Welcome to One Night time In, a sequence about staying in essentially the most unparalleled locations obtainable to relaxation your head.
The primary time I went to Puerto Escondido in June 2023, it’d been nearly a decade since Mexican artist Bosco Sodi’s Casa Wabi, designed by Tadao Ando, put the distant stretch of Oaxacan shoreline on the worldwide design map. As soon as a quiet fishing village with a legendary beachbreak, Puerto Escondido has been on the verge of overflow—significantly because the pandemic—because of a increase in tourism bolstered by the continuing improvement of its fashionable backpacker lodging and slew of design lodges and leases which have adopted in Casa Wabi’s visible custom.
For years, the realm’s primary saving grace in opposition to overtourism was that it was comparatively onerous to get to, requiring a pricey sequence of flights or a 10-hour drive by the Sierra Madre del Sur Mountains. Once I returned to Puerto Escondido in early 2024, nonetheless, everybody was speaking concerning the impending opening of the brand new Barranca Larga-Ventanilla freeway: a contentious mission poised to flood the realm with much more vacationers, reducing the drive down to 2 hours from Oaxaca Metropolis.
Conflicted about my very own position in Puerto Escondido’s improvement, I initially stayed away from the one-mile stretch northwest of city known as Punta Pájaros, the place Casa Wabi and the close by Resort Escondido by Grupo Habita (additionally established 2014) gave approach to equally brutalist-style hospitality initiatives that mix conventional components of Mexican and Japanese structure. Amongst these locations is Terrestre, a 2022 retreat from Grupo Habita that was designed by Mexican architect Alberto Kalach, who was additionally behind the brick-and-stone Casona Sforza south of the well-known “Mexican Pipeline” at Playa Zicatela, and designed a pavilion at Casa Wabi, in addition to a Mexico Metropolis outpost for the humanities nonprofit. At upwards of $350 per evening, nonetheless, Terrestre additionally wasn’t in my finances. However once I discovered concerning the low-impact ethos behind its design—the resort says it operates absolutely off-grid utilizing solar energy—I used to be intrigued. After reaching out to the staff to see if I might arrange a keep and getting a sure, I made a decision to search out out extra for myself.
Terrestre’s 14 villas are crafted from concrete, brick, sand, clay, and wooden. The sharp, geometric types, earthy supplies, and naked surfaces fall consistent with Mexico’s architectural heritage.
Wednesday
11 a.m.: After a 40-minute taxi journey from Playa Zicatela, the place I’ve been staying close to Puerto’s touristic heart, the motive force rolls up the home windows as we flip onto a dusty, single-lane highway. I’m greeted exterior Terrestre’s entry and led down a path shrouded in wild greenery: craggy cacti, copal bushes, and yellow oleander, to call just a few. The open-air foyer encompasses a reflecting pool balanced on a concrete platform. There’s ambient music enjoying softly. I pull out my telephone to Shazam, however: no service.
Given the resort’s fastidiously curated look, I half anticipated a stiff expertise catered to the Instagram-inclined. My first impression proves me incorrect. With solely 14 villas, an open-air restaurant, and some geometric buildings holding swimming pools and spa areas, the grounds are exceptionally quiet. The employees give me an summary of the property and providers, together with the complimentary hammam, the place I ebook a later reservation. I seize a map that may turn out to be useful for navigating the maze of sand pathways that circumnavigate the positioning’s buildings. It’s sufficiently small to stroll throughout in about 5 minutes—that’s, if you could find your means. I additionally indulgently join a day therapeutic massage.
Outdoors every villa, and strategically positioned throughout the property, are foot-washing basins comprised of volcanic rock. Earlier than I enter my room, I gently rinse my toes within the cool water and get my first style of the easy however sensorial sophistication that the resort markets itself with. It’s fabulous.
Every villa comes with its personal personal rooftop pool and terrace.
Every of the monolithic villas includes two flooring with a non-public backyard on the bottom degree and an exterior staircase that results in a private rooftop pool. I stroll in to a queen-size mattress located in entrance of a small aspect desk and pair of chairs by Mexican architect and designer Oscar Hagerman, all oriented towards a wall of slatted picket doorways and home windows that open onto the gardens. The palette is earthy and restrained: easy concrete flooring, thick brick partitions, barrel-vaulted ceilings, and picket accents. A floating shelf with a Bluetooth speaker and a chaotic number of English- and Spanish-language secondhand books—a Invoice Gates biography, a compendium of Mexico’s 250 finest eating places, and a Marianne Williamson title—are neatly positioned alongside a notice gently reminding me to look at my power consumption on the solar-powered property. Hanging within the closet are light-weight, robe-like clothes made by Oaxacan designer Maison Gallot for company to put on across the property. It’s not my factor, however I’ll finally see just a few others sporting them whereas wandering the sinuous sandy walkways.
1:15 p.m.: I head to the pool the place I take a dip after rinsing my toes in one other basin. A couple of daybeds dot the perimeter, however the one signal that I’ve firm is a crumpled towel left on a cushion.
2 p.m.: On the best way from the pool to my appointment with the resort masseuse, Carmen, I get misplaced for the primary of many occasions over the following 24 hours. After a few incorrect turns and some minutes, I arrive on the conical pavilion that matches a therapeutic massage desk and never a lot else. Instead of a door and home windows, the therapy space has a beaded wooden curtain and louvers that permit air and lightweight flow into. My rambling ideas are spirited away by the thick wafts of copal incense that burn all through the hour-long therapy. I depart feeling relaxed and prepared for a snack.
The sculptural brick hammam has a scorching tub, steam room, rain bathe, and chilly plunge.
