Playa Viva
Playa Viva
If winter at home means gray skies, Playa Viva is the opposite: open-air rooms on nearly a mile of quiet Pacific beach, where whales pass offshore and sea turtle hatchlings head for the water at first light.
The property covers 200 acres near Juluchuca, on the Guerrero coast, where the Sierra Madre comes down close to the ocean. It runs entirely on solar energy and has a 20-acre permaculture farm that supplies roughly 15 to 20 percent of its food.
What the stay is actually like
There are 20 rooms across treehouses, casitas, suites, and studios, all with a private bathroom and an ocean view. Most have no glass windows, sealed doors, or air-conditioning. They're built around shade and the breeze off the Pacific.
The treehouses take their shape from the mobula rays that migrate offshore. They're built with bamboo grown on the property's farm and raised among the palms, with roofs that curve out like wings. Beds are dressed in Mexican cotton, showers are rainfall, and there are no TVs or phones. Staff lower the mosquito netting before evening, and the waves are what you fall asleep to.
Your days here
Ask for a wake-up call when hatchlings are ready to be released from the property's turtle sanctuary, then stay on the beach for morning yoga. Breakfast and dinner are at shared tables, and lunch is announced by a bell at two. Whale watching runs with marine biologists from Whales of Guerrero, and there are birding trips, snorkeling, diving, surfing, and a visit to a family coffee and cacao farm in the Sierra Madre.
Meals, daily yoga, taxes, gratuities, and a contribution to ReSiMar, a community-led regeneration organization working across the local watershed, are included in the rate. Spa treatments and excursions are extra.
Getting there and when to go
Fly into Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo International. The drive to the property takes about 45 minutes.
Winter is the dry season here, with lower humidity, clear days, cooler evenings, humpback whales, and the busiest months for hatchlings. January nights can call for a blanket. Most rooms involve stairs and stone paths, and only one room can be reached without stairs. Expect mosquitoes and sand flies, especially around sunset.
The property
