Very nice but windy stay at Mukul Beachfront Villa

We just returned from a 4 night stay at Mukul, plus a 1 night stay at the InterContinental Managua Metrocenter in transit. We traveled as a couple celebrating my birthday, and we were joined by our next door neighbor and her sister.

We had a very nice stay at Mukul...though I can't say that any of us expect to return. Getting there from Los Angeles was a real pain for the duration of our 4 night stay, and we can't imagine staying longer than 4 nights.

We flew AA First from LAX-MIA and AA Business from MIA-MGA using AA miles. We returned by private charter from the neary Costa Esmeralda Airport (ECI) to MGA ($1450), and then TA/AV Business from MGA-SAL-LAX using United miles.

I made a deal with Mukul to incorporate a stop in Granada as part of our complimentary transfer from the InterContinental Managua to Mukul. It was about a 1 hour drive from Managua to Granada, and we spent maybe 90 minutes in Granada before heading onto Mukul. It was about 2.5 hrs from Granada to the Mukul Resort. FWIW, Granada wasn't nearly as charming or interesting as we expected it to be.

We arrived and decided to have lunch before checking into our villa. (We were staying in Beachfront Villa #5, pre-reserved as being the more private of the beachfront villas. Our friends were staying in Bohio #8, pre-reserved as having one of the best views of the front row oceanview bohios.)

The view on arrival:

The main palapa:

The main palapa at night was spectacular:

The main pool:

The second smaller pool picture won't load for some reason--sorry! It's a little more private and set off to the right side of the main pool...

La Mesa restaurant:

La Terraza restaurant deck (it was very windy so they drew the blinds for wind, not so much for sun!):

That's my hubby and our neighbor.

After a wonderful lunch, we were checked into villa 5. Our very sweet valet got distracted by my discomfort on entering the villa to a temperature of 78 F--despite asking for the villa to be pre-cooled to 70 F. I think my discomfort and concomitant requests for that to be addressed cut short his introduction of the villa amenities. Otherwise, check in was quite easy.

By the time we went to dinner, one of the managers had already informed us that villa 4 next door was cooling to 72 F during the day and was certain to be more cool for us at night. While we were at dinner, staff moved us to villa 4. I had already unpacked, but they took care to move everything without any issue. Villa 4 cooled to a very comfortable 66 F at night, and so I was VERY pleased with the move!

Villa 5 and Villa 4 were largely identical--though reversed in floor plan direction.

Villa 5 was more elevated with more beach frontage and a slightly more open/wider feeling deck--whichwas a bit more private as a result...though it did have Suite Dona Vivian's second story looming above it.

Villa 4 was about 10 feet lower in elevation and with less beach frontage, but it did offer a better view of the actual beach and surf. Otherwise, there weren't really any differences between the two villas.

View from Villa 5:

View from Villa 4:

Showing the elevation difference between villa 5 (pictured below) and our villa 4:

The villa really was wonderful. It was well designed and extremely comfortable. We had no issues figuring out the lighting and fan controls. Lighting in the bedroom/over the bed area wasn't so great in the evenings, but it was in every other area of the villa. That really is our only negative on the villa!

Entry to villa 4 (entry to villa 5 was just to the right):

Entry walkway, showing the drop in elevation

View from just outside the front door to the villa:

Entry gallery (looking from the bedroom) with the little bar/mini-fridge in the recess:

Bedroom/living area (taken from the pool deck):

The exit on the left is to the door and entry area; the exit on the right is to the master bath.

There was a desk and chair with electrical plugs on the right corner out of above view:

And there was a wardrobe with largeTV/audio system in the foreground on the other corner); my husband did have trouble getting the audio system to play music in the villa:

Those curtains were blackout...and they really did create a very dark environment for sleep.

Walking into the master bath from the bedroom:

The shade was drawn behind the vanity; it looked out to the outdoor shower otherwise, but one could see the path above, so it was best drawn for privacy.

The closet was plentifully spacious for us (to the left of the vanity, directly behind the bed wall):

On the opposite side of the bath vanity shown above was a hallway leading to the toilet room and second vanity:

There was a lovely ocean view from that second vanity, as you can see above.

The hallway ended with the shower/tubarea, which was wonderfully walled with glass on 3 sides. The glass was tinted so you couldn't see in from outside so well, though you wouldn't know it from standing inside! There were shades that could be drawn to precude the view into the shower area for privacy, regardless:

There obviously was a great ocean view from the shower/tub area as seen above. It really was well designed in that regard. There was a window from villa 3 that clearly looked right into the shower area of this villa...but the tint precluded one from seeing in unless the lights were on at night--in which case you could lower the curtain for privacy. I never bothered. I'm proud of my body. :-)

You could step out of the sliding doors to access the outdoor shower, which was located back towards the front path but completely secluded from view. You could also access this from the pool deck, obviously:

The view from the bedroom again was tremendous:

Walking out from the bedroom sliding doors onto the deck, you can see the large plunge pool (just about 3 feet deep or so) and the palapa with seating area:

There were 2 very comfortable loungers, along with a beautiful view down the beach towards the main part of the resort:

The views from the palapa:

There was a short stairway down to the beach that you can see to the right. The view of the villa from the stairs wasn't so remarkable:

But you really were right there on the beach:

Service was generally outstanding.

There were a few hiccups due to language, but otherwise we found the staff to be very enthusiastic, friendly, and always eager to please and be of assistance. Almost everyone seemed to be able to speak decent English in our experience, though we rarely expect that when visiting a foreign country. I speak functional Spanish, so I had no issues at all--and the entire staff seemed very pleased when I tried to speak with them in Spanish.

