Las Brisas: A Private Paradise

Photos and article by Eleanor S. Morris

Love is in the air at Acapulco's dreamy Las Brisas resort.

Imagine sleeping in your own lovely bedroom strewn with fresh hibiscus flowers; stepping out onto your own private balcony with all of beautiful Acapulco Bay spread before your eyes. Drink in the view at sunset, when the sky turns pink and gold, the town lights begin to twinkle and the stars come out. Then darkness falls and the curve of the bay becomes a crescent of sparkling lights reflecting in the water.

A step away, your own secluded swimming pool, pink hibiscus blossoms floating gently on the surface. Two lounge chairs wait by the pool; beyond, a set of patio chairs around a small table are shaded by a pink Arabian Nights canopy. Below, luscious tropical foliage cascades down the hill.

This is Las Brisas, the Breezes, a romantic resort layered on the hills above the lovely Mexican city of Acapulco. Each casita (little house) is totally private; your continental breakfast is even delivered quietly each morning to a compartment beside your front door. You open it at your convenience from a small door inside your casita.

When you feel like venturing out, there's golf, five tennis courts, aquatic sports and a fully-equipped gym. If you want a change from your private pool, La Brisas' La Concha is a private beach club and restaurant down on the bay. For an informal lunch, there's the Deli-Shop, with quite an assortment of delicious pastries.

The resort is built up the hillside, and for fine dining there's Bellavista halfway up, an open-air restaurant with all the lights of the city twinkling across the bay and live piano music as you dine.

Pink and white jeeps are at your back and call, whether to whisk you off to resort activities, to lunch or dinner, or deliver you down to the lobby where taxis await, should you wish to go into town.

There, a ride in a calandria, a little horse-drawn carriage, along Costera Miguel Aleman, the bay-side avenue, is a romantic treat, as well as a relaxing way to see the town.

Acapulco is famous for the daredevil divers of La Quebrada, a not-to-miss attraction. They dive from a 150-foot cliff into a shallow inlet, with each dive perfectly timed to coincide with an incoming wave. A mistake in the timing and the diver risks being crushed on the jagged rocks below.

Handicrafts and Mexican curios are fun to shop for at the Flea Market; the way to it is clearly marked by signs. And Acapulco has a romantic history as well: pirates and an exotic far-east trade. Even Sir Francis Drake found it worth while to try to intercept some Spanish Galleons on the Pacific Ocean between the Philippines and Acapulco. Built to protect the port, Fort San Diego still has cannon pointing to the east from the battlements, while inside the fort you'll find a grand museum with museum cases filled with exotic silks, embroideries and porcelains from the Orient.

Whether honeymoon, anniversary, or any special time, Las Brisas Resort offers luxury and privacy in one of the most romantic places in the world: a breathtaking viewpoint high on the hill on the border of a city where the mountains meet the sea.

Copyright Eleanor S. Morris