Planning Your 2027 Winter Escape

It's officially Fall and time to plan your winter escape. From late December through March, the Caribbean and Mexican Caribbean are a popular escape for those that live in cold climates. Cancún, the Dominican Republic, Aruba, and Curaçao keep showing up on winter booking lists for the same reasons they always have—easy flights from North America, warm weather, and islands that actually feel like an escape—plus a newer generation of hotels that split the difference between mega-resort convenience and something more specific. Below we've highlighted these four destinations and some of our favorite resorts at each location.

Cancún, Mexico

Cancún and the broader Riviera Maya remain the default winter sun machine for a reason. Cancún International is one of the easiest warm-weather airports in the Americas, the hotel zone and Playa Mujeres sit on swimmable Caribbean water, and the all-inclusive category here has matured past buffet-only stereotypes. Winter is high season: dry-ish, hot, and busy. Read below for our top resort choices for this destination.

Palmaïa – The House of AïA

All-Inclusive Resort for a Wellness Focus

Between jungle and a private stretch of Riviera Maya beach, Palmaïa is an all-inclusive built around practice, not programming filler: plant-forward dining, 50-plus weekly holistic sessions, sound rituals, spa, and a guest-facing philosophy that assumes you came to change how you feel, not just where you sit. Alcohol and animal protein exist; refined sugar and seed oils largely do not. Minimum age is 10. About 45 minutes from Cancún airport, with golf-cart arrival that cuts the property off from the Playa del Carmen scramble. Choose this when the brief is reset, not revelry.

Atelier Playa Mujeres

All-Inclusive Resort for Couples

A 593-suite, 16-and-over resort in gated Playa Mujeres—marble, wood, Mexican art, and a serious dining program meant to retire the “all-inclusive food is a compromise” argument. The beach is wider and typically quieter than the Hotel Zone; Isla Mujeres is a short hop. Staff work as arteleros. Forbes-verified luxury, strong guest scores, and a couples-and-friends mix rather than a spring-break scene. Book it when you want design, dinner, and no toddlers at the swim-up bar. Avoid the spring-break period if you are looking for a relaxing couples escape.

Finest Playa Mujeres by The Excellence Collection

All-Inclusive Resort for Families with Young Children

Same calm Playa Mujeres shoreline as Atelier, but built for families: playgrounds and sports tucked off the main walkways so the property does not feel like a daycare with a beach. Excellence Collection service standards, a protected-feeling coast good for small swimmers, and the option to day-trip to Isla Mujeres without living in the Hotel Zone crush. This is the pick when nap schedules and a pretty beach have to coexist.

Hotel Xcaret Mexico

All-Inclusive Resort for Families with Teens

The All-Fun Inclusive model is the point: stay plus unlimited access and transport to Grupo Xcaret parks (Xcaret, Xel-Há, Xplor, Xplor Fuego, Xenses, Xenotes, and more), airport transfers, and teen-specific spaces—rooftop hangouts, Dixtrito 1317, slides, silent parties—so 13-year-olds are not sentenced to the kids’ club. Culture, zip lines, underground rivers, and night parks give restless travelers a reason to leave the lounger. Best when the family will actually use the parks; wasted if everyone only wanted a pool and beach.

AVA Resort Cancun

All-Inclusive Resort for Multigenerational Families

A 1,600-room oceanfront complex designed, on purpose, for mixed ages under one roof: kids’ club, teen lounge, nanny services, waterpark, 2.8-acre saltwater AVA Bay, bowling, pickleball, a large spa, and multi-bedroom friends-and-family suites and villas. Grandparents can claim a quiet pool while cousins disappear into the lagoon. Scale is the feature and the caveat—choose it for reunion logistics, not for hideaway intimacy.

Dominican Republic

Punta Cana and Cap Cana are winter workhorses: PUJ is built for charter and scheduled sun traffic, beaches run for miles, and the all-inclusive density means you can match a family, a golf clan, or an adults-only week without changing islands. Cap Cana’s Juanillo Beach is the swimmable, gated upgrade on the busier Bávaro strip. The DR still delivers relative value against many other Caribbean winter prices.

Moon Palace The Grand Punta Cana

All-Inclusive Resort for Families

A large, new-generation Palace: family and swim-up suites, multi-bedroom villas, waterpark with lazy river and surf simulator, golf, a huge spa, and a restaurant count built so mixed ages do not eat the same meal three times. About 25 minutes from the airport. Book it when the group wants a self-contained campus.

Hyatt Ziva Cap Cana

All-Inclusive Resort for Families

Family all-inclusive on Juanillo Beach, sharing a sprawling Cap Cana complex with its adults-only sister, Zilara. Suites, a serious water park, and enough dining and beach that you are not stuck on the loudest stretch of Bávaro. Strong when some of the party also wants the option of crossing to the quieter adult side next door.

