Hacienda San Angel by David Clement Davies

The Hacienda, a former winner in Conde Nast’s top ten in the world, is a treasure of old Puerto Vallarta, cradled in the Sierra Madre mountains. The still- expanding creation of San Franciscan property magnate Janice Chatterton, this fascinating hotel-come-Mexican art museum, centred on a villa once owned by Richard Burton, is both supremely stylish and appealingly eccentric. The hotel sits high in the town, opposite the crazy wrought-iron corona crowning the Cathedral of Guadaloupe, topped by a neon cross that balances on what looks worryingly like a yellow football. Inside, every nook and cranny is accented with works of Mexican colonial art, in essence religious icons, after Janice Chatterton bought up 80% of the town’s old museum. The beautiful courtyard fountains, three elegant swimming pools fed by lion sculptures or flaring angel fountains, and a charming stepped central garden, combine to give the place the air of a lush monastery with a taste for the high life. At night it glows with holy candlelight and ripples with the numinous whisper of running water to cool the hot airs.

The rooms
The fat folder in your room - a useful guide to what to do in unremarkable Puerto Vallarta, with a fine list of available films including the John Houston classics ‘Treasure of the Sierra Madre’ and ‘Night of the Iguana’ - also lead you through the works of art peppered around the Hacienda. The style is always splendid, the beds regal and in the lovely bathrooms putti soap bars add a kitsch humour to the Bulgari bathing products. If you can, collar “The Celestial” with its views of the Sierra Madre and the sea, and its crazy collection of porcelain animals brought back from Africa by Burton. Below is a pleasant sun terrace with communal Jacuzzi, although several of the rooms have their own, too. With the scramble for views in the jumbling hillside town, be prepared to close your curtains. The drawing room off the main courtyard, topped by its five great bells, is a very elegant introduction to Chatterton’s grand colonial style and the hotel’s overall taste. The guests tend to be older, while the good dinning room is open to the public for lunch and dinner. Janice Chatterton is expanding her ‘heavenly’ visions across the street, raising the number of rooms to fourteen, with what promises to be her very own ‘Sistine Chapel’ for newlyweds and honeymooners - Michelangelo marries an older Madonna, no doubt.

Come for
Mexican colonial art
Grandeur and tranquillity

Not suitable for
Families and children
The overly secular minded

Eating in
The restaurant is good and the setting pretty, although a hotel of this standard suffers from a lack of service coverage in its various hideaways and the bar closes religiously at eleven. Every evening, Mexican mariachis arrive to serenade you by the main fountain, accompanied by complimentary canapés and the hotel staff are always impeccably turned out.

Best Time – November and December. Minimum – three nights.