Casa Morgandez

Casa Morgandez sits inside the tropical gardens of Iyari Estates, on Punta Mita's gated peninsula on the Riviera Nayarit. The gardens come first here. They surround the house, they hold the temperature down, and they keep most of the property in green shade, with the ocean visible past them.

Five bedrooms and six bathrooms for ten guests. The living spaces are open air, so the house has no real boundary between inside and out. You notice the wind picking up in the afternoon, the change in the light, the sound of the garden after dark. The kitchen is fully equipped for a group that would rather cook for itself than be cooked for.

The private pool sits in the middle of all of it. Most days stay outdoors and move slowly. The six-passenger golf cart is there for the ones that do not, carrying a group off toward the beach clubs or the courses while the rest stay exactly where they are. From November to March the humpback whales pass along the coast, and the concierge can arrange a day out to the Islas Marietas, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve lying offshore.

Premier Golf membership comes with the villa. It opens both Jack Nicklaus Signature courses, including the Pacifico's hole 3B, the only natural island green in the world, reached by boat when the tide allows. It also covers the practice facilities, the clubhouse, and Punta Mita's private beach clubs.

Air conditioning is there for the few hours the gardens cannot manage on their own.