El Palmar by Boutique

A Fully Staffed Beach Estate by Diego Villaseñor, Playa Grande, Oaxaca

El Palmar sits on the sand at Playa Grande, a village of about 300 people on one of the least-built stretches of the Mexican Pacific. Five suites sleep up to 15 guests, and what would otherwise be a remote address comes with full staff, including a resident cook and a service team.

The house is the work of Diego Villaseñor, founder of the Mexico City firm DVA and, in the Barragán tradition of Mexican modernists, an architect who has spent half a century building into coastlines rather than onto them. He's been called one of the 100 best architects in the world (La Jornada, 2016; Forbes México, 2015), and in 2015 Rizzoli published a monograph of his work entitled Architecture and Nature. Here, his philosophy shows in palapa roofs pitched to draw the sea breeze through the rooms, and in walls of local stone and tropical hardwood that blend the buildings with the ground they stand on.

The five suites take their names from what grows and moves around them: Palmas, Limonero, Parota, Iguanas and Mangal. Each opens to the outdoors and each has its own full bathroom. Parota carries a mezzanine loft tucked under the roof. The others sit close to the garden and the water. The same stone and timber run from the terraces into the rooms, so the suites are connected to the coast rather than sealed off from it.

Outside, a free-form pool anchors the estate, hammocks hang in the shade, and terraces step down toward the sand. The beach runs for kilometers with almost nothing on it, part of the federally protected Santuario Barra de la Cruz-Playa Grande, one of the most important leatherback nesting beaches on the eastern Pacific. And the staff can take you down to it.

Layout

This vacation home for rent in Playa Grande, Oaxaca, Mexico sleeps up to 15 guests. The five suites sit on a single level, arranged around the central pool and gardens across some 7,000 square meters of beachfront, each opening to the outdoors with its own full bathroom. The sleeping arrangements are flexible for families. Several suites carry an extra single or a small adjoining room, and Parota adds a mezzanine loft with two single beds.

• Bedroom 1 (Palmas): King, double, single, en suite

• Bedroom 2 (Iguanas): King, single, en suite

• Bedroom 3 (Mangal): King, single, en suite

• Bedroom 4 (Parota): King, single, en suite, mezzanine loft with two singles

• Bedroom 5 (Limonero): King, single, en suite, adjoining room with double

Experiences

The staff can arrange surfing lessons, guided ecological walks, fishing, in-house massage, a nanny service, seasonal turtle-nesting visits on the sanctuary beach, and agricultural experiences in the surrounding Sierra Sur. They also recommend a nighttime bioluminescent kayak tour at Laguna Manialtepec, about three hours away.

Amenities

Resident cook, daily housekeeping and service staff, free-form swimming pool, private access to the beach, hammocks and terraces, walled garden, fully equipped kitchen, air conditioning and ceiling fans, Wi-Fi in the shared areas, laundry, safe, iron, and parking for four to five cars. Available on request: surfing lessons, guided activities, and airport transfers.

Good to know

A three-night minimum stay applies. The estate is remote. The nearest town and the airport are both about 45 minutes away, and food, drinks and arranged activities are billed to your account separately from the nightly rate. Daily housekeeping, the resident cook and the service team, including their gratuities, are included. Guests choose their suites and share meal preferences before arrival. The home is single-level with an accessible-height bed and toilet, and a lit path to the entrance.

Around

This is one of the emptiest parts of the Oaxacan coast, a run of cliffs, wide beaches and open horizon with almost nothing built on it. The point break at Barra de la Cruz, rated among the best waves in Mexico, breaks just along the shore. Bahías de Huatulco, 45 minutes west, is the nearest town, with its nine bays and the marina at Santa Cruz. Two and a half hours further on is Puerto Escondido, home to the surf at Playa Zicatela and the mezcal bars of La Punta. The same distance east lies the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, known for its pottery, weaving and embroidery. About three hours away are Casa Wabi, the art foundation Bosco Sodi built with Tadao Ando, and Laguna Manialtepec, whose water glows with bioluminescence at night.