Casa Garbi

Casa Garbi stands on the hill opposite Hotel Las Brisas, high enough on the ridge that the whole sweep of Acapulco Bay lies open below it. Eleven bedrooms sleep twenty-two, each with a private bathroom and air conditioning, and ten of them face the sea. The house was built for large groups rather than adapted to them: the living rooms, the dining spaces and the terraces all run at a scale that lets twenty people gather in one place or scatter across the property without crowding each other.

Two living rooms occupy the first storey. The indoor room is the formal one; the outdoor living room beside it opens onto a wide terrace and the garden, and most of the day ends up being spent there. Meals are taken in the dining room or on the terrace, and the modern kitchen is equipped for a chef working for a full house. Six of the bedrooms hold king beds, two hold two queen beds each and three hold two double beds each, which covers couples, families and groups of friends in the same booking. An additional room for a driver is available on request.

There are two pools on the property: an infinity pool with a panoramic jacuzzi beside it looking out over the bay, and a second set in the tropical garden. Three palapas are spread across the grounds for shade and for evenings, each with a view of the water. A paddle court laid with artificial grass, a gym and a ping-pong table cover the rest of the day, and parking takes seven cars. Ceiling fans, telephone, satellite television, a stereo and internet run throughout the house.

The resident team is a chef, a waiter, a maid and a gardener, which is enough to run the house without it feeling staffed. Las Brisas puts the beach clubs and the restaurants of the bay within a few minutes, the centre of Acapulco about fifteen and General Juan N. Alvarez International Airport roughly twenty-five, and the cliff divers at La Quebrada perform each evening a short drive around the shoreline. For a multi-generational holiday, a wedding party or a group of friends taking a house together, Casa Garbi gives Villa Experience guests the room and the view to do it properly.