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Costa Careyes (or Careyes as initiates tend to abbreviate it), is not technically a private club, but it certainly feels like a sexier version of Lyford Cay, the members-only enclave in the Bahamas. Surrounded by 30,000 acres of nature preserve, the 4,000-acre resort on Mexico’s Pacific Coast has some of the most glorious warm-weather houses in the world. One comes with a rope ladder bridge to its own wave-crashed peninsula. Two others come with moatlike pools so guests can swim from the porch off of their bedrooms to the dining patio for breakfast if the spirit moves them.

Inspired by the jet-set scene of the Costa Smeralda, the scion of an Italian banking family, Gian Franco Brignone founded the resort and real estate development in the early 1970s. He staked out a wedge of land between Puerto Vallarta and Manzinillo and began with a beach house on a palm-shaded cove. According to legend, he lured Gianni Agnelli as a houseguest in the early days. Sir James Goldsmith rented houses in the 1980s, before purchasing a 25,000-acre parcel down the beach where he created his own fantasyland, complete with a menagerie of African animals and a Moorish castle, called Cuixmala (A report on the houses available for rent there coming soon).

Over the years, the Brignone family worked with architects, artisans and aristocratic homeowners to fashion a distinct Careyes look for the fortysome private houses and the hotel and restaurants that they gradually added. Some of the most extravagant homes have been built in the past decade but all embody a kind of mad Mediterranean-meets-Mexican fiesta/siesta lifestyle. The cliffside houses, in a riot of bright colors—from cobalt blue to deep peach and electric pink—emphasize glamorous open living. Palm-thatched shaded great rooms extend out to vast stone decks inlaid with mosaic patterns and infinity-edged pools that drop down to Pacific views. Forget the current craze for houses that blend into the environment. Here, they stand out and make a dramatic statement like the bougainvillea that blooms flamboyantly along the pathways.

The lush look and lush living (houses are fully-staffed and polo matches are among the daily activities) draws an international crowd who come for the spectacular surroundings. Whether it’s siesta or fiesta time, they know that they will be well taken care of. Celebrities like Seal and Heidi Klum who own a house here, are safe from paparazzi, and the party loving, like Colin Cowie, are guaranteed a colorful scene.