Hacienda San Angel
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
By David Clement Davies
travel writer

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 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 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

Favorite TI hotels in Puerto Vallarta

Hotels in Puerto Vallarta 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 Best Time – November and December. Minimum – three nights.

Although the breezy, waterfront Malecon in the town of Puerto Vallarta is a nice esplanade for a stroll, you will need to turn away from the blizzard of tourist traps to find the PV of old. On a quiet, cobblestone side street, when you knock on a heavy wooden door, a small window opens and a face appears. The door swings open and you step into what appears to be the courtyard in the estate of a Spanish grandee of the 18th century.

Burbling carved stone fountains, secret gardens, parlors and patios; and a museum-like collection of 18th and 19th century statuary, paintings and artifacts create Hacienda San Angel, an inn like no other--five vintage houses were combined into one elegant enclosure of fourteen suites, three swimming pools and dining terraces high above the rooftops of the city.

Every detail in each unique suite has been attended to, from lace-trimmed towels to private terraces, four-poster beds hung with filmy drapes, antique furniture and Venetian chandeliers. The sound of soft guitars leads diners to a candlelit, open-air dining room where views of the fanciful bell tower of the iconic Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe and sunsets over the bay are legendary (a very limited number of reservations are taken for diners who are not guests at the inn).

Soon to become a part of the inn, a newly acquired house on the next street is under reconstruction and it will have a stupendous, unobscured view of the bay. (http://www.mexicoboutiquehotels.com/sanangel)

LIVING HIGH IN PUERTA VALLARTA

I must now add to my personal short-list of fabulous places the Hacienda San Angel  in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Created piece by piece by proprietress Janice Chatterton over a period of ten years and open only for the last two-and-a-half as a hotel, the Hacienda is made up of five formerly private casas, purchased separately. One, Casa Bursus, was Richard Burton's 1977 Valentine's Day gift to his then wife Susan. The casas have been  joined together and remodeled to form 14 suites on different levels that climb the hill directly behind town (left).

HACIENDA SAN ANGEL: Romantic hotel in Puerto Vallarta

By DAVID TOMLIN
Associated Press

PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico (AP) - What began as a simple remodeling project for a private vacation home took a wildly romantic turn along the way and blossomed into one of the most enchanting boutique hotels anywhere.

Janice Chatterton can’t say exactly how Hacienda San Angel happened. She never ran a hotel or a restaurant in her life. But it’s possible she just couldn’t resist sharing the high love-nest potential that came with the property.

Chatterton bought her tropical villa from Susan Hunt, who received it as a 1977 Valentine’s Day gift from her husband, the late actor Richard Burton. Just around the corner and down the street is another Burton gift house, the one he gave to Elizabeth Taylor when they were here during filming of the 1964 film “The Night of the Iguana.”

With the ghosts of such dangerous liaisons of the past swirling around it, a small luxury hotel would have a hard time missing as a destination for lovebirds, and Hacienda San Angel doesn’t miss.

From the outside, the place looks innocent enough, tucked into a modest neighborhood of white stucco and red tile roofs on one of the cobbled residential streets of central Puerto Vallarta. It’s nothing like the glossy new high-rise hotel resorts springing up along the beaches north and south of the city.

But guests who pull the bell rope that hangs above the door are admitted to a lush tiled courtyard straight out of colonial Mexico, a place where it’s easy to picture a duel for your honor on the balustrade or a senorita beckoning from beyond the burbling fountain. Bougainvillea blossoms drop from overhead. Two blocks away, the bell tolls from the tower of the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Inside the hotel, romantic and secluded spaces abound. It is a warren of stairways, alcoves, winding passages, terraces, pools, and gardens that lead from courtyard to guest rooms with names like Angel’s Dome, Milagro and the Celestial Suite.

Chatterton added two adjacent homes to the original villa to create the hacienda’s 10 guest rooms. Each is unique, but all of them manage to feel intimate and at the same time wide open to breezes and views of the palm-spangled hills and the broad bay they embrace. Like the rest of the hacienda, the rooms are filled with heavy antique furniture, icons and art work, yet still seem light and spacious.

