Ninety minutes beyond the U.S.’s southern border in Baja California wine country, Banyan Tree Veya Valle de Guadalupe opens today, marking the brand’s first property in the Americas and its second Veya spin-off.
The 30-year-old, Singapore-based Banyan Tree Group, whose portfolio numbers around 70 hotels and resorts in over 20 countries, road-tested its first Veya in Phuket. To see what its latest iteration offers, Robb Report checked in for an exclusive first look at the wellness-focused offshoot.
“The region is pretty well known to Mexicans, but this type of lodging was missing to attract international visitors,” says Ximena Dipp, general manager of the 16-acre property. “We are a pioneer: Banyan Tree Veya Valle de Guadalupe is a destination-defining opening.”
Each and every villa makes a splash with a private pool.
Courtesy of Banyan Tree Veya, Valle de Guadalupe
She adds that this is the “first real Veya” in that it’s freestanding, unlike the Phuket property. “Guests will immediately see the difference between a Veya and the Banyan Tree in all the extras in the rooms, how the rooms are appointed,” she says.
Many of those appointments in the resorts 30 freestanding villas are wellness themed. We saw yoga mats, singing bowls, and tablets with meditation guides. What you won’t find are sugary sodas and snacks in the mini bar—instead, expect biome boosting kombucha, shot juices, and a bottle of the resort’s own Pictograma wine, made with the grapes grown on the property.
Each villa also comes with a private plunge pool on its terrace, as well as its own fireplace. “In the winter, that’s key to keeping it cozy,” says Dipp.
The largest of the accommodations is the 3,464-square-foot Winemakers Villa, which has three bedrooms, each with an ensuite bathroom. It comes with a bigger plunge pool on its larger terrace. But even the entry-level villas start at a spacious 1,100 square feet.
The stunning desert architecture is by Mexican designer Michel Rojkind.
Courtesy of Banyan Tree Veya, Valle de Guadalupe
Those interiors by Smarq Arquitectura are lovely, but where the resort shows off is outside its rooms, with its Michel Rojkind–designed architecture. Rojkind, the Mexican modernist behind Mexico City’s stunning Cineteca National, blends the resort into the rolling hills and desert landscape, and the villas are set within the hillside itself. Many humorously call it “hobbit-house style”, but it’s a traditional building technique that allows the resort to conserve energy, keeping the space warm in the winter and cool during the valley’s hot summers. The womb-like design also creates rich acoustics and a feeling of being connected with the earth.
“Nature plays a very important part of our development. We coexist. The property feels at ease, because things make sense,” says Nohemi Chavarin, the resort’s director of sales and marketing. “Outside is an extension into your room. There’s no clash. This ease gives you the right space to unwind, let nature take its course.”
To address Mexico’s increasing water shortage, the resort has incorporated a rain capture system and skipped on installing wasteful bathtubs in the villas.
Fireplaces warm the spaces throughout the winter to create a year-round escape.
Courtesy of Banyan Tree Veya, Valle de Guadalupe
Being good to the land has its rewards. It allows the resort to operate the on-site Pictograma winery and vineyard, which has over an acre of Grenache grapevine—a less-thirsty varietal that feels at home in the Valle de Guadalupe’s terroir. The winery produces signature red, white, rosé, and sparkling wines.
“Pictograma is the only winery in the Americas dedicated solely to the Grenache grape,” says Dipp. “It will also be a Grenache research center, studying the differences in behavior and flavor of each of five Grenache sub-varieties and how they behave in different terroir. It’s a very particular grape.”
Pictograma is among the select wines, all small vineyards, served at Veya’s dining outlets. Cinco is the resort’s fine-dining restaurant, and it’s influenced by Japanese kaiseki cuisine, which is known for its highly detailed preparation and presentation.
Its other restaurant, Aldea, is quite the opposite: an all-day diner open daily for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The lobby bar is dubbed Atalaya, with stunning views of the valley. Meanwhile, the pool bar, Roka, which is exclusive to hotel guests, will feature a food truck serving up street food such as tacos and empanadas. The property’s open-air grill is Jardin Botanico, offering sharable bites in a more communal setting.
The resort even has its own bakery, Panadero, that produces fresh pastries and breads using a slow, traditional fermentation process—creating bread the way it was before industrial bakeries.
“Here we get everything fresh as possible, so we leave everything as simple as possible,” Dipp says.
Who doesn’t love a room with a view?
Courtesy of Banyan Tree Veya, Valle de Guadalupe
Freshness is conceptual through-line that extends to the resort’s extensive wellness offerings. Inside the Veya Spa, treatments range from hydrotherapy in the Desert Spring room and sound healing in the White Cave to cryotherapy and a traditional temazcal sweat lodge experience.
“It’s a cleansing on every level: emotional, physical, and psychological,” says Chavarin of the temazcal experience. “You are taken into Mother Earth’s womb to be reborn. Everything weaves together for a full experience.”
Still, this is a luxury resort and “not a bootcamp,” Chavarin says. Guests are encouraged to dip in and out of classes and treatments, between poolside cocktails
After all, Veya means “to weave” in Sanskrit, and weaving experiences and practices—from wellness to environmentalism—together is an explicit goal.
“We try to have the balance indulgence with sustainability,” Dipp says. “Here, we try to reduce our waste, try to reduce plastic. We will be the recycling center for the community; they didn’t have one.”
