Mexico's Costalegre Steps Into the Spotlight

Mexico’s Costalegre (“Happy Coast”), spanning 200 miles from Puerto Vallarta to Manzanillo on the Pacific Ocean, is a hard-to-reach spot where pristine nature, glamor, and intrigue mingle. It's the kind of place you search for when you are turned off by Tulum’s TikTok takeover or sad that so many other Americans found you hiding out in Punta Mita. The regional landscape of Costalegre is thick jungle and desert and beach all at once. The area has a certain mystical quality that has drawn artists and eccentrics and savvy real estate developers who had the sense to build sustainably and tread lightly to preserve the area’s biodiverse ecosystem and keep the vast majority of the acres under protected care. On a scouting trip this spring, I checked out a few of the under-the-radar dreamscapes as well as a few of the over-the-top ones.

Las Rosadas

Now, there are beautiful beach resorts in Mexico that are far easier to reach than those in this magical little part of western Jalisco, but I will go so far as to say there are NOT many beautiful beach resorts in Mexico that offer an exceptional level of peace, hospitality, and food (oozing with TLC!) quite like the retreat and private ecological reserve that is Las Rosadas.

Las Rosadas is not a large resort, but a silent stretch of beach backing up to a jungle dotted with a handful of white open-air villas, a classic palapa, and a few tucked-away structures — like a kitchen casita in the sand and a beachfront bar — very private and incredibly laid-back. Wandering around feels like a dream where you’ve been invited to someone’s home and then realize — wait, no — it’s actually YOUR home. At least for a few days.

Much of this has to do with spritely host and beloved local treasure Maria Rodriguez de Campos, who adds her light and lovely touch to each and every part of your stay — hanging colorful tassels over the pool so that they sway in the breeze just so, delivering a tray of agua frescas as you stumble out of the ocean, pulling her golf cart to the side of the road to offer you a taste of the tamarind fruit ripening on a tree. (An example of her humor: a cluster of beach cacti dressed in little sombreros.) It's her husband who is responsible for overseeing and maintaining the health of the resort's tropical deciduous forest. It's beautiful — at once manicured and wild — and landscaped in such a way that it frames the villas and pathways just so.

The breezy villas with private pools feature materials like soapstone, rattan, wood, and ceramic, in the hacienda style. There’s art (sculptural, folkloric, contemporary) indoors and out, surrounded by a landscape that moves from beige scrub to green succulents to an explosion of fuchsia bougainvillea. It’s gorgeous year-round, but the rainy season, June through November, makes things incredibly lush.

A note about the food: It’s fabulous. Three female chefs cooking up a storm, turning out fresh and interesting things with local seafood and vegetables. (See, dinner: a giant grilled coconut filled with shrimp and lobster in a ginger broth.) In an effort to constantly delight, lunches, picnics, dinners, and snacks are set up in surprise locations around the property. The greatest luxury of all may be the amount of space guests have to move around, to think to themselves, to breathe; I think just about anyone you travel with (lovers, family, friends) would appreciate it.

?! Careyes

The private estate ?! Careyes was born from a love affair in the free-loving ‘60s. Italian artist, banker, and visionary Gian Franco Brignone had great connections, deep pockets, and an appetite for romance (hence the excited punctuation marks in the name). Bewitched by this slice of jungle on the Pacific Ocean that was little known and far from home, he had a vision of building a miniature Mediterranean village on a cove. A village as colorful as Portofino, but with little disruption to nature. He (eco)consciously developed a small part of the dense jungle, lured a diverse jet-set community, and catered generously to the females he admired (including a cache of former girlfriends, to whom he gifted parcels of land; as well as pregnant marine turtles, to whom he restored their endangered habitat — an impressive ongoing mission).

Careyes is a village unto itself. Fashiony, ecstatic gatherings have been a signature of the place for decades. It’s in Careyes that Cindy Crawford posed in her birthday suit for Playboy. (We’ll give you a moment to Google it.) Today, a global mix of young revelers, escape artists, and dreamers with deep pockets come to relax or get in on the cosmic, euphoric action. (The regulars will tell you that the place emits high vibrations and yin energy, and I don’t disagree.) Now, like then, there's an emphasis on light, color, wind, stars, and hugging the coastline's sinuous curves. There's a big polo scene at Careyes; horseback riding friends of mine who have been going to Careyes for years confirmed the crowd of players and spectators to be a mix of athletes, old-school aristocrats, European party-hoppers, and high-end Burners.