Chatterton, who is from California, wasn’t sure if Puerto Vallarta drew enough upscale visitors for the level of luxury she found herself offering. But the market did respond. “It has more than met my expectations,” she said.

And the hotel — which opened in 2003 — has gotten rave reviews from Frommer’s, Fodor’s, and Conde Nast Traveler, which listed the hacienda on its 2005 “Hot List.”

Though the villa and its museum-quality decor come straight from the 19th century or even earlier, the hacienda offers a full array of up-to-date spa and concierge services, Internet access, and all-day dining as good as anything else in town. The staff will even serve meals in any courtyard or terrace in the hotel you choose that isn’t part of somebody else’s room.

There’s a cocktail hour each afternoon in the main courtyard with its open-air kitchen-dining-lounge area. Mariachis serenade these gatherings, but it’s just as charming to listen to them from the guest rooms, which are all within earshot.

The shops, markets, galleries, cafes and beaches of this booming coastal resort town are all within easy walking distance. On the other hand, for the severely lovestruck, it really is possible to make tropical dreams come true without even leaving the Celestial Suite, and some guests don’t emerge until check-out time.

If You Go...

HACIENDA SAN ANGEL: Miramar 336, Colonia Centro, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; www.haciendasanangel.com. By phone, (415) 738-8220 (U.S.) or (011) (52) 322-222-2692 (Mexico). Rooms $250 to $475 a night, less in summer and more during the Christmas season.

This enchanting bed-and-breakfast may not be on the beach, but you'll hardly miss it, you'll be so pampered in the stunning suites, or satisfied enjoying the view from the rooftop heated pool or Jacuzzi and sun deck. Once Richard Burton's home in Puerto Vallarta, it's located just behind Puerto Vallarta's famed church, making it easy walking distance to all of the restaurants, shopping, and galleries of downtown. The Hacienda is comprised of three villas; the first two are joined to the third villa by a path that winds through a lovely terraced garden filled with tropical plants, flowers, statuary and a charming fountain. A large, heated pool and deck offer panoramic views of the city and Bay of Banderas, while a second sun deck with Jacuzzi literally overlooks the church's crown, across to the water beyond. Each of the Hacienda's nine elegant suites is individually decorated, accented with exquisite antiques and original art. Bed linens and coverings are of the finest quality, with touches like Venetian lace and goose-down pillows. Each morning, you'll awake to continental breakfast served outside your suite at your requested hour. From Monday through Saturday, guests are invited to a complimentary cocktail hour, where one of the Hacienda's signature drinks (like the Celestial Sin -- a wicked blend of vodka and blue Curacao) are served, accompanied by snacks. Sophisticated style, coupled with casual Vallarta charm, make Hacienda San Angel the newest "find" in Mexico for the discriminating traveler. Facilities:

Menu of full breakfasts and lunches; chef to prepare dinner; 2 pools; rooftop sun deck w/Jacuzzi; concierge; tour services; complimentary Internet access

The sun sets over Banderas Bay, seen from the San Miguel Suite at Hacienda San Angel in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Visitors to villas find bit of heaven in Puerto Vallarta
Refurbished Hacienda San Angel offers hideaway, awe-inspiring views
By Pete Webb
Special to The Denver Post

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - Perched high above "Old Town," an elegant hotel has begun to establish a reputation for the type of seclusion that's certain to create the recharge that vacations are meant to produce.

There's not much to announce Hacienda San Angel as you arrive at Miramar 336. You pull the chain to ring a deep-throated bell somewhere behind the large wooden door. The wall on Miramar Street conceals a lush garden with a fountain, flanked by a massive living room, a dining room, and with adjoining kitchen and bar.

Hacienda San Angel, in its second full season, is the creation of northern California expatriate Janice Chatterton, and incorporates three contiguous colonial villas into a boutique hotel of nine suites, two pools, and awe-inspiring views. You can see both sides of Banderas Bay, the world's third-largest natural bay, 46 miles across.

