Villa Rigoletti

Villa Rigoletti stands at Puerto Mio, on the headland that closes the western side of Zihuatanejo Bay, a few minutes’ walk from the village. Six bedrooms sleep twelve. The house is built in the traditional Mexican manner and detailed with care: adobe walls, wooden staircases, bamboo railings and a palapa roof over the main terrace, set in a tropical garden that flowers through most of the year. From almost every room the bay lies below, with the fishing boats working in the morning and the town lighting up at night, and the garden keeps the house cool and screened from its neighbours.

The lounge runs under the palapa with built-in sofas, a fully equipped bar and a dining table beside it, which is where most of the day and all of the sunset tends to happen. The kitchen is well equipped and mixes traditional and modern fittings, and the living room keeps the same rustic architecture with modern comfort behind it. Dinner is served under the palapa or on the terraces, in the open air. The main bedroom holds a king bed, an ensuite bathroom and a view straight down the bay, and the five other bedrooms each have ensuite bathrooms with king, queen, double and sofa beds between them.

A private unheated pool sits on the terrace level with the garden around it, and the terraces step down the slope toward the water, with secure parking at the top. Air conditioning, wireless internet, cable television and a stereo system run through the house. A chef, a butler and a maid are included in the stay, and massage can be arranged at the house on request. Housekeeping is daily, and the same team handles the marketing and the cooking, so a week here needs very little planning once the group has arrived.

Zihuatanejo village is a short walk down the hill, with its boutiques, its market and the restaurants along the waterfront, and the beaches at Playa La Ropa and Playa Las Gatas are a boat ride across the bay. Ixtapa and its golf lie fifteen minutes north, and Zihuatanejo International Airport about twenty-five minutes away. The house is pet-friendly and smoking is permitted. For a family holiday, a group of friends or a quiet week in a town that has never been over-built, Villa Rigoletti gives Villa Experience guests a proper Mexican house with the bay at its feet.