The atmosphere is village-like and convivial; stay curious and say yes to any invitations (from classic gossip-laden cocktail soirées in multiple languages to all-night dance bacchanals). You can spend the day at the beach or pool, and/or add in a few costume changes for the Costa Careyes Polo Club — where you can take a lesson, watch a practice, or attend a tournament (the season runs from November through April). Plaza de los Caballeros del Sol is their version of a small town square with a contemporary art gallery, restaurant, tiny cinema, artist-in-residence showcases, and Mexican craft shops.

I found myself squealing with delight on the beach at dusk with the Careyes Foundation’s biologists and field technicians, assisting hundreds of tiny baby turtles on their journey to the ocean break. Sea Turtle Protection and Conservation Center is the Foundation's pride and joy. This was a truly sweet and charming experience perfect for kids of all ages.

For something truly mind bending and utterly unique, you must take a look at La Copa del Sol. (It's worth falling into an internet hole!) The humongous, cement bowl envisioned by Careyes founder Gian Franco Brignone in a dream represents a woman’s womb receiving life from the sun. Built to his enormous specifications, the sculpture lined up perfectly at sunset when I was there during the spring equinox. The glowing sphere sat perfectly in the cup. Remarkable! During the day, for a fee, you can climb around and inside; some use it for sound baths or to commune with the cosmos. Pyramideon is an equally unbelievable cave carved from a dream into a cliff a mile from La Copa. As the sun sets into the giant cup across the way, it illuminates the pyramid in the cave, lining up exactly during the equinoxes — just as Brigone envisioned it. You cannot make this stuff up, but you can live it.

Once you get to Careyes, it's best to stay for awhile. Try to make friends so that you can get invited back as a house guest; in the meantime, there are plenty of options, from hotel-like rooms to thatched-roof bungalows to colorful casitas. El Careyes Club & Residences offers one- to four-bedroom contemporary suites with views of the ocean, garden, or jungle; five infinity pools; plenty of scenes (chill, family-friendly, energized) for all. Or you can go all out with a fully staffed (privately owned) villa or ocean “castle” that will blow your mind. The Careyes staff handle inquiries for villa rentals and can help match guests to their perfect home away from home. Some of the best lodging options that I saw with my own eyes:

Casa Selva — a seven-bedroom charmer with a thatched roof, tropical garden, media room, infinity pool, and panoramic ocean views. It feels secluded and restorative, and the on-site staff is as lovely as can be.

Casa La Huerta — with a wild serpent mosaic in the pool, an outdoor bar, and a lofty, boho open-air living room, this would be super fun to rent with a gaggle of friends looking to party. The kitchen staff turns out delicious and gorgeous meals. Group Pilates can be arranged in the villa sanctuary.

Casa Aries — painted in a rich blue hue that invites you to chill in one of the fringed hammocks overlooking the sea.

Sol de Oriente— a six-bedroom, lemon yellow, over-the-top photographic marvel built in the Barragan style. (That’s it in the photo above.) A design surprise awaits around every corner as the windows and doors open up to a wraparound pool. (Its sister castle, Sol de Occidente, is across the way in bright orange.) Perfect for an extreme affair or a raging party. (Or both!)

The home cooked food is so good and fresh and healthy, it really can’t be beat. Everyone goes to the hot pink Mexican-Mediterranean Playa Rosa Beach Club for its central location and easy access to the beach. It wasn't open when I visited, but my local friends love Casa de Nada, an old-school rustic spot for dinner, drinks, and a sunset hammock swing on Playa Teopa.

Four Seasons Resort Tamarindo

At the southern end of Costalegre (nearest to Manzanillo Airport), Tamarindo is perched on the secluded cliffs of an eco-reserve over 3,000 acres large. If you've stayed at a Four Seasons before, you know they know how to create an entrance — this place, opened in late 2022, is no exception. Welcoming guests at the magnificent open-air lobby Mansion is a perfect framing of the ocean — far and wide and seemingly infinite.

The young, eager, stylish Mexican staff — many from Jalisco — are cool and inquisitive and look amazing in their deep orange tunics or matching sets from Mexican designer Kris Goyri. They add a dose of friendly energy to the atmosphere while offering golf cart rides all over the property and handing out cool washcloths scented with copal, an aromatic tree resin that calms the nervous system and promotes intuition. (With every inhale of the gorgeous stuff, I felt my pulse slowing down.)

