Villa Amada

Villa Amada carries the Spanish word for beloved, and the house wears it lightly. It stands in Porta Fortuna, one of the communities inside the gates of Punta Mita, the peninsula that reaches into the Pacific on Mexico's Riviera Nayarit. The pace changes once you are through the gate, and the house takes that pace as its own.

Four bedrooms and one additional suite, served by five bathrooms, sleep ten. The extra suite is what makes the villa work for a group that does not divide neatly: a fifth couple, grandparents, older children who want a door of their own. Inside, the living spaces are generous and open into one another rather than closing the house into rooms. The gourmet kitchen is the part everyone ends up standing in.

The private pool sets the rhythm. Mornings are slow and mostly wet. Someone claims the shade by eleven, someone else keeps swimming, and lunch happens when it happens. The six-passenger golf cart is the other thing that shapes a day here. It goes out after breakfast with one half of the group and comes back for the other, and by late afternoon nobody is quite sure where it is. Evenings stay outdoors for as long as the light does.

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

Air conditioning and high-speed WiFi are there when you want them. Most days you will want them less than you expected.