Villa Lina

Villa Lina sits in Las Brisas, the gated hillside community on the eastern arm of Acapulco Bay, where the houses are set into the slope and the whole sweep of the water lies below. Five bedrooms sleep fourteen, which makes the house unusual for its size: most bay-view villas of this footprint take eight or ten. The layout keeps the living areas and the pool deck on the view side and the bedrooms behind them, so the house works equally for two families travelling together or one large group.

The bedrooms are generously sized and fitted with air conditioning, wireless internet, a telephone and a high-definition television with satellite and a DVD player. The living and dining areas open onto the terrace, and the kitchen is equipped for a chef working for a full house rather than for guests reheating. Nothing about the house is minimal — it belongs to the Acapulco tradition of terraces, deep sofas and long lunches, and it has been kept up to date without losing that. Air conditioning runs throughout, and the terrace stays usable at every hour because the hillside gives it shade in the afternoon and the breeze off the water in the evening.

Everything outdoors is arranged around the pool and sundeck: sun loungers along the water’s edge, a shaded outdoor dining area beside it, and the bay in front. A private chef cooks dinner to whatever the group has decided that morning, and the concierge team handles the rest of the week — car rental, tours, luxury yacht charters and sportfishing trips, all of which leave from the marina below the house. Housekeeping runs daily, and the staff know the bay well enough to steer a group toward the right beach for the day and the right table for the night.

Las Brisas puts the beach clubs and the restaurants of the bay a few minutes away, the centre of Acapulco about fifteen, and General Juan N. Alvarez International Airport roughly twelve miles from the gate. The cliff divers at La Quebrada perform each evening, the quieter beaches at Puerto Marques lie on the other side of the headland, and the bay itself is the reason most groups come: flat water, boats for the day, and a city that has been hosting exactly this kind of holiday for seventy years. For a family gathering or a group of friends, Villa Lina gives Villa Experience guests room for fourteen with the view intact.