3:15 p.m.: I head towards Lunático, Terrestre’s quieter tackle a seaside membership. On the best way, I cross varied disco balls hanging inexplicably from the in any other case unadorned buildings all through the property. It feels counterintuitive to the resort’s pared-down vibe. However I’m nothing if not a hypocrite: by the tip of my keep I’ve a digital camera roll affected by snaps of the glittering decorations.
Figuring out I’ve an early dinner reservation, I go for an order of guacamole and make my means all the way down to the beachfront. I settle into one of many daybeds and savor the practically empty shoreline. It seems like a luxurious—with the worth tag and price to achieve the comparatively distant property, it’s a luxurious—and I fortunately spend the following hour sunning myself earlier than heading to my subsequent appointment: the hammam.
4:30 p.m.: The seven-chamber hammam is a sculptural brick tower with a scorching tub, steam room, rain bathe, and chilly plunge. It’s sufficiently small that I perceive why the employees regulates reservations to one by one. Even when the constructing had been greater, I think about the principles could be the identical. The ambiance at Terrestre feels unexpectedly introverted; it’s not the place with a resort pleased hour encouraging you to mingle with fellow company.
My identify isn’t on the reservation board and the chambers all really feel like various levels of tepid. I do know it’s a straightforward repair on the entrance desk—and the employees have been unfailingly pleasant and accommodating— however I’m beginning to lean into the solitude right here. Although my villa shares partitions with different suites on either side (the 14 visitor rooms are cut up into two rows of seven, bisected by the property’s pool) it seems like a non-public sanctuary. I nix the hammam and head again to my room. I spend the following hour operating a plunge circuit of my very own creation, alternating between a dip within the saltwater pool on my terrace and sunning myself like a lizard sprawled out on the concrete. Sometimes, echoes of waves and stains of sentimental music waft by the breeze.
The coastal Oaxacan property designed by Mexican architect Alberto Kalach’s agency Taller de Arquitectura X (TAX) employs brutalist-style types and supplies.
5:30 p.m.: For sundown, I contemplate the apparent alternative of heading to the resort’s Mirador adjoining to the hammam. The brick viewing platform rises from stairs to miss the encircling triptych of structure, ocean, and mountains. Tempting, however I resolve to proceed enjoyable across the villa earlier than dinner and resolve to reserve it for tomorrow morning, maybe.
After a efficiently scorching bathe, I open up my room’s terraced doorways and lie in mattress, clear, heat, and never doing a lot of something. Terrestre’s off-grid design means there’s no air-conditioning. As an alternative, the buildings depend on passive design strategies to manage indoor temperatures. Previous to my go to, I used to be skeptical of how cool my room would really really feel with out a mini cut up on full-blast. And but, the temperature exterior is within the higher 80s, and I’m impressed by how comfy the room is.
7 p.m.: Terrestre has an on-site restaurant that serves three meals a day, however I decide to enterprise out. Admittedly, I don’t should go far: my dinner reservation is at Cobarde, a mezcal spot with a pink-concrete bar below a picket, thatched-roof construction a few 30-second stroll from the foyer.
My palette is decidedly unsophisticated, however even I can inform the Espadín I order is one thing particular: easy and hintingly candy. I order the fish of the day, which is huachinango (purple snapper). With my unrelenting candy tooth, what I’m most enthusiastic about is a shaved coconut ice dessert. Perhaps it’s the chilled deal with within the humid evening air, or possibly it’s the mezcal, however both means I’m obsessed.
There isn’t any air-conditioning on the solar-powered property. As an alternative, the resort’s buildings had been constructed to run parallel to the coast with openings for the ocean breeze to stream freely all through.
Thursday
7:15 a.m.: I get up refreshed and head as much as my terrace earlier than the day’s warmth overwhelms. Although the property is pulled again from the seaside, it’s shut sufficient that I can hear (and see) the waves crashing from my perch. Alternating between the low daybed and hammock strung between brick partitions, I start one among my favourite luxuries: a sluggish morning with a cup of espresso and a very good ebook.
10:15 a.m.: After a seaside stroll and a quick-but-much-needed swim (the solar is already potent), I head to Terrestre’s restaurant for breakfast. The eating space includes a wood-slatted pergola with metal beams that extends above a big concrete patch within the sand. (In fact, a requisite disco ball hangs from one nook.) It feels low-key in comparison with the property’s different extra imposing silhouettes. I go for yogurt with fruit and a glass of contemporary orange juice from the buffet. There’s an array of pastries and, ever the sugar fiend, I choose a bit of sourdough slathered in a thick layer of butter and sprinkled with sugar. Completely no regrets on that one.
Terrestre’s open-air restaurant is one among a handful of eateries in Punta Pájaros, a quiet enclave about 40 minutes from central Puerto Escondido best-known as the house of Casa Wabi.
11 a.m.: Terrestre’s concierge communicates by way of WhatsApp (whereas service is spotty, the Wi-Fi is regular), and we’ve been exchanging messages to coordinate my departure. This afternoon I’m heading down the highway for a tour of Casa Wabi, and so they graciously enable me to maintain my issues in my room for the day since nobody is checking in after me.
1:45 p.m.: I seize one of many resort’s complimentary bikes and pedal about 10 minutes down the filth highway to the nondescript Casa Wabi campus, which incorporates an artist residency, rotating exhibitions, and installations embedded all through the panorama by architects together with Ando, Kalach, Kengo Kuma, and Álvaro Siza. If this web site was the impetus for Puerto Escondido’s high-design increase, its masterfully poured concrete partitions and shifting sight strains make a very good case for the encircling architectural vernacular.
Prime photograph by Jaime Navarro, courtesy Resort Terrestre
