La Villa Blanca in Manzanillo Mexico
I attempted to put my thoughts into words about traveling during a pandemic last month so this month is going to be all about our amazing experience. 🤩 We stayed at the stunning Villa Blanca that everyone said, had the best views in all of La Punta. And we couldn’t argue.
The view from the main area of the house
Manzanillo is on the Pacific Coast of Mexico a few hours south of Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara. Only a few airlines fly into Manzanillo - United, American and Alaskan. United goes through Houston, American through Dallas and Phoenix and Alaskan through LAX. We flew United and it was only a 2.5 hour flight from Houston. The airport is right on the coast so you get some spectacular views flying in. Despite the grand views, the airport is a small one that brought back memories of flying into Belize City and Grenada.
Spectacular views as we descended - our house in on the area of land sticking out into the Pacific
Our driver/concierge was waiting for us as we exited the airport - along with cervezas for the 30ish minute ride to the house. I love driving away from the arrival area of a place to get to see the locals go about their day - so I was staring out the window the entire drive trying to take it all in. Once we got to La Punta it was a winding and steep drive up to the house. And as we pulled up, the entire staff was waiting outside with a tray of margaritas. 🍹
Salud!
We were immediately shown around the five bedroom house and selected our bedrooms. All of them had amazing views - we could have just drawn numbers out of a hat and we would have all been happy. We ended up by the pool that first afternoon and we would end up spending pretty much all of our time there when we were at the house. The pool area connected to two living rooms and the bar area and which had plenty of places to sit and relax and take in the ridiculous view. Within a couple hours we even spotted our first whales in Santiago Bay. It was the season to spot both humpbacks and gray whales - humpbacks are in the area to mate while the grays are there to give birth. We are fairly certain those first ones we saw were a gray mommy whale and her baby - as well as the ones we saw all week because they were leisurely swimming around and not as active as I’d expect the humpbacks to be. 🐋💗🐋
The view from our room.
The staff at the house was exceptional.
Our chef and his sous chef made amazing meals all week long. We had a standard menu of about 5 dishes to pick from at breakfast (my favorite were the chilaquiles verdes) alongside freshly squeezed orange juice and a small plate of picture perfect fresh cut fruit. We then had a list of meals to pick from to create our lunch and dinner menu for the week. Despite it being heavy on seafood, one of our favorites ended up being steak quesadillas. Every day we’d have guacamole, amazing pico de gallo, a refried bean dip and on occasion they'd add some queso fundido. We’d get to pick whether we wanted to eat inside or outside. Obviously the outside had phenomenal views but at nighttime we couldn’t see the beautiful food so we were often inside for that. 😂 Lunch was frequently at the beach because that is where we spent most days. They would bring coolers with drinks and trays of food to us down at the beach and set it all up on the tables. Those were by far my most favorite times, sitting there with friends in beautiful weather next to the ocean. 😊
The ultimate dinner set-up
And then there were the drinks. We had our own bartender who quickly learned our drink choices (“More wine?” was the frequent question to me😁) And while we weren’t ordering anything too crazy, he was able to make anything we requested and would create new ones for us. The beer was typical Mexican cerveza but I learned that I actually like Pacifico but confirmed that I still don’t like Corona Light. I expected some South American wines (which we did get) but I was very pleasantly surprised to find out that the Chardonnay I had been drinking was L.A. Cetto and actually made IN Mexico. I was online trying to find it in America well before we left. There was, of course, plenty of liquor. I expected to have a lot of margaritas but we discovered the Paloma - and our bartender made them very well. It’s got tequila of course but they also put a bit of salt in the bottom of the glass and then top it off with Fresca (Would you like a Fresca? was all I could think all week). As with most sodas outside of the US it was made with REAL sugar (and not available in the states) so re-creating it won’t quite be the same. In addition to making drinks, our bartender taught one of us to fish the traditional way they do there using only a line, hook and weight. They’ll swing the line around almost like a lasso to throw it out into the water. And we actually did catch one on our last day that our awesome chef cooked up for us!
Our staff going all out on our last night
The staff also kept the place immaculate. They even did our laundry so I really could have packed less clothes even though there was enough space in the closet for 5 times what I brought. Some of the rooms had their showers up against a window (ours was one of them) and it was so cool to take a shower and stare out at the Pacific. They had some basic shower amenities, a hair dryer and on-brand robes and slippers. We had a desk to sit at but I usually sat outside at the table by the pool when I wrote in my journal. But it would be a quiet place to work if needed. In addition to the desk we had a sitting area by the window and most rooms had a private balcony/patio. Even for the rooms that didn’t, there were plenty of spots to find to sit and stare at the water around the property.
One of the various exceptional balcony views
In general, the staff would get us whatever we asked for. A certain kind of whiskey? It was there the next day. Pool noodles (aka “spaghetti” in Mexico🍝) to float on in the ocean? Done. Even when one of us asked if there was a book on the history of the area, a few days later, they had a title and author for her. They booked our sunset tour and subsequent dinner out (giving the staff a night off) which was great because they have good relationships with the locals. With them handling it, we knew we were getting good quality and service. When we were on our tour of the city our driver told us what shops were good to buy from (aka don’t buy from the ones by the port as that is where all the cruise ship visitors go) so we went to some in downtown Santiago instead of Manzanillo. He also took us to see some iguanas which I had been hoping to see. And then on our way to the airport we got to visit a Saturday market. It was cool to see as it was more for locals than tourists but we were able to get plenty of souvenirs and see a bit of everyday Mexican life.
The iguanas in downtown Manzanillo were GIANT and there were probably like 200+
While we took advantage of a few of the things outside of La Punta (I’m sure we’d have done more in non-Covid times) we spent almost every day at the beach. While our pool at the house was spectacular, the beach was something else. The neighborhood of La Punta has their own private beach so only residents and guests of the homes are allowed in. In addition to the beach they have a pool there and dozens of tables set up with umbrellas (which is where we would eat our beach lunches). They also have changing rooms, bathrooms and a grill to cook food. The water was cold at first but we spent a lot of time floating on our noodles, sunning on the floating dock, sipping cervezas and I even got to go snorkeling a few times. Most times we were the only ones at the beach. Super fun and super relaxing.
The beach at La Punta
I hadn’t been on a stay-in-one-place-by-the-beach trip in years. Shane and I’s first international trip was it - to Belize. Because once Shane and I went to Europe together, we couldn’t stop going. So when this opportunity presented itself, we figured, why not? While it was planned pre-Covid I’m glad we still went because getting away with friends and putting off everything crazy that happened in 2020 for just a while was exactly what we all needed.
The stay at Villa Blanca is a 5 star experience but not at a 5 star price. You get exceptional service in a stunning location. We didn’t want to leave and are ready to go back - so obviously, I can’t recommend staying at La Villa Blanca enough!