Tour this swoon-worthy luxury resort on Nicaragua s breezy southern coast, Travel, Dallas News
Tour this swoon-worthy luxury resort on Nicaragua’s breezy southern coast
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Open hardly four years, the 1,670-acre Mukul Resort, on Nicaragua’s breezy southern coast, is the country’s luxury beacon. It’s possessed by wealthy Nicaraguan Carlos Pellas Chamorro, who also possesses the Flor de Caña rum brand.
But don’t let all that acreage give you pause. The vast majority of the land remains raw, hilly jungle, and the section loyal to the resort contains just thirty seven ultra-private casitas, a long crescent beach, a swoon-worthy golf course and everything a cosseted traveler would need for a week of barefoot luxury.
The neighborhood
Draped across the surfside cliffs of Nicaragua’s Pacific coast, Mukul’s thirty seven villas, called bohios, cantilever over secluded Manzanillo Beach (Mukul means “secret” in Nicaraguan’s ancient language). Up and down the coast from Mukul, gnarly ocean swells curl in to produce some of the best surf in Central America.
Private planes and charter flights can access the puny Costa Esmeralda Airport, an international airport built by Mukul’s holder to serve Mukul. The resort shuttles the rest of us by private car service from Managua’s Sandino International Airport (MGA, two hours away) or Costa Rica’s Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport (LIR, forty minutes away).
Unless you venture to the nearby towns of Gigante or Tola, you’ll meet more howler monkeys, iguanas and fearless birds during your stay than people. (The kingfishers, in particular, like to swoop in to snatch the sugar packets and shortbread cookies delivered with fresh-roasted Nicaraguan coffee to your private veranda each morning.)
The room
Each bohio has a private plunge pool, powerful air conditioning, twin showers and deeply tinted floor-to-ceiling windows. Rooms are decorated with locally crafted wood furniture and tapestries. At night, the flourishing surf and inky sky request cocktail glasses packed with ice (from your in-room ice maker), a two-finger pour of Flora de Caña rum (a complimentary amenity) and pondering the starry universe from your ocean-facing veranda. The rooms and common areas are bathed in high-speed wifi.
The restaurants
You won’t find any hotel tower or brigade of chefs here (yet), but you will find impeccable seafood, locally grown produce and skillful cooking. Three restaurants serve a broad multitude of dishes, ranging from traditional Nicaraguan fare (dayboat fish, plantains, beef) to fancy, multicourse prix fixe menus (scallop carpaccio with roasted cauliflower and ham, braised beef brief ribs with seared foie gras, asparagus and ruby crimson beets). You can catch your own mahi-mahi and crimson snapper, then let the chefs do their thing (the resort offers fishing excursions on their ocean-worthy “Spirit of Mukul”).
To take advantage of the abundance of sunshine and rich volcanic soils, Mukul is negotiating with James Beard Award-winning chef Dan Barber (Blue Hill Farm) to oversee a fresh vegetable garden at Mukul to supply its restaurants with hyperlocal produce. A chef exchange program inbetween Blue Hill and Mukul would rotate chefs inbetween the two, elevating the cuisine at Mukul and introducing island cooking to Blue Hill. Mukul’s chefs also host cooking classes and weekly family-style beach barbecues.
Diversions: golf, spa, rum tasting
Mukul’s main draw is its beach, a 1.3-mile spread of soft sand and white-capped surf. The spa is among the best in Central America, with skilled therapists and six enormous, well-appointed treatment rooms decked out with intricate tile and water features.
But what’s a dame and her stud to do after treatments in Mukul’s excellent spa? Mukul offers surfing lessons, scuba dives, a kids camp and a golf course that should be on every golfer’s bucket list. Designed by Scottish architect David McLay Kidd (who also designed courses at Bandon Dunes, Ore., and St. Andrews, Scotland), Mukul’s is only the 2nd 18-hole course in Nicaragua, but it’s a hard ticket to hammer anywhere in Central America.
Flowing through wooded hills that spill down to the sea, the course offers slew of challenge with tropical twists: big bunkers, tricky greens, peekaboo ocean views and howler monkeys that dangle from the trees. Wise golfers tee off in the late afternoon to catch the sunset as they treatment the 18th green, which backs up to the Pacific. The wisest golfers, tho’, finish by four p.m., which leaves enough time to attend the complimentary rum tasting at the resort’s cigar bar each afternoon. Rental golf clubs, $Five,000 sets handmade in Japan, will soon be available for guests to use for $40 per round.
The resort can also arrange deep-sea fishing excursions on Mukul’s private yacht, guided hikes, helicopter rails over an active volcano or along the coastline, tours of the colonial city of Granada, and even private tours of the Flor de Cana distillery followed by lunch in the Pellas’ plantation house.
Verdict
With niceties such as private plunge pools, exquisite privacy, world-class surfing and Blue Hill-trained chefs, Mukul offers a one-two punch of luxury and glamour. Add a terrific spa, incomparable golf, one-of-a-kind excursions and Nicaragua’s best rum, and the result is a knockout resort that’s the envy of Central America.