The hotel centers around Villa Bur-Sus, purchased by actor Richard Burton as a Valentine's Day gift for his wife Susan (a wife who came after Elizabeth Taylor). Chatterton has taken three years to refurbish the homes, with each villa having its own living room, dining area and common space. A garden links the villas through the center of the property.

Each suite includes bath, air conditioning, telephone, TV and DVD player for both music and movies. (There's a free movie collection available to guests.)

Chatterton has furnished the suites and public areas with distinctive Mexican art and antiques. In keeping with the theme, angels are a highly prized part of the décor. Once word got out she was redoing the villas, locals started showing up at her door with heirlooms and artifacts that have given the hacienda Old World charm.

Several of the suites have terraces, as well as secluded palapas and seating areas. Others are quiet hideaways, perfect for starting that book or deciding to sleep in. And with perhaps 20 guests, you're not bumping into others frequently.

The pools include a rooftop area with wide-ranging views of the city and Banderas Bay, and a tranquil lap pool with fountains. On one villa roof deck the Jacuzzi has a sun area as well, again with a city and bay view. The crown-shaped bell tower of Our Lady of Guadalupe Cathedral chimes on the quarter-hour, but you can hear bells from churches throughout Old Town. The distance from the business area is enough that you seldom hear traffic or late-night noise.

A household staff of 12 keeps the hacienda spotless. Day and evening cooks prepare meals. Robert Hutton, a Canadian, is on site afternoons and evenings for van trips to restaurants or shopping. Robert also provides day trips for a separate fee. And a masseuse makes daily visits, with other spa services available.

The price of breakfast is included in your stay (served in your room or at any of the view or living room locations you choose); lunch, cocktails, poolside snacks and dinner also are available at an additional charge, prepared by the cooks. (Our catch from an ocean-fishing expedition was brought back to the cooks for cocktail-hour ceviche.) The evening cocktail time always features a mariachi band and provides a congenial setting to meet other guests if you are so inclined.

Rocio, the hacienda's concierge, can arrange everything from island beach visits to sport fishing, to jungle canopy tours to golf.

From Hacienda San Angel, walk down 106 steps on the Zaragoza Street staircase next to the cathedral, and you'll land right in El Centro, the traditional heart of the city, with the wide bayfront malecon seawall and blocks of tourist-oriented restaurants, bars and shops. You're about 2 miles south of the big-name hotels and resorts in the Hotel Zone and the cruise-ship dock. With at least three cruise ships visiting daily, you're sure to see lots of day-trippers exploring.

Take another direction, down 100 steps or so on the narrow staircase of Miramar Street, and you're in the Flea Market, with the traditional stalls and shops selling everything from apparel and leather goods to pottery and jewelry. Bargaining is expected (settle for at least 20 percent off the price first quoted). Cross the river south into the neighborhood called the "Romantic Zone" for more shops and a wider variety of stores. "Viva" is an upscale store with jewelry, art, clothing and beach bags and sunglasses, and a wide-ranging collection of shoes. There's not much to hold the attention of non-shoppers, but Steve's, a Canadian-American sports bar, is just four doors east.

Chatterton knows her guests come to literally "get away," but her reputation as a hands-on hotelier (she lives on site) has spread. As a result, she's tuned into the best restaurants, newest hot spots and finest shopping.

Four of our restaurant choices, an absolute departure from the usual tourist stops:

El Arrayan, with a contemporary style of traditional simple country cooking, presided over by charming entrepreneur, Carmen Porras;

Los Xitomates (Aztec for "tomatoes") for wonderful fish dishes;

El Mestizo, built around an open courtyard;

Trio, an elegant three-story bistro with open verandas.

Your stay in Puerto Vallarta can be "all beach all the time," but if you've decided quiet and luxury are more your style, Hacienda San Angel can be your hideaway.

Pete Webb, an occasional contributor to The Denver Post Travel section, owns Webb PR in Centennial.

