Casa Alima

Casa Alima stands on the beach inside the gated community of San Juan de Alima, on the stretch of Pacific coast where Michoacan meets Colima and the jungle still comes down to the sand. The estate covers twenty thousand square feet and sleeps seventeen, divided between a main house and four bungalows set among the planting, so that a large group can be together without being on top of one another. Two staff bedrooms and three staff bathrooms sit apart from the guest accommodation.

Two living rooms give the group a choice of mood, one for the evening film on the sixty-inch screen and one for cards and conversation. There are two dining spaces, an open grilling area and a buffet table set out under the trees for breakfast, and the kitchens are run by the house chefs, who cook traditional Mexican food alongside whatever the group asks for. In the main house, three bedrooms open onto sea-view balconies: the first holds a king bed and a sofa bed, the other two hold two queen beds each. The four bungalows hold king, queen and twin beds between them, each with its own view of the water.

Two swimming pools sit on the property, with a terrace bar, a long wooden table facing the beach, hammocks in the shade and a flat roof used for stargazing after dinner. There is a gym and a massage room, a table-tennis table and watersports equipment, and the beach in front runs far enough in both directions for a morning run, with trails inland for walking. Chefs and housekeepers live on site and run the house through the day, which keeps the meals, the rooms and the pools in order without anyone having to organise it.

San Juan de Alima is a surf town rather than a resort, which is the point: the coast here is quiet, the beaches are long and largely empty, and the nearest developments are small. The estate is gated and set back from the road, and its size makes it suitable for a family reunion, a wedding party or a company retreat that wants the whole coast to itself. For a group of this size looking for a beach with nothing built on it, Casa Alima gives Villa Experience guests a private stretch of Pacific and the staff to run a week on it.