Five of the best Mexican architecture and design studios contributed to the making of Tamarindo, which is an architectural marvel that feels contemporary and time-honored and includes elements of pre-Hispanic culture and colonial heritage. I stayed at the cliffside enclave (thank goodness for the golf carts), in a one-bedroom suite with elevated views of the ocean and reserve, which I kept my eyes on while swimming in my own 43-foot infinity pool, taking an outdoor shower, and soaking in my extremely deep tub.

The main structure is made with local stone, cement, lava rock, and wood, has high ceilings and high walls in some places and no ceilings or walls in others; at times, it feels like you're hovering above the land; at others, you turn a corner and are surprised to be right at sea level. Guests traverse these different indoor-outdoor pathways to access the private beach, three swimming pools, the kids activity area, the spa, and the golf course. In addition to the cliffside suites, there are beach houses and villas. Every decorative feature on the property — hammock, fixture, candle — is purely Mexican; at the perimeters is a deliberate re-wilding of native grasses, shrubs, and trees that give way to the reserve beyond.

Three dining experiences in three different atmospheres make days feel varied and special. I first visited the restaurant Coyul in the black of night, when the sprawling space was dramatically lit around living room-like furniture where we ate fresh aguachile, mole, and tostadas. The place looked a million times different in the morning, when I could actually see that I was on a terrace with glassy infinity pools and an ocean panorama just beyond. I loved the fun little taco bar called Nacho, where we bantered with the chef as we tossed back quesadillas pressed with colorful squash blossoms, creamy guacamole with crunchy grasshoppers, crispy tlayudas with beans, and a traditional Mayan pumpkin dip served with habaneros. At Sal, on the beach, the dinner soundtrack was the roar of crashing waves. I dined on sustainable fish cured in guava salt and sea asparagus salt, ceviches, crispy quinoa, and a number of avant-garde desserts, tipples of mezcal, and herby infusions to wash it all down.

For me, the most satiating experience was found at the temezcal, from the Nahuatl word for “house of heat,” where pre-hispanic rituals (chants, songs, blessings) are performed under the roof of a beautiful stone sweat lodge by two local guides. It was dark inside the circle, and the heat from the rocks was intense, but I found a rhythm in the rounds of song that was meditative, and once I crawled out of the lodge I felt very clear and relaxed and enjoyed the copal scent in my hair and on my skin.

Xala

An ambitious new hospitality project called Xala exemplifies the sustainability goals of the region to the tune of 3,000 acres and a billion dollars. Integrating new development with the surrounding environment and the community is the ultimate goal — the idea is to be the opposite of Miami and Cancun and instead create a blueprint for the future of development. Only 13 percent of the property will be developed in all, which includes a 51-villa Six Senses resort (2026), organic farm, community skate park, design-led lighthouse, and spectacular residential ranchos that make the most of indoor-outdoor living on the beach. For the people already living in the community, Xala restored two estuaries, reforested and cleaned the beaches, and, at the behest of the locals of Morelos, developed a system to pull water to surrounding agricultural land.

On a super fun Jeep tour of the property led by Xala's director of sales and marketing (and local speed demon), Jimena Morató, we blazed through a tidy mango plantation (300 acres), a charming organic farm filled with 50 endemic species and solar panels, a forthcoming sports facility and equestrian center, and over to a cliff's edge with the ocean below, where I was able to climb a newly constructed, sculptural lighthouse in poured concrete by Mexican artist Gonzalo Lebrija. It's contemporary and beautiful — almost church-like – and doubles as an art gallery and performance space. Inside, there is a smooth spiral staircase and a large paper pendant that looks like a full moon. A beacon for a sustainable and beautifully designed future. 

Getting to Costalegre

As of summer 2024, new direct flights from Atlanta, Georgia and Los Angeles, California to Manzanillo-Costalegre International Airport (ZLO) means travelers on these routes can bypass layovers in Mexico City. A weekly flight from LAX will commence in December 2024. Alternatively, travelers can fly direct from many U.S. cities to Puerto Vallarta International Airport (PVR). Rental cars are available, though resorts arrange private car transfers to and from these airports.

Reaching this under-the-radar destination will become much easier with the opening of the brand new Chalacatepec Airport, which is anticipated to open this year. 

For Your Bedside Table

My good friend, the author and humorist Courtney Maum, introduced me to the area many years ago through her fun and tender novel Costalegre. Though purely a work of fiction, it captures the spirit of artists and eccentrics left to their own devices in the jungle.

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