Casa de Campo Resort & Villas

All-Inclusive Resort for Multigenerational Families

La Romana’s classic estate: villas and hotel rooms, Teeth of the Dog and other golf, a private beach club, polo, shooting, and enough space that three generations are not stacked in one hallway. This is not a theme-park all-inclusive; it is a compound for families who want rooms that feel like houses and days that can split toward sport, beach, or doing nothing on a terrace. Winter golf demand is real—lock villas early.

Club Med Miches

All-Inclusive Resort for a Wellness Focus

On the DR’s less-developed northeast coast, Miches is Club Med’s newer, softer, nature-facing property: reef, hills, and a wellness-leaning take on the brand’s sports-inclusive model rather than the high-volume Punta Cana template. Choose it when the family or couple wants included activities and a reset that is not a silent retreat and not Bavaro traffic.

Hyatt Zilara Cap Cana

All-Inclusive Resort for Adults

Adults-only sister to Ziva on the same Juanillo Beach: contemporary suites (including swim-ups), an oceanfront infinity pool, premium dining and spirits, and reciprocal access to much of the Ziva complex without living in the kids’ zone. The grown-up winter week in Cap Cana starts here.

Aruba

Aruba is the winter-sun island people book when they are tired of gambling on the forecast. It sits south of the main Atlantic hurricane belt, the trade winds keep the air dry, and December through March is the season repeat guests treat as a second climate. Days typically land in the mid-80s, the sea stays swimmable, and rain is brief when it comes at all—which is why the island earns “One Happy Island” loyalty from North American and Dutch travelers who want certainty more than novelty. Queen Beatrix International is compact and close to the hotel coast, so the trip feels short even when the calendar says midwinter.

The Westerly at Hilton Aruba Caribbean Resort

Centrally Located Resort

A 161-room hotel-within-a-hotel on Palm Beach: private check-in, oversized rooms and some swim-ups, priority beach and spa access, and Terrace on 10, an adults-leaning rooftop. You keep Hilton Aruba’s 15-acre footprint—beach, dining, energy—without a generic high-rise stay. Best if you want to walk the strip, watch the sunset at the source of the Aruba Ariba, and still sleep in a quieter tower.

Secrets Baby Beach Aruba

All-Inclusive Resort for Couples

Hyatt Inclusive Collection’s 18-plus, 304-room resort near San Nicolas, opened in 2025: the island’s first true luxury all-inclusive of this type, next to the calm, shallow cove that made Baby Beach famous (the sand is a short walk; Aruba beaches are public). Low-slung architecture, multiple restaurants, Preferred Club, and a location that trades Palm Beach buzz for the south. Use it when swimming water matters more than casino row.

Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort

Resort for Honeymoons

Adults-only boutique on Eagle Beach: small scale, carbon-conscious reputation, serious restaurant, and the kind of beach frontage honeymooners actually use. Not a full all-inclusive in the Secrets sense—breakfast is the anchor; the rest is chosen. Pick Bucuti when privacy, a first-night dinner that matters, and stepping onto Eagle Beach beat a 300-room buffet circuit.

Curaçao

Curaçao is the winter pick for people who want Dutch-Caribbean color, UNESCO Willemstad, and a reef that starts close to shore. It is slightly rainier than Aruba in late autumn, then settles into warm, clear dive days. The island rewards leaving the property: painted streets, cliffs, and dive sites. Hotels here split cleanly among couples’ all-inclusive, food-and-privacy boutique, and dive-first beach clubs.

Sandals Royal Curaçao

All-Inclusive Resort for Adults

Couples-only Luxury Included resort inside the Santa Barbara estate: butler bungalows and beachfront suites, a stacked dining program (including concepts unique to this property), bars, and watersports with scuba included for certified divers. West-facing sunsets, about 15 miles from the airport, and enough on-site life that you can ignore town—or use the island as a day trip. This is the frictionless adults week.

Baoase Luxury Resort

Boutique Resort for Foodies

A family-owned 23-key hideout on a private lagoon in Willemstad: Balinese-inspired suites and villas (many with private pools), a man-made calm beach, French-Asian tasting-menu dining in the sand, spa, yacht, and a private island for larger takeovers. Not adults-only, but couples-first; not all-inclusive unless you add a plan. Ideal client is the traveler who wants names learned, no kids’ club, and dinner as the evening’s event. Book it when the food and the silence are the point.

LionsDive Beach Resort

Resort for Scuba Divers

Beachfront at Mambo Beach / Bapor Kibra, next to the Sea Aquarium and Ocean Encounters dive operation: apartments and suites, a wide man-made beach, a 50-meter pool, and a location built so you walk from breakfast to a boat. Families and sporty couples both fit. Choose LionsDive when the logbook matters more than a butler, and Willemstad nightlife is a five-minute stroll, not a transfer.

Ready to Travel?

Adventures by Amaris is ready to curate your perzonalized quote. Contact Adventures by Amaris to book your 2027 winter escape.