Set between the jungle-fringed Sierra Madre and the arc of Banderas Bay, UNICO 20°105° Hotel Riviera Nayarit arrives as a small, design-forward resort with outsize ambitions.
Opened in September as the second outpost of the UNICO Hotel Collection, the 141-room, adults-only, all‑inclusive property has taken on Mexico’s big‑resort coast with a focus on intimacy without isolation, and indulgence anchored in a strong sense of place.
UNICO Nayarit is a beachfront hotel with an art gallery elegance and guests will find public spaces and guest rooms dressed in local woods, woven fibers and earth‑tone textiles, punctuated by pieces from Mexican artists and Wixárika artisans woven into the lines of the interiors. Ambience leans into warm lights, low-slung furnishings and generous terraces.
The compact scale—just 141 accommodations all facing the Pacific Ocean—allows corridors and courtyards to stay notably quiet, even with the restaurants and bars running at full tilt. Rooms contain one or two king beds, complimentary snacks and beverages, a large bath area with rainshower space and private commode, and a commodious tub with waterjets on the balcony overlooking the ocean and close enough to hear the waves bounding onto the shoreline.
Oceanfront king room at UNICO 20°105° Hotel Riviera Nayarit. (Photo Credit: Lark Gould)
“All you have to do is look at the detail here,” says Ash Tembe, VP of Sales and Marketing at AIC Hotel Group, which oversees marketing and travel advisor programs for UNICO’s resorts. “Guests appreciate the details – the artworks, the elevated dining, even the spirits we carry. We don’t stop at Johnny Walker Red. UNICO takes it up to Johnny Walker Black, Ketel One and Hendricks.”
He refers to the relaunched portal: All In Agents for advisors who want to get a closer look at the new property and learn how best to match clients to its unique assets.
UNICO Stays: Top Takeaways
If there are some standout reasons to book UNICO 20°105° in Nayarit, they might include the following.
Room to Roam
Rooms are spacious, almost suite size, with an inside couch and balcony day bed, bringing plenty of private relaxation space for occupants. Those guests will likely be couples, wedding parties and weekend vacation seekers looking for an intimate hotel that puts on the party during the day and adds the calm at other times, all with seamless ease for guests.
The Beach Bonus
The location by the beach brings another key reason to book UNICO Nayarit.
Sunset beach walk from UNICO 20°105° Hotel Riviera Nayarit. (Photo Credit: Lark Gould)
The 100 miles of coastline here, some of the most walkable in Latin America, present an easy nine-mile strand toward Bucerias, where walkers and swimmers can sink into soft, clean sand and watch for whales and dolphins as they amble along between the waves and hotels in the Riviera. Guests at UNICO will find this uncrowded beach just beyond the pool area.
Exceptional Inclusivity
All-inclusive means just what it says at UNICO. Guests need not reach for their wallets at all during their stay. This means dining at three signature restaurants, including Lia for gourmet Italian, KOBO for a wish list menu of Asian-inspired favorites, and UNICO’s signature Agua Madre for a creative and upscale Mexican menu using local recipes and ingredients.
For breakfast, guests sit down for an a la carte feast to enjoy fresh American, French and Mexican takes on morning meals.
Lunch is given a luxury boost at ALTO, the 11th-floor rooftop café that serves up views with tasty tapas and small plates from an artistic menu as guests relax on chaises in the pool or watch far horizons from a table or bar.
ALTO rooftop pool at UNICO 20°105° Hotel Riviera Nayarit. (Photo Credit: Lark Gould)
The space is also perfect for small events in the sunset and evening hours. Lobby level Café Inez fills the off-hours with sandwiches, baked goods and lattes.
Wellness That’s Well Worth It
Wellness, here, is not relegated to a single corridor of treatment rooms. Esencia, the property’s bi-level spa, folds in regional botanicals and traditional Mexican healing practices, then expands into a hydrotherapy circuit of hot and cold plunge pools, saunas and aromatic steam spaces that guests can weave into their treatments.
A fitness center, yoga classes and guided movement sessions are supplemented by an activity calendar that favors experiences like cooking and mixology, hiking, snorkeling and horseback rides along the coast. Massages and hydrotherapy are not included in the room rate, but the hydro circuit, usually $80, is complimentary with any 80-minute treatment.
Pools and Bars
The UNICO lobby, an expansive and comfortable space with couches and tables, is where the night comes alive at the Coquita Bar & Lounge.
Guests are treated to premium label spirits at no charge while live music from talented voice artists croons popular tunes from the ‘80s and ‘90s. During the day, the central Pacifico and LVC pools meander around submerged bars and a lively beach grill to serve guests floating on inflated flamingoes and stretched out amid chaises and cabanas just steps away from the breaking waves.
DJ-curated tunes play when a live rock combo is not commanding the ambience.
View of the pool and beach at UNICO 20°105° Hotel Riviera Nayarit. (Photo Credit: Lark Gould)
Service in the Shadows
UNICO’s experiment in personalization leans heavily on its Local Host program, which assigns every room a dedicated point of contact who manages everything from airport transfers to last‑minute dinner changes and off‑property excursions.
“The price points are high, but I think it is well-deserved,” says Lindsay Bideaux, owner of Palm Tree Travel in Omaha, Nebraska. As a destination wedding specialist and group travel expert focused on the Caribbean and Mexico, the service at Unico is a standout point.
“I think the service and the staff I’ve experienced at UNICO have been wonderful,” notes Bideaux. “I love the concierge butler service and their diligent communications through WhatsApp. They messaged me the daily schedule, everything going on and took care of any issues I had. I knew what restaurants were open, and they would make the reservation for me. So I really felt like everything was handled and I could just enjoy the day.”
The brand hopes to interest small court groups and destination weddings, a strategy reinforced by flexible ballrooms that can accommodate up to 240 guests and terraces designed to transition quickly between conference space and reception hall.
Patio view from UNICO 20°105° Hotel Riviera Nayarit. (Photo Credit: Lark Gould)
Booking the Boutique Hub by the Bay
What may ultimately distinguish UNICO Nayarit is not what happens inside its gates but how easily guests can step beyond them.
The resort sits about 30 minutes from Puerto Vallarta International Airport and within quick reach of the city’s historic center, some 30 minutes beyond the airport, where contemporary galleries, colorful boutiques and comely restaurant scenes put Puerto Vallarta high on the list for fun, active, walkable and affordable places to visit. Regular buses, taxis and Ubers are available from the hotel.
In positioning itself as both a sanctuary and a springboard, the AIC-owned property is ideal for groups, corporate events, destination weddings and couples getaways. For larger groups and families, AIC’s Hard Rock Hotel Nayarit sits next door.
UNICO resorts with different location identifiers can be found in the Dominican Republic, Riviera Maya, and soon, Jamaica, as well as Nayarit.
For Bideaux, the top things she took away from a recent stay were the artful and cozy feel of the lobby area and its conversion into a lounge at night with live singers. She also extolled the rooms for their expansive design, upscale amenities and comfortable beds. Finally, the intimacy of this adults-only property in an era when so many resorts emphasize being enormous. “I definitely think this is a very unique property,” she said.
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