In short… Holbox’s OG boutique hotel still feels like the most soulful and stylish place to stay in this laid-back bohemian beach haven.
The surroundings… Isla Holbox is a bony finger of sand that juts out into the Gulf of Mexico from the northern Yucatán Peninsula. Until about 15 years ago, it was relatively undiscovered, beloved by early adopters—backpackers and spiritual nomads moving on from the growing crowds of Tulum—for its isolation, endless powder-white beaches and shallow turquoise waters. It’s still a trek to get there (a 1.5-hour drive from Cancún, followed by a 30-minute ferry), which keeps mass tourism at bay, and the surrounding Yum Balam nature reserve, with its resident manatees, turtles and flamingoes, should protect it from overdevelopment. But the island’s secret is very much out. Holbox reminded me of end-of-the-road refuges like Canggu and Placencia, whose castaway vibes have been harshed by unchecked construction. Along the coast in Holbox, I spotted many hulking half-built hotels and homes, and the main square is a mix of open-air bars/restaurants, glass-fronted boutiques, and old-school bodegas with hand-painted signs selling soda and flip-flops. The main road running the length of the island is still unpaved, lending a kind of throwback charm, though it’s rutted with potholes and can be hard to traverse in rainy season, so the island’s taxis are all ATVs—one of which delivered us from the ferry dock to Ser Casasandra’s door.
Happily, I found Ser Casasandra to be an exception to the above: a peaceful and tasteful sanctuary with both heart and soul—plus excellent food, a real-deal wellness program, and beautiful beach.
The backstory… Cuban-born artist and music-industry veteran Sandra Pérez arrived in Holbox 25 years ago, looking for a remote place to rest and write. She fell in love with it, bought a piece of land, and designed a family home. Friends began asking her to rent out rooms, and she gradually added more of them, which now total 18. Following a personal health and spiritual journey, she opened the Ahal spa (Mayan for “awakening”), whose healing tactics go far beyond massage, venturing into osteopathy and indigenous cleansing treatments. Long an enthusiastic supporter of Cuban and Mexican artists and designers, today Ser Casasandra also functions as a gallery and community hub drawing locals and foreigners to its celebrations of art, music and wellness.
The vibe… Sandra’s vision from the beginning was to keep Ser Casasandra an intimate size (she’s said she never wants more rooms than names she can remember), and it still feels like you’re a guest in the home of a cultured and curious collector. At one end of the open-air main building is the bar-slash-reception-slash-coffee station with a lending library; at the other is a grouping of handmade furniture, including a wooden couch by Cuban artist Jorge Pardo, all in a tropical-modernist style with Cuban midcentury notes. A great playlist is always going that I often found myself Shazam-ing, from Nina Simone to Cuban trova and old-school Latin soul.
The terrazzo floor, handmade by Mayan artisans, features a series of circular motifs that echo through the rest of the hotel’s design and feel somehow symbolic, maybe even Hilma af Klint–esque (a book of her work sits on a coffee table). Speaking of which, the books scattered around aren’t your standard Assouline set; they reflect Sandra’s own eye and sensibility: Gerhard Richter, Agnes Martin, and Ernesto Garcia Sanchez, a Cuban artist based in Mérida who designed the hotel’s modular wood tables that slot together in different configurations. One of his sculptural pieces also hangs in the lobby.
The whole interior courtyard flows organically: from the pool to the yoga pavilion to the fluttery-curtained cabanas, with curved paths leading back to the rooms. At night, the paths are lit by lamps hidden under shells. During the day, large iguanas that live in the garden casually roam by like sleepy dinosaurs.
The beach club, called Mojito, has feet-in-the-sand tables and chaises under palapas along one of the widest, whitest stretches of beach I’ve ever seen. All day long, vendors bike by pushing colorful carts selling ice cream, jewelry and toys.
The rooms… are comfortable, bright and simple, with thoughtful design touches. Our bungalow (Room 19) faced the garden and pool, but it was in the woven hammock on the small back terrace where we spent much of our time. On the bed when we arrived lay not the typical greeting card, but a vintage art book opened to a spread of the work of European abstractionists Serge Poliakoff and Pablo Palazuelo—which, like the ubiquitous circle motifs, seemed like clues to some larger mystery. The furniture feels collected, not decorated: a long custom sofa that can double as a bed, a carved wooden dresser, a coffee table made from an old door. Sandra is slowly renovating each room, and the one I peeked at upstairs in the main building had a giant stone sink, a Clara Porset chair, and a traditional metate table (for grinding corn) used as a nightstand. Our own bathroom was large, with a deep tub, carved wooden sink-vanity, and Talavera-tiled shower.