The details

Frontier Airlines and United's Ted have nonstop flights from Denver to Puerto Vallarta. Hacienda San Angel will arrange a reliable car service for your arrival ($20). A cab ride to the hacienda is $25 to $30.

Reservations for Hacienda San Angel may be made at www.haciendasanangel.com or by calling 011-52-322-222-2692. Rates in high season range from $250 per night for some of the more secluded rooms to $425 and $475 for the prime-view spaces.

Forbes Fact

STYLISH HOTELS
Hacienda San Angel
Classy with Celestial Charm

If you consider yourself a connoisseur of good taste and quality, do yourself a favor and take a look at, or better yet experience for a night or two, this fabulous Mexican Boutique Hotel exemplifying all that's stylish about living in Mexico.

Ideally situated in the heart of Puerto Vallarta's historic El Centro, but above all the hustle and bustle, this level of excellence is rarely seen anywhere. And owner Janice Chatterton is to be applauded not only for the quality of her imagination and her superb sense of sophistication, but also for her willingness to share it with the rest of us.

Enchantingly enhanced by a charming celestial theme throughout, this sprawling nine-suite hacienda - once three neighboring homes, one presented by actor Richard Burton to then-wife Susan Hunt as a gift for Valentine's Day in 1977 - verges on a religious experience. The 360-degree views of the entire bay and most of the town speak for themselves, while centries-old artifacts, rare antique furnishings and original art by masters that stir the imaginations of schoolchildren around the world add up to a reverential awe and blessedly deep sense of relaxation.

San Angel pobsesses what most of us long to find. A perfect sense of balance - not to mention lovely pools, courtyards, gardens, terraces and an oversized Jacuzzi. Everything about it clearly expresses an affinity with the past and what's traditional, when it's of exceptional quality, and with what's most modern, when it makes life more comfortable and elegant. A solidly massive antique dining table holds the attention of guests long after meals are over, while DSL wireless Internet makes it a cinch to keep the folks back home happy with "Wish you were here" messages.

Rich with fortunate finds, including tapestries dating back to 17th-century Europe and once owned by some of Mexico's most prominent families, it's a rare pleasure to have your eyes alight on objects of interest at every turn. And architectural details play their roles, cupolas, arches, niches, canterra stone, hand-painted tiles, fountains and palapas all elements of classic Puerto Vallarta design style.

It goes without saying that guest suites are wonderful and one of a kind, embellished with objects of drama and beauty as well as modern amenities like phones, air-conditioning, cable TV and so on. And the level of service proffered at San Angel is unsurpassed, the daily cocktail hour especially chic.

By Nick Gallo

I awoke to the sound of church bells, the Sunday-morning hush broken by deep, sonorous peals from Our Lady of Guadalupe Cathedral. High on a Hillside in Hacienda San Angel's "Cerlestial Suite," I felt, if not celestial, then at least on top of the world. With a bird's-eye view of the church, a beaconlike city landmark, I had a 270-degree view of Puerto Vallarta-the pretty, picturesque beach escape credled in the embrace of a vast, blue sea and jungle-covered foothills.

(continued...)

Romantico Mexico!
puerto vallarta: class act

It's been four decades since Richard Burton bungled his way through a jungle of romance in The Night of the Iguana, but Puerto Vallarta has lost none of its amorous allure. Sure it's grown up and gotten more sophisticated. But this chic Pacific Coast resort continues to offer a most enticing blend of old school and cutting edge.

WHERE TO STAY Burton once owned one of the villas that make up Hacienda San Angel, a new six-room B&B with flowery courtyards, a heated pool and views of the bay. (Doubles from $210. 011/52-322-222-2692; haciendasanangel.com).

History and Hospitality

The famously factious couple abandoned the villa ages ago, of course. But the curious still come, ushered in at $8 a head by the current owners who encourage them to make like Liz and Dick, posing for photos on the patio or relaxing in Liz's violet-hued bedroom.

There's a grandmotherly sort from Canada in there now. Egged on by others in her tour group, she reclines on the flowered bedspread, her tight gray curls tilted back, one knee bent coquettishly, one new white Ked arched and pointed.

