Casa Gruta, Valladolid:
a discovery in the heart of Yucatán
and the rituals that inhabit it
Concrete, jungle, and deliberate silence. The house awarded the National Architecture Award in Valladolid, Yucatán — inhabited by the essentials of Laguna Cyprien.
Everything begins with a discovery
Something changes the moment you close the door to Casa Gruta. The pace slows, the hours lengthen, and even the simplest gestures—applying oil after a bath, sitting down to dinner under a concrete vault with the jungle in the background—take on a significance that is lost in daily routine.
Casa Gruta is in Valladolid, a few steps from the convent of San Bernardino de Siena. From the outside, a wall of green concrete and a sabino tree watching over it. Inside, an architectural design that won the National Architecture and Interior Design Award and the international Architecture Masterprize, and above all, makes you want to stay longer than planned.
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"There is no separation between inside and outside. The jungle is not the landscape, it becomes part of the house."
Architecture as a sensory experience
Casa Gruta was designed as a reflection on the elements of earth and water that give life to the Yucatecan nature. The result is a house that coexists with vegetation instead of taming it: trees growing within courtyards, vines on concrete, light filtered through leaves. The jungle as architectural material.
The concrete here is not cold. It changes with humidity, with light, with time. The vault covering the central terrace frames the sky as if it were a work of art. Each journey within the house is a sequence of contrasts: weight and lightness, darkness and openness, interior and jungle.
Three rooms. Three ways of being.
With outdoor tub and shower in complete privacy. The kind of space where bathing stops being a routine and becomes an act.
An intimate retreat with a contemplative garden. Nature is not the landscape; it enters the room.
The largest. Circular open-air tub in a private interior courtyard. Flowers on the water, total silence, 360° rooftop.
The rituals that inhabit these spaces
We arrived with only the essentials: rituals capable of effortlessly accompanying from morning to night. This simplicity fit perfectly with the house's logic: intentional, discreet, elegant without trying too hard.
The Fig, Vetiver, and Bay Leaf Moisturizing Oil on the outdoor tub at dawn. The Shampoo and Calendula Sunscreen on stone and bark surfaces. The Bloma Noa fragrance before sitting down to dinner under the vault. Each made in Mexico, with natural and biodegradable ingredients, in refillable glass bottles.
"Traveling with a carefully curated selection of essentials makes every self-care ritual feel simple and, in turn, makes the space feel more like your own."
Mornings at Casa Gruta have something particularly still about them. Waking up as the light streams obliquely through the concrete cracks, lingering for a moment doing nothing, watching the trees slowly move their leaves. The kind of morning you no longer remember having in the city.
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Why visit Valladolid
Valladolid has something that Mérida and Tulum are losing: time. Walk slowly, the cenotes are not saturated, colonial architecture coexists with the jungle.
Central point of the Cenote Route. 40 minutes from Chichén Itzá, 2.5 hours from Cancun and 1.5 hours from Mérida. Cenote Zaci is four blocks away.
Casa Gruta won the National Architecture and Interior Design Award and the international Architecture Masterprize. A space that exists as a work of art.
Entire house for up to 6 people. Pool, dining area under a vault, outdoor tubs, and a 360° rooftop over Valladolid. Rating 4.94/5.
Laguna Cyprien essentials for travel
- Fig · Vetiver · Bay Leaf Moisturizing Oil: Apply to damp skin after an outdoor bath. The aroma anchors the moment to the place.
- Calendula Sunscreen SPF 30: For exploring Valladolid during the day. Natural, biodegradable, no synthetic filters.
- Shampoo: Formulated with natural ingredients. For the morning ritual under the open-air shower.
- Bloma Noa Eau de Parfum: A few drops before dinner under the vault. The fragrance that turns sunset into a memory.
Hospitality · Made in Mexico · Refillable packaging
Like all our products, they are handcrafted in Mexico with natural and biodegradable ingredients. The glass bottles are refillable — when they're empty, return them and we'll refill them.
Available for hospitality spaces throughout Mexico · No synthetic fragrances · No parabens · Made in Mexico
Laguna Cyprien at Casa Gruta
Laguna Cyprien products are available for hospitality spaces. To book Casa Gruta, visit Airbnb.
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