Opening 2027

Belmond

Milaroca, A Belmond Hotel

Name: Milaroca, A Belmond Hotel
Address: Riviera Nayarit, Mexico

Belmond's first ground-up Mexican Pacific resort, on the Riviera Nayarit coast

Riviera Nayarit, Mexico

Get notified when it opens

The day it opens + our first honest verdict. No paid placements. Joins the Fat Voyage list — leave any time.

First look

Milaroca is Belmond's planned arrival on Mexico's Riviera Nayarit, and on paper it is a sizeable one. The reported program runs to around 57 pavilions and villas, plus 27 standalone private villas, six dining venues, an organic farm and a wellness centre. That spread of accommodation and food and beverage suggests something closer to a resort village than a boutique retreat, which is a different model from the heritage conversions Belmond is best known for.

Not yet scored. We publish a Fat Score only once a hotel is open and real guests have stayed and written about it — this is a first look, not a verdict.

What we'll be watching

We haven't stayed yet — here's what will decide whether it lands when we do.

Whether six dining venues can justify themselves. An on-site organic farm is a real foundation, but six restaurants on a resort that hasn't opened yet is an ambitious number for a brand that normally leans on one or two strong food-and-beverage anchors. We'll be watching whether the kitchen programme holds up once it's actually running in the jungle, or whether some of those venues quietly merge.
Whether the ground-up build keeps its stated sense of place. Belmond's track record is in heritage conversions — Maroma, Casa de Sierra Nevada, Katanchel all had bones to start with. Milaroca is a blank slate on the Nayarit coast, and 105 acres with 57 pavilions plus 27 private villas is a lot of construction to keep feeling non-invasive and rooted. The architecture brief (Waldo's Designs and Clements Design, with Rosetta Getty as creative director) promises a bohemian, culture-led register; whether that survives the build is the question.
Whether the date slippage is done. This one was announced for 2025, pushed to 2027 in a December 2024 update — a two-year move is a big shift. We're treating the 2027 target as provisional until it's closer and the brand puts a month on it.
Whether the 27 private villas tip the balance. The standalone villa component is central to the business model here, not a side offering, and that tends to shape who actually uses the resort. A large residential footprint alongside a 57-pavilion hotel can pull the feel in two directions at once.

Sofie, who runs the Fat Voyage booking desk with Nicolas

Want us to get you in when it opens?

Nothing to book yet — rates usually load a few months out. We're Sofie and Nicolas; tell us roughly what you're after and we'll come back the moment Milaroca, A Belmond Hotel is bookable, with rates, what the rooms are actually like, and whether we'd go in the first season.

You'll be dealing with the two of us the whole way through, which is why we only take on a handful of trips at a time — if we're full, we'll say so. We reply by email, usually within one working day. The hotel pays us, not you: your rate is the same as booking direct, and the perks come on top.

Before it opens

When does Milaroca, A Belmond Hotel open?

Belmond's Mediahub lists a 2027 opening, updated from an original 2025 target in late 2024. The date has already moved once, and no specific month has been confirmed yet — treat 2027 as the working window rather than a fixed arrival.

Where is Milaroca located?

It sits on a 105-acre estate on Mexico's Riviera Nayarit, on the Pacific coast, with roughly two kilometres of private beach. The closest airport is Puerto Vallarta, about 40 minutes away.

Is this Belmond's first hotel on Mexico's Pacific coast?

Yes. Belmond has two other Mexico properties — Maroma on the Caribbean Riviera Maya and Casa de Sierra Nevada in San Miguel de Allende — but Milaroca will be its first on the Pacific coast, and its first ground-up new build in Mexico rather than a heritage conversion. It is being developed by Cora Pacific Development, with Belmond managing under its name.

How many rooms and villas will Milaroca have?

The resort is planned with 57 guest pavilions — including junior suites, one-bedroom suites, jungle suites, and 12 three-bedroom villas, many with private plunge pools — plus 27 standalone private villas on the same estate. Four outdoor pools and a wellness centre are also part of the programme.

What restaurants and facilities will Milaroca have, and who designed it?

Six dining venues are planned, with ingredients drawn from an on-site organic farm. The interiors come from Waldo's Designs and Clements Design, with Rosetta Getty as creative director — the design brief references the bohemian culture of nearby San Pancho and Sayulita villages rather than a conventional resort aesthetic.

Will Fat Voyage score Milaroca?

We publish a Fat Score only once a hotel is open and real guests have stayed and written about it — drawn from luxury travel communities, editorial publications, and verified guests, never paid placements. This is a first look, not a verdict; we'll score it once there's enough independent signal to be fair.

Open now

What you can book today

Milaroca, A Belmond Hotel is still under wraps. Here's what's already open and scored in our collection — more from Belmond, and nearby in Mexico.

Fat Approved

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Fat Legend

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Most people who write about the Caruso end up talking about the pool and then, almost despite themselves, about a specific person: Giovanni running the Grill, Donatella pulling off a wedding, Carmine at the bar with a gimlet that gets its own mention. That's the pattern here, not the marble or the frescoes. A fifty-plus room hotel running weddings most days of the summer still has front-desk and pool staff getting named by first name, which is a harder trick to pull off than it sounds. Some real trade-offs are worth pricing in. A few guests found the mood more correct than warm outside of milestone occasions: one couple who eloped there said the front desk congratulated them on arrival, and then the day was never mentioned again over dinner. Weddings on property, sometimes daily in peak season, crowd the pool and pull staff attention elsewhere; one traveller described the pool as noticeably fuller in mid-June than they'd expected from the photos. The Belmond name buys nothing on its own either: one guest who loved Caruso came back with a rough account of La Residencia, hairs and stains left on the bed, staff distracted by weddings there too, which is exactly why this is a hotel you're booking, not a brand you're trusting. Opinion splits on food too. Plenty call the Grill the best meal of their Italy trip, but a few who'd also done Il San Pietro or Borgo Santandrea rated those higher on the plate itself. None of that changes what happens most nights: a terrace view people keep calling the best on the coast, a pool that reads better in person than in photos, and a team that will spray and brush olive oil off a white shirt without being asked twice. Book it for the setting above Ravello and the people who run it, and treat wedding season as a scheduling question, not a reason to look elsewhere.

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The pink Cape Dutch buildings and gardens under Table Mountain are what people picture, but the reason people keep coming back is afternoon tea. Sommeliers like Zodwa and Craig walk guests through more than 70 teas with real care, the kind of ritual worth planning a trip around. It's the single most consistent thing here, and few hotels sustain anything that well. Service ranges from thoughtful to careless. Michael checked in all week about a decaf tea order and fresh milk delivery; Wellington's personal tour set the tone for a whole stay. But a waitress during a rainstorm left guests to find their own shelter and rushed to present the bill instead, and the kitchen badly fumbled dietary requests at a 70th birthday dinner, serving eggs and chicken mayonnaise to guests who'd booked vegan. The pool deck's black marble side tables get hot enough in the Cape sun to blister skin on contact, which is a real hazard, not a quibble. Next to design-forward rivals like Ellerman House, the Nellie trades on old-world theatre rather than newer design. The rooms are elegant but not cutting-edge, closer to a grand dame than a design hotel. That's a fair trade for most people, and nobody who's had the tea or booked the single-table Chef's Table with sommelier Lazarus walks away unconvinced. Book it for the gardens, the history, and that tea service: nothing else in Cape Town comes close.

Fat Legend

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Get notified

Be first when Milaroca, A Belmond Hotel opens

We'll email you the day it opens — and our first honest verdict once guests have actually stayed. No paid placements, ever.

Joins the Fat Voyage list — leave any time.

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