"Nice, eh?" she asks, as the cameras click.

It's been 40 years since the release of The Night of the Iguana, the movie that put this then-remote Pacific coast fishing village of 12,500 souls on the map. Director John Huston had staked out a location south of town on a rocky outcropping accessible only by boat. Burton, the star of the movie, arrived with Taylor in tow (both were married to other people at the time). Co-stars Ava Gardner, Deborah Kerr and Sue Lyon (the nymphet of Lolita fame) also were in residence. So were hundreds of paparazzi hoping to record the star-studded fireworks.

But in the end, the image that endured was that of this coconut-palm-fringed setting on sweeping Banderas Bay where the rugged Sierra Madre tumble to the brink of the Pacific Ocean. And today, that vision remains, albeit in altered form.

After the filming, the Taylor-Burtons stayed on. (He had bought her Casa Kimberley for $57,000 as a 32nd birthday gift.) Other glitterati followed. And by the late '60s, Puerto Vallarta was taking off as a tourist hot spot.

Naturally, a lot has changed since then. Wildfire growth has spread north. First in the 1980s with the construction of a marina, now the locale for sprawling brand-name resorts. Then to Nuevo Vallarta, a separate community farther up the bay. And finally, to Punta Mita at the northern tip, 35 miles from downtown, where luxury homes and a Four Seasons resort have taken root.

Despite the development, Puerto Vallarta's historic heart remains pure. Or as pure as a beach town with a population of 250,000 and an annual visitor count of 5 million can be. And that heart is the key to its longevity. Newer Mexican resort developments such as Cancun, Los Cabos and Ixtapa may be more fashionable or more popular, but they're the creations of government planners and land speculators. Puerto Vallarta evolved.

"What Puerto Vallarta has is history," says hotelier and tourist bureau president Gabriel Igartua. "It was a quaint village before it was a tourist destination."

At its traditional core is a pleasant plaza where kids chase pigeons and shoeshine stands do a brisk business. At one end, the oceanfront walkway (newly refurbished after 2002's Hurricane Kenna), attracts sandcastle artists, jugglers and musicians. On the other, the crowned tower of Our Lady of Guadalupe church rises like a beacon. Narrow, cobblestone streets snake up into the hills where red-tiled rooftops peek from a lush tangle of tropical foliage.

This is Old Vallarta, where a lively dining and arts scene (with 22 commercial galleries at last count) has developed. Here, you can listen to jazz at a riverside restaurant, attend a Pilates class or order Dom Perignon by the $50 glass. A short stroll to the south side of the Rio Cuale, which bisects the old town, leads to what's known as the Romantic Zone. It houses an eclectic mix of establishments that cater to both local needs and tourist tastes.

Regular and special events give visitors an opportunity to mix with the community. In high season, twice-monthly after-hours art gallery tours attract a local crowd. Twice-weekly tours of private homes raise money for charity. A culinary festival each November draws acclaimed chefs. And this year it will overlap with the first Puerto Vallarta Film Festival of the Americas, Nov. 6-14.

"Vallarta isn't contrived. It's a living town," says the city's cultural director, Maria Jose Zorrilla. "We do live on tourism, but we produce our own art."

Old Vallarta's charms

The old town is better regarded for its art, history and scenery than the quality of its beaches. Still, the cognoscenti gravitate to Old Vallarta. Decades-long regulars convene for bridge and backgammon at their usual spots under thatched umbrellas on Los Muertos Beach. Among them is Jack Rolfs, a retired ad executive from San Francisco and one of a large American contingent of part-time residents. He discovered the place in 1957 back when a horse-drawn cart ferried sunbathers from the sole hotel to this beach.

These days, upscale restaurants set out linen-clad tables for candlelight dinners on the sand. Nelly Barquet is eating lunch under the soaring thatched roof of one of them, El Dorado, which she opened in 1960. The restaurant scene has become increasingly sophisticated, she says.

"There were no (schooled) chefs here 43 years ago. Now I can't count them all," she says. "If you don't have a chef, you're kaput."

