Pacifico 7 Norte

Pacifico 7 Norte stands in Pacifico Estates, inside the gate that closes Punta Mita off from the rest of the Riviera Nayarit. It is less a house than a compound, laid out across several volumes with more than one way through it. It absorbs a large group the way a small hotel would, without ever feeling like one.

Nine bedrooms and ten bathrooms hold eighteen guests, and nobody has to negotiate for a bathroom or a quiet corner. Several living areas mean the house can carry three conversations at once and keep them apart. The gourmet kitchen is the fixed point. Cook in it yourselves, or leave it to the private chef the concierge can arrange, who will have been through the morning market and the day's catch before anyone asks about lunch.

Outside there are several pools, which is the practical answer to eighteen people with different ideas about a morning. Someone swims properly. Someone else stays in the shallow end with a coffee for an hour. The two Moke cars wait by the entrance, and a group will take one out toward the beach clubs while the rest of the house barely registers that they have gone. A dedicated concierge handles the parts you would rather not think about, which is most of them.

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. The practice facilities and the clubhouse are included, as is access to Punta Mita's private beach clubs.

Air conditioning runs through the house for the hours when the afternoon insists on it. The rest the days will settle on their own.