A solar-powered home in the Mayan jungle, a duplex penthouse with a rooftop pool and a modern villa with a mural by the artist Jorge Tellaeche.
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Aleks Ol
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Aleks Ol
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Aleks Ol
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Aleks Ol
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Aleks Ol
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Aleks Ol
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Aleks Ol
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Aleks Ol
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Aleks Ol
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Aleks Ol
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Aleks Ol
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Aleks Ol
Los Arboles | 15.9 million pesos ($795,000)
A solar-powered home on five acres in a gated community in the Mayan jungle.
Built by the American sculptor Mikael Redman in 2013 at 1,000 square feet, this contemporary home was tripled in size by the current owners six years later. The property is part of Los Arboles, a gated development of 221 lots in jungle territory about seven miles northwest of central Tulum. Each home occupies a five-acre lot, though to help preserve local flora and fauna, owners are permitted to build on just 5 percent of their land. Fully off the grid, homes in the community rely on solar power and propane generators. Most owners in the complex are from the United States and Canada, with a number of Europeans and Mexicans.
Set on the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico’s northeastern state, Quintana Roo, Tulum is one of the largest communities on the Riviera Maya, a 100-mile stretch of coastline known for all-inclusive resorts and popular beaches. Supermarkets, restaurants and shopping centers are in central Tulum, about eight miles southeast of the home. Paraíso Beach, with its white sand and azure waters, is about 10 miles south. Tulum’s new Felipe Carrillo Puerto Airport, which offers nonstop flights to the United States and Canada, is about 35 miles northeast.
Size: 3,000 square feet
Price per square foot: $265
Indoors: Circles are a theme of the home’s design. A round front door opens to the sunken living room, whose full-length, circular window opens to the pool deck. The living room features a built-in bar with backlit shelves and a refrigerator. The owners converted an outdoor terrace into the principal bedroom suite, now the length of one side of the house. Interior and exterior walls are coated in chukum, a resin developed by the ancient Mayans that is made from the boiled sap of a tree and has natural cooling properties.
The kitchen, renovated last year, has stainless steel appliances, quartz countertops and an eat-in nook surrounded by floor-to-ceiling glass sliders that open to the pool deck. A guest bedroom with its own entrance includes an en suite bath. The owners used the third bedroom as an office, and the house comes with Starlink satellite internet service. The sale includes furniture.
Outdoor space: A side entrance leads directly to the backyard, with its slate-tiled deck and 70-foot-long pool lined in black metallic tiles and pinpoint LED lights. A second terrace on the side of the house features a waterfall wall with a life-size sculpture of a jaguar in black zapote wood by the Welsh-born artist Matt Cave, who is based in Tulum. Monkeys, tropical birds and wild foxes roam freely around the Los Arboles community and are frequent visitors to the property.
Costs: Annual homeowner’s association fees total 34,000 pesos ($1,700). Property taxes total 11,650 pesos ($583) a year, 10 percent of which is directed to charities selected by a residents’ committee.