Barquet is the matriarch of one of the First Families of Vallarta's resort era. She arrived in 1957, "when there were about 15 tourists." It was her former husband, the late Guillermo Wulff, who led Huston to Mismaloya, where much of The Night of the Iguana was shot. He also built the hotel and other buildings that served as the set.

No other film made here has created the buzz that Iguana did. But a group of organizers hopes to keep the memory alive with the film festival, which invokes the names of Huston, Burton, Taylor and others associated with the movie.

Robert Roessel, president of the fledgling event, is driving south along the winding coast road that leads to the film location, narrating as he goes. He weaves past the walled villas of Conchas Chinas, Vallarta's old-money neighborhood. "That's Mrs. Fields' — of the cookies — house. And they shot For Love or Money over there," he says.

He passes the turnoff to the film site of Predator, where a giant roadside sign features a ripped, machine-gun-wielding future governor of California. And finally Roessel arrives at the rocky cliffs of Mismaloya, where a namesake restaurant of the movie that would forever change the tiny fishing village occupies the former set. Other than cement skeletons, however, little else from the original set remains. No matter, he says.

"The whole story behind The Night of the Iguana is the torrid love affair (between Taylor and Burton) and the fact that it created this sensation," he says. "Puerto Vallarta has lost some of that. We're trying to get it back, to create a stir."

Banking on movie nostalgia

Back at Casa Kimberley, an arriving group is greeted by the sight of a blown-up photo of Taylor resplendent in a Cleopatra headdress. Inside, it's a Taylor-Burton love fest with movie posters, Passion perfume ads and old magazine covers displayed throughout. The tourists listen attentively as Maurice Mintzer holds forth on Burton's prodigious drinking, on the couple's quest for privacy, on their bickering.

His wife, Toy Holstein Mintzer, bought the place from Taylor in 1990, which included the house across the street and is linked by a pink aerial "love bridge." She says after Burton's death in 1984, the actress never returned. Left behind were furniture, books, clothing, cosmetics, even letters. The next year Mintzer opened the six-bar, nine-bedroom, 12-bathroom house to overnight guests. The public tours commenced a year later.

Sometimes the visitors stay late into the night, drinking on the terrace at the Richard Burton bar adorned with 16 hand-painted saints. Sometimes they make outrageous requests, such as the one from the woman who asked Mintzer to snap her photo sitting on Liz's toilet.

"I will never do that again," he declares. "There is class. And there is no class."

His wife recently put the house up for sale. The couple are in their 70s. There are too many stairs. Maybe even too many visitors.

As the tourists file back over the pink love bridge and down into the narrow street to their waiting van, they can hear Mintzer's booming voice starting the next tour. "When the house sold, it was the end of an era ... " he is saying.

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The new nine-suite Hacienda San Angel (011-52-322-222-2692; haciendasanangel.com), which occupies three villas including one owned by Richard Burton in his post-Elizabeth Taylor era, has spectacular views of downtown, two pools and beautiful antiques-filled interiors.

Reclining along Mexico's Pacific coast, Puerto Vallarta is famous for movie sets, languid beach life, and idyllic weather, but it also appeals to more adventure-some spirits with kayaking, ballooning, eco-safaris, and buzzing nightlife.

Savor the city's many attractions from your aerie at red-tiled Hacienda San Angel, a getaway once inhabited by actor Richard Burton and his wife, Susan, after Burton filmed Night of the Iguana in Puerto Vallarta. The spread is ideal for smaller family gatherings, with two connecting villas containing a total of six bedrooms. A private fountainhead courtyard and a heated pool offer broad vistas of the old town.

Jim Kennedy, a Minneapolis resident who recently took his family to the hacienda, says that despite the estate's luxe setting, "It wasn't stuffy at all". Indeed, even with the abundance of activities in Puerto Vallarta, your family may be tempted to never venture out.

Hacienda San Angel, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; tel. from U.S. 011-52-322-222-2692;
www.haciendasanangel.com. The compound sleeps 12; rates $6,300-10,500 weekly, depending on the season.