Words by Liz Schaffer & Photographs by Angela Terrell
It’s funny how quickly a place can feel like home. Within minutes of arriving at the blush-hued, forest-framed Hacienda de San Antonio, it was mine. This historic hideaway is an oasis, an art-and-colonnade-adorned delight, a hotel with character - its personality reflected in its geometric gardens, sprawling fields and staggering heights. The star though is Volcán de Colima, a magnificent beast entwined with the hacienda’s story; backdropping the homestead and enriching the soil and scenery of the attached, 2,000-hectare Rancho Jabalí.
Although poolside-lounging and cocktail-sipping are encouraged, to fully understand Hacienda de San Antonio and the land it stands upon, a guided ranch tour is essential - after all, Rancho Jabalí supplies the hacienda with around 80 percent of its organic produce. You can visit its cheese factory, where greenery sprouts from the roof and the cobbles are dotted with fallen walnuts. 300 resident cows (who roam free and feast on corn and coconuts) produce 500 litres of milk each day, alongside an army of goats. From this milk, 19 varieties of cheese are made - the most scrumptious of which is the burrata that I ordered with every meal and justifiably refused to share. Or there’s the neighbouring coffee factory, a vestige of the hacienda’s coffee-growing heyday. Production may now be boutique but the beans (picked by hand by local women, many of whom hail from the nearby papel picado-festooned Comala, a Pueblo Mágico) remain excellent, their roasted aroma akin to a nutty, velvety chocolate.
Further in, past bamboo groves and roving raccoons, are lakes ideal for paddleboarding, apéritifs and dinners beneath the stars. You’ll spy iguana-guarded stables, trackside sunflowers, misty waterways, riding trails and herds of unhurried cows grazing amidst the cacti. Here, there are a hundred different landscapes and innumerable spots for a picnic where you’re encouraged to simply sit and look, cradled by mountains, calmed by birdsong and dwarfed by the scale.
Such views are matched by the mirador, a bamboo structure found among the clouds. Hike up here for breakfast and while away an hour watching butterflies flit through the air, their vibrancy mirroring the wildflowers that flavour the hacienda’s honey. Seeing these balletic creatures, my thoughts turned to Mexico’s great migration; the majesty of the monarch and how brilliant it would be to see them in flight. But then I gazed out, past a hummingbird, over the valley, across the river, into the cascade of green, and back to the ever-smoking volcano - brooding and mysterious - and I remembered where I was and how glorious it felt.
The drama of the landscape is reflected in the homestead’s interiors. The 25 lavish suites feature soothing assortments of terracotta and textiles - carefully curated spaces perfect for volcano-watching and in-room massages. You can spend an evening among lanterns and ceramics on the terrace as Volcán de Colima glows pink in the sunset, daydream in the library, survey the gardens with a hot chocolate and concha, or dine before a roaring fire, so lost in the details - the painted ceilings, chandeliers, murals and antiques - that you almost forget to eat. All around are beaded masks, carved doors, ornate mirrors, black stone aqueducts, fountains and ferns. It is a setting designed to enrapture. Inviting and gallery-esque, Hacienda de San Antonio is a place of luxury and magic, of nature and style, the sanctuary of dreams. Welcome home.
This feature first appeared in our Mexico magazine, which you can order by clicking here.
