Cancun’s preeminent green hotel, El Rey del Caribe, is a retreat from the downtown’s concrete and glass just outside its wrought-iron gates. Frugal, eco-friendly guests bask in the holistic sentiment and sustainable ingenuity at work:

• Rooftop solar panels heat water that’s stored in thermal insulation tanks

• Biodegradable soaps facilitate filtration and reuse of laundry water for a vegetable and herb garden

• Pool water is used for toilets

• Recycling facilities abound

The cheerful proprietors built the family-run B&B in 1983, arranging the colonial Mexican design around a courtyard enveloped in native flora. Fruit-bearing guaya, mango and banana trees dovetail into a canopy of sapote, mahogany, cedar and palms, where talkative toucans rest on their migratory route.

Room Features

All 31 rooms—whitewashed with splashes of marigold and indigo—open to the lush vegetation with bromeliads and orchids, a gurgling 12-foot rainwater fountain, and bijou pool area.

Guilt-free enjoyment continues in the rooms, outfitted with aromatic cedar furniture, tropical hardwood floors, cable TV, phone and wi-fi. Some even have composting toilets. Watch for other El Rey locations in Playa del Carmen and Chichen Itza opening later this year.

Room to Book

Breakfast at the “shoes-off” palapa café is included and most of the rooms have kitchenettes, so self-sufficient travellers can prep their own meals (and bevvies). All rooms cost the same, so snag the second-level units for the best views of the courtyard and easy access to a serene rooftop retreat.

Room rates start at US$55.