This is a guest post reviewed and written by blogger Yohanna, a yoga teacher and Integrated Nutrition Health Coach who resides between Tulum, London and her birth place of Sweden.
Prana Hotel is a petite boutique hotel nestled in-between the busy Pueblo and white beaches of Tulum, Mexico. It is quiet in its presentation and you wouldn’t really know about it if someone hadn’t told you, which gives it this feel of privacy and exclusivity.
The blue wooden doors take you into the reception, which rather feels like an outdoor living room with greenery in forms of plants, palms and flowers.
We were met by the friendliest of staff and it is noticeable that the team take great pride in working for Prana, especially due to their eco-friendly initiatives.
They are not very loud about the green and sustainable projects that have implemented but the two owners revealed that they are a non plastic hotel, with a private water recycling system and that they are planning to build solar panels within the next year for green electricity.
The ugly truth is that an estimated 80% of Tulum’s hotels lack proper water treatment and there are hotels wrongly advertising themselves as being eco-chic when in reality they are throwing their sewage water straight into the ocean.
There is also no garbage or recycling system and some 6 miles west of town, the city’s dump is a sprawling, towering mass of waste. Thankfully a few good people have made recycling centers where one can leave their plastic and glass and it gets picked up once a month or so and sent to another state in large quantities to actual recycling centers
Prana Hotel is one hotel doing it right and leading the way in their eco initiatives. Since the day they opened, doing all they can to keep their ecological footprint to a minimum. Their soft drink distributor does recycle all the glass bottles so those get sent back every month. Other glass bottles that can not be recycled, often get used for construction here in Tulum to create glass spaces in walls to let light in and so thet often give away our glass bottles to people that ask for them.
The restaurant, Nido, only serves a few meat dishes as they are mindful of keeping their ecological footprint to a minimum – meat industry being one of the main contributing factors to carbon footprint.
The beautiful products in the shower are made by a local organic producer, Ixchel. They even re-use the plastic shampoo containers for as long as they can until they are not presentable anymore. This way instead of putting a new container in the room every day, they refill them, stick a new label on them so that they only have to change containers every few weeks instead of throwing them away every day.
Their waste water filtration system uses three filters which eventually make the water come out clean again and this water is automatically passed on to irrigate the plants in its vicinity in the garden of the hotel.
A few rescue animals live at the hotel and it so happens that guests adopts them. You are also welcome to bring your own pets. They have a little bee farm where they create melipona honey that is occasionally served in the restaurant.
It is evident that nature was respected and taken in consideration when constructing the hotel as you are completely surrounded by plants and flowers throughout the property.
The hotel consists of 7 unique hotels rooms and 2 belle tents. The tents gives you the full glamping experience, close to the wild but still comfy with AC, private bathroom and double bed to sleep in. Prepare to be softly woken up by birds singing and a gentle glow from the sun through the tent.
Prana will kindly lend you bikes for you to explore the town and their booklets with recommendations on what to do have been created with the awareness to wildlife and what causes the minimum impact on nature.
They want to empower their guests with the awareness and knowledge about the environmental concerns that comes with the quickly growing tourism of Tulum so that they can make conscious decision on how to spend their holidays.
Staying at Prana was a truly amazing experience and we felt included in the family from the second we entered. Most of the guests were regulars, that have been coming for years and would stay elsewhere – making Prana a home away from home, rather than another hotel. Follow Yohanna on instagram here.
If you are interested in doing yoga or running retreats the hotel offers a large thatched roof space for yoga, ceremonies and other types of classes. The entire hotel can be rented out and special menus made for the guests that are attending.
Address, contact and bookings
Calle Asteroides entre calle Escorpion y Coba Sur
MZA 59, Lote 4-1
Quintana Roo, 77760 – Tulum
Tel: +521-9841783300
E-Mail: [email protected]
[email protected]
