Villa Amore by David Clement Davies

Owned by a Californian surfer, the Villa Amor is fun, and filled with an ambition that only just outreaches its grasp. The charm is the setting in the beautiful bay, with its famous break, centred around the little fishing and surfing village of Sayulita. Artisanal shops, a number of small local cafes and restaurants, and a drowsy central square make little Sayulita an authentic taste of Mexico. Even the awful busker at the beach bar, the over-oily sand from the boats on the central beach, and the whiff of garbage from near the campsite, can be forgiven with another Corona. The hotel sits apart from the town, along a track that winds round to a crazy cemetery behind, and rises steeply up the tangled hillside, like the goat pavilion at London Zoo. With a wide choice of individually styled rooms and a nice bay-front garden, you can join the chuckling gulls on the rocks for a Western Mexican arrival, laughing at how pretty it all is. The service is relaxed and very friendly, the hotel attracts a number of holliestic therapists and yoga instructors and the guests are mostly Americans.

The rooms
The best value are the cheaper end rooms, all with stylish hippy-chic touches and fridges, while the larger villas come with wide palm-fringed terraces and curving plunge pools, where the sipping bird life - herons, cormorants and frigate birds – can turn the place into an early morning aviary. The Mexican farmhouse feel, the attractive kitchen areas and the sturdy cane furniture are all nice, if not tended to carefully enough, while touches like the frog fountain on the hilltop, metal animal sculptures in the garden, a waterfall fountain and swan-origami towels on your bed, complete with a trail of flower petals, provide entertainment. Check out the hill-crowning, eye-catching Villa Tortuga with 360 degree views to grasp the eccentric vision. At night the place glows beautifully with its beehive lanterns and is well worth the slog up its miniature Inca Trail back to bed. The hotel is still ‘under construction’ and the work seems to have stopped until an unforeseen manana, but it is not an eyesore and the position is truly lovely.

Come for
A touch of Mexican style in a hang-loose hideaway
Surfing
A family friendly hotel

Not suitable for:
Folk who don’t like to climb, unless you get a room on the front

Eating in
The little restaurant-come-bar looks very nice and the food is good, if a little expensive and without much choice. The real problem is that it is not part of the hotel, so there is no service in your rooms, while at night the waiters seem over-keen to hotfoot it down to the Buddha bar in Sayulita and chill.

Best Time – November and December. 45 Minutes drive from Puerto Vallarta airport.