftop pool, spa with treatment rooms, fitness centre, mezzanine coworking area, complimentary bikes, boutique, meeting rooms, digital room key, pet friendly for up to two dogs

• Attractions: La Isla Entertainment Village a hundred metres away, the Nichupte lagoon below the roof, the beaches a short walk across the boulevard, the Mayan Museum a few kilometres south

One Hundred and Seventy Four Rooms Under Painted Canopies

The headboards are the signature: wooden canopies with murals painted by hand, which is where the brand name earns itself. Rooms come in king and double queen layouts, connecting pairs are available for families, and the junior suites run to around sixty square metres with a view towards the sea. Pastel doors and shutters carry the palette through the corridors, and the lighting is layered rather than flattened. The mezzanine above the lobby is set up for working, which is a small thing until you need it for an afternoon.

Wander, the Lobby Bar and the Bikes at the Door

Wander Rooftop Bar and Juicery is the room to know: juices and breakfast plates in the morning, cocktails at the pool by late afternoon, the lagoon turning orange behind the mangroves. Down in the lobby, the bar occupies two storeys and a granite counter shaped like falling water, and the cafe next to it is a banquette niche for coffee and a pastry. The spa keeps treatment rooms on site and the fitness centre sits by the pool. Then there are the bikes, free to borrow, which on this stretch of Kukulcan will get you to La Isla, to the beaches and along the lagoon in less time than a taxi.