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Las Alamandas, under the plan of its original owner, the late Don Anteno Patiño, was slated to become a major, large-capacity resort, not unlike Las Hadas, the Bolivian tin tycoon’s first major project, in Manzanillo. When Don Anteno passed away in 1982 though, the Las Alamandas blueprints were taken over by his ecologically-conscious granddaughter Isabel Goldsmith-Patiño (daughter of British billionaire Sir James Goldsmith) who decided to limit development on the 1,500-acre tract of land to a handful of small villas. Today, as large-scale hotels continue to sprout up all along the Mexican coast, battling it out for space, Isabel’s six villas, which come in shades of hot pink, canary yellow and burnt orange and contain various Mexican handicrafts, are a refreshingly remote hideaway. In addition to the unshared 1,500 acres, a few others factors help safeguard the “hideaway” part: no signs on the road leading up to Las Alamandas indicate its existence and a highly lauded staff keeps all secluded beach areas just that. This type of almost secretive privacy has, not surprisingly, attracted the likes of several celebrity jet-setters—who usually touch down on the hotel’s private landing strip—including Cindy Crawford, Robert deNiro, on whose request a gym was recently added, and Brad Pitt.

Altogether there are fourteen suites and a maximum of 30 guests. Rates vary according to the desired villa but start at $488/suite for the garden villas, depending on the season, and $838/suite for the oceanside ones. The entire resort can also be booked.

TIP: Casa del Sol, Casa Isabel, and Casa del Doma are the pricier, oceanside villas; the others open up into little gardens, some of which stock the kitchen with organic vegetables.