Family-Friendly Contemporary Luxury at AVA Resort Cancun
There are certain hotels and resorts that quietly dismantle your expectations and those that instantly impress with some open-mouthed wonder. AVA Resort Cancun belongs firmly in the latter: all-suite, all-sea-view, extensive fine dining options, glorious buffets, spa and stunningly designed, all spread between two sweeping wings that rise from the shoreline like polished white sails. It feels more like a contemporary coastal city than a resort, wide boulevards, curated spaces, restaurants at every turn, pools stitched between palms, private pool-side day cabana suites – yet the service carries a warmth of somewhere far more intimate, no where more evidenced than our buffet restaurant host Orlando, who befriended the children within seconds, learnt drink preferences from first order and spent three days patiently encouraging me to practise my rusty university-learnt Spanish over breakfast. For a family escape, it’s a rare blend of scale and sincerity.
Our first welcome set the tone, met at check-in by our three assigned suite concierges, who while working on rotation are contactable 24 hours a day via WhatsApp, facilitating anything from dining reservations to cabanas, room amenities to airport transfers (the latter made even more of a breeze as the resort is just 30 minutes away from Cancun’s International terminal). Next our suite: generous, tranquil, boasting floor-to-ceiling glass framing the turquoise sweep of the Caribbean. The little Readys too immediate ownership of their space – the sofa bed pulled neatly each night, their own wardrobe space and a mini bar restocked daily with chocolate milk, juice and snacks, TV and that uninterrupted view of sea and sky, made more beautiful from the expanse of sun-soaked balcony complete with whirlpool tub – which became an post-afternoon swim pre-dinner ritual for all of us.
Days at AVA slide easily: expansive buffet breakfasts, dips in the cool pool, splashes in the water park, ice-cream parlours, crepe stands, coffee shops that could rival any artisan café, food truck-esq street food, a theatre-size auditorium for nightly entertainment, aqua inflatables drifting across the pools, a fantastically run kids’ club as well as a teen lounge – complete with an indoor basketball court, and cocktail bars where mixologists champion their signature in-house AVA tequila in drinks than lean towards spiced elegance. There are also additional activities you can prebook too, escape rooms, bowling, F1 simulators to name a few, which when combined with the indoor trampolining and soft play at kids club and the video game lounge at teen club we didn’t hear the words “I’m bored” once. In fact, the little Readys were actually asking to go to kids’ club every day which was ‘win, win’ for all of us!
Dining is plentiful and varied with two huge buffet restaurants bookending the resort and 17 dining experiences weaving along the internal boulevard. Our stay including three stand out fine dining experiences. Black Iron, AVA’s ode to the modern American steakhouse with a flicker of fire and smoke is set to a backdrop of intimate booths, round tables and mood lighting. We opened with a trio of empanadas – beef, provolone and sautéed mushroom – each crisp-edged and deeply savoury, dipped in chimichurri, criolla or macha depending on your chosen mood. The grilled romaine was a taste surprise: charred leaves, still crisp, dressed in a tahini vinaigrette with cucumber, cantaloupe and chickpea purée. The Black Iron burger was unapologetically indulgent, prime beef, cheddar, caramelised onions and bacon inside a brioche bun. But the stars, of course, were the steaks: our picks of tenderloin and ribeye cooked over coal and wood, edges smoky, centres blush-pink. Truffle fries dusted in pecorino were instantly claimed by the table as was the macaroni with asadero cheese mousse.
At Copal, AVA’s contemporary Mexican restaurant, the precision sharpened. The house guacamole, smoky with tatemado green chilli, arrived with wood-fired tostadas… and crickets! A daring crunch, a surprising nutty finish and a reminder that true cuisine is rooted in place. The minced been empanada was crisp and fragrant, the mole toast topped with shredded chicken had richness and depth, the grilled skirt steak with charred tomato sauce, fried cassava and roasted onions was bold and satisfying, the Swiss chicken enchiladas were soft and comforting beneath their creamy green sauce which offered gentle layers of flavour rather than on overpowering kick, while the beef birria quesadilla, with slow-cooked beef, pork beans and pickled vegetables was refined messiness, generous and utterly delicious. And once again the decor and aesthetic was not only considered and architecturally impressive, but also transports you away from resort life to high-end dining experience.
Kita, the teppanyaki restaurant, brought last night theatre. Gyoza – chicken and shrimp with garlic and sweet-chilli sauce – were glossy and delicate and swiftly followed by spicy roasted edamame that kept disappearing between conversations. The miso shiru, fragrant with tofu, harusame noodles, wakame and shiitake, reset the palate before the grill ignited. Our chef danced his way through teriyaki beef, shrimp and chicken, tossing and searing until the plates filled with yasai itame and yakimeshi fried rice. Dessert was a molten-centres brownie that the children demolished with reverence.
While days moved from cabana bed to cocktails for us and pool splashing to pinata-making for the kids, and restaurants tempted the tastebuds 24-7, there is yet another string to the AVA bow. Waiting to be discovered in a subterranean paradise – the AVA Spa. Descending into the adult-only cool, cave-like corridors was transformative. Spa hosts guide you through a series of wellness experiences: sauna with ice-cold cucumber compresses, steam room with agave face mask, ice showers, and a sequence of hydropools that alleviated any lingering knots of stress. We completed our experience with a 50-minute couples AVA Relaxing Experience massage, which used long, sweeping movements and warm oils to soothe and detoxify. It was both grounding, restorative and quietly luxurious, with stress levels further aided by knowing that the kids were living their best lives in kids club throughout.
As contemporary resort hotel experiences go, AVA Resort Cancun is certainly one of the best. It isn’t just family-friendly; it’s family-empowering. Space, taste, design, services, everything just works, and we bid a fond farewell to a backdrop of excited kids’ voices retelling their favourite memories and us adults feeling genuinely restored and reluctant to leave.