The food and drink… was a true highlight. The original menu was designed by Roberto Solis, the chef behind the well-regarded Nectar in Mérida, a conscious blend of Cuban, Yucatecan, and pan-Mexican flavors with a focus on health and seasonality. We arrived from the ferry in time for lunch at the beach club: a Cubano sandwich and aguachile (spicy green shrimp ceviche—I wrote about it here!) that was zingy and bright, perfect with a cold Tecate. We ordered the catch of the day every single day—grilled snapper at the beach cookout, sea bass with supremed grapefruit and chili oil at dinner. All produce comes from a nearby organic farm, and the menu is largely plant-forward. The vegetarian tasting menu was especially good: a black Caesar salad with recado negro, a tomato trio in tomato reduction. The meat dishes were strong too—especially the herb tacos with pork belly, grilled chaya (a local green), cotija, and avocado.
Breakfast was just as thoughtful: fresh OJ or green juice, fruit plate, yogurt and granola, freshly baked bread, and a choice of hot dishes—huevos rancheros, spicy baked eggs Yucatecan-style (with red salsa, sausage and avocado), or Oaxacan-style (with green salsa and cream cheese). The organic coffee is from the barista’s family farm in Chiapas. All meals that weren’t on the beach were taken in the indoor-outdoor eating area in the main building, which spilled out into the sandy front yard under straw lanterns, which looked magical at night.
Although there’s a bar in the main building, we went down to the beach each evening for sundowners—the sunsets looking towards the sea are spectacular fireballs that attract a crowd. The bartender is Cuban and makes a very strong mojito with Havana Club 7-year dark rum.
The sustainability… Seasonality and sustainability are a big part of the ethos: there was no lobster or papaya served during our stay, as they were both out of season. The same goes for wine: they now offer mainly Mexican wines/producers, from Baja and Queretaro (served in beautiful cut glass wine goblets from Cristacolor in Jalisco—I asked). They also donate compost to local gardens, use a grey water system to irrigate the garden, and incorporate traditional building materials and techniques into all construction, (like wrapping twigs around the ceiling beams to secure them in place).
The wellness… This isn’t just a hotel with a spa—the Ahal Holistic Center is a temple to integral balance. A student of “Behavioral Kinesiology” founder David Hawkins, Sandra has brought numerous emotional and physical healing modalities to Ser Casasandra and the treatments are some of the most intense I’ve experienced anywhere. I had a massage from Yadira, a Cuban lymphatic specialist, who used cacao oil, energy work, magnets, and hair pulling therapy, which was as amazing as it sounds. The wellness team offers everything from osteopathy to “syncrodynamic” healing to ancestral channeling. One group staying there arranged a cacao ceremony with a local shaman from Solferino. Another guest told me they’d come just for the treatments, and some more psychodynamic programs can be continued with a therapist via Zoom after leaving. There are also deeper-dive several day programs combining everything from yoga to biomagnetics that can be custom tailored to individual needs.
While there’s no gym, there is an outdoor yoga pavilion where morning classes are offered to guests and a resident iguana or two.
The kid-friendly factor… Although Ser Casasandra presents like a grown-up sanctuary, it’s great for kids. Two couples who’d brought young children said that the calm, shallow sea was ideal for their little ones, and the protected courtyard made it safe for them to roam if they got restless during meals.
Extra tip goes to… The service was exceptionally warm all around, but I’d single out Dennis, our waiter, a Holbox native who taught us a traditional Mayan handshake, and Fernanda, an effervescent manager, who always wore a smile (and some chic sundresses).
Be sure to… bike 15 minutes east to Punta Mosquito, a sandbar that seems to stretch out forever (at low tide, you can wade for several yards without the water reaching your thighs). Unfortunately our loaner bikes from the hotel didn’t make it all the way there—our rusted chains kept falling off (the hotel could really use some new bikes, or better maintain the existing ones). So we called an ATV taxi and finished our outing at the east end with ceviche at Manta Ray.
Parting words… Bring shoes that can get dirty! Walking anywhere in Holbox means traversing the unpaved roads (and flip-flops aren’t ideal, either). But after one foray into town and another to Punta Mosquito, we found we really didn’t want to leave Ser Casasandra at all.
Date of stay … May 16-19, 2025
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