Tulum Mexico is a hot spot for fashion insiders

Another name that comes up in modern Tulum mythology is Melissa Perlman. She came from Manhattan in 2002, fell in love with it and opened Amansala, a funky spa resort where she created bikini boot camp, an exercise program for body-conscious women.

Her savvy (she claims to have coined the term “eco-chic,” which is all over Tulum) led her to lease a property at the far end of the beach — the former home of the 1980s drug kingpin Pablo Escobar. In 2006, Ms. Perlman set up Casa Magna there, a kind of open-air sand castle hotel with good house music, dim lighting, a yogic mood and a laid-back staff more attuned with themselves than with the guests