Room service was delivered fairly hot/warm in 30-40 minutes usually to our villa. Service in the more formal feeling La Mesa restaurant was more polished than at the more casual La Terraza restaurant, but that also was to be expected and was never any issue for us.

Drink service at the beach club (at the end of the beach, largely for the resort guests and golf club guests) was slow, but still friendly. Beach service (finding towels, arranging the loungers) at the beach club was surprisingly lacking and quite slow. however--that was probably our only big service complaint for the entire stay, to be honest. That just goes to show how tremendous our service experience was for our entire stay, actually!

Food was a major and very pleasant surprise, considering the mixed reviews we'd read in advance of our stay. Supposedlty, Mukul hired a new chef about 6 months ago or so I read....and the results are quite impressive. Dining at Mukul was more akin to dining in a good city restaurant than in such a remote location...and dining at La Mesa was more akin to dining at very good city restaurant. We were VERY impressed.

Being the foodies we are, and having dined at too many of the best restaurants throughout the world, Mukul offered quite the gourmet dining experience in a spectacularly remote and beautiful seaside location. 

We dined at La Mesa for our first and final dinners; we dined at La Terraza for our 2nd and 3rd dinners. Our friends dined at La Terraza for every lunch; we had room service in our villa for all of our lunches besides the first on arrival. We all agreed that food and beverage here is spectacularly good.

Our first meal at La Mesa:

Our last dinner at La Mesa was on our final night to celebrate my birthday--and the restaurant went out of its way to see what special meal we might like. We told them to surprise us and make it special. It most certainly was:

The food was spectacular, particularly on that final birthday night. The salad was delicious, the surf and turf were prepared to perfection, and the dessert was crazy good. What a meal! 

We brought our own wine with us for the stay...expecting corkage fees as per policy. Howeve, we never were charged corkage fees at all; whether this was an error or simply a nice gesture, we don't know. But it was appreciated!

The wine list was fine...but I'm a total wine snob and didn't want to pay outrageous sums for wines that aren't as good as what we already have. We chose all of our meals to pair well with the food, and they did pair very well. La Mesa knew the wines we planned to have for my birthday dinner, and so they chose our meal to pair extremely well, too. Again, Mukul has a superb food and beverage team.

Every morning, we had coffee scheduled to arrive at 9 am...along with some accoutrements (all complimentary):

For room service lunch, we typically ordered the delicious cheeseburger (which I had every single day!) or the tuna sandwich--both were delicious:

Room service breakfasts were also yummy:

Breakfast at Terraza our first morning:

I eat 10-12 egg whites every morning...so those scrambled with chorizo were so good (and perhaps just a wee bit excessive for anyone besides me!).

The birds at La Terraza were VERY aggressive. This one was diving onto a nearby table...and occasionally trying for ours. I can see some people getting annoyed...but we thought it was hilarious:

Overall, food and beverage were amazing. Bar service when hanging out at the main palapa was also efficient, friendly, and offered very yummy drinks of all sorts--from Manhattans to daiquiris to Cosmos to Piña coladas, etc.

The location is sublime.

The setting is absolutely beautiful and feels as remote as it is. The beach is spectacular...with soft sand even as you go out deep enough to barely stand. One of the nicest beaches we've ever enjoyed...right up there for us with a few we've enjoyed in Fiji. The water temperature was very pleasant for us...probably around 72-75 F. Of course, we live in SoCal where the water rarely is above 70 F. El Nino may have helped us, too.

It was SPECTACULARLY windy during our entire stay. We were told that December and January were always windy...something that we'd not ever heard nor read in advance of scheduling this trip. I would discourage others to visit during this period unless you don't mind blowing sand and unusually high surf. The winds made me reluctant to try the surfing I had hoped to try...but I might have been simply too lazy to bother, in reality. :-)

The remote location that makes this property so special is also the reason why we likely won't return for a while--it took just too darn long for us to get there and back for such a brief seaside beach escape. For those who can get nonstop flights into MGA or better yet into ECI, I can see this as a much more approachable escape.

However, once there is an easier flight to MGA or ECI for those of us who live in SoCal, we all can imagine returning here to Mukul for a long weekend every couple of years. It was that great. The food alone are enough to make me consider Mukul over even some of the other top seaside resorts in Mexico/Caribbean--with the villas and beach and remote location making Mukul the standout by far.

I don't do spa stuff...but my hubby and our 2 companions did. They all agreed the spa is lovely, the treatments were very good...and extremely pricey for the location. We live next to the Resort at Pelican Hill in Newport Beach, CA...and the treatment prices were about the same here at Mukul. That seemed exorbitant for everyone considering the location...and what the spa staff likely was paid.

We absolutely loved Mukul. It offers everything we'd hoped for in a secluded, remote beach resort--and more, in that it has tremendous food and beverage along with fantastic service to top it all off. There is not another beach resort with such remote location in N. America that can compete in my opinion.

The only drawback for us is the distance and time required to reach it. For those of us already living by the beach, it just is too annoying for us to consider going back for only a beach escape for a few days. For others who really love a good beach or who can enjoy staying for longer periods, though, you will love it. It's amazing. 

For those debating between bohios and villas, I will say that our friends spent about $1000/night for their oceanview front row bohio as opposed to our $1600/night for the beachfront villa. They agreed that the added cost for the oceanfront villa was well worth it. For those wanting a slight discount, the second row of oceanview but not beachfront villas may be the best deal--giving the added space of the villa, bigger plunge pool and deck area, and being located much closer to the main palapa, main resort pools,and restaurants. It also is a very easy 2-3 minute walk to the villas, as opposed to a 5 min golf cart ride up the steep hill to the bohios.

Mukul is amazing. We highly recommend it to anyone looking for a top end beach getaway in a remote location...and who may desire fantastic servic across the board paired with tremendous dining and food/beverage service. What a winner.