A Caribbean home with its own nightclub, down the road from a perfect beach and a pre-Columbian castle
Casa Luna is a spectacular home in a village featuring a picture-perfect beach overlooked by a Mayan castle.
I opened my emails the other day, and found a message with a single word at the top: 'Ooooh!'
As openers go, it was a good one (certainly better than 'To Whom It May Concern', or 'Dear Country Living Team') — not for its literary elegance, of course, but for its promise of what was to come.
So, I scrolled down to see what my colleague Rosie had forwarded, and as I did a word emerged from my own mouth: 'Ooooh!'
If you've made it this far, I'm going to assume that you've already had the same reaction to the house on this page: a £9 million retreat called Casa Luna on Mexico's Caribbean coast, in a place called Tulum.
Casa Luna, or 'House of the Moon', has everything, and when I say 'everything', I'm including: 13 bedrooms; 19 bathrooms; a sculpture in the hallway; a pool with a swim-up bar; a golf simulator room; a yoga deck erected among the treetops; and an entire nightclub in the basement, complete with full bar, VIP zones, an LED dance floor and a dedicated DJ booth.
I replied to Rosie's email with even fewer words than she used: '!!!!'
Her reply came straight back: 'This could be the whole article: the pictures and then "Ooohh!!!!!"'
Dear reader, you know I'd never short-change you to quite that extent. But that said, feel free to skim lightly over the words that follow, while making 'Oooh!' noises of your own.
I actually went to Tulum once, while escaping from an all-inclusive hotel, and at the time it appeared to consist of a bus stop, a handful of small shops, and a ruined Mayan castle perching above a glorious, white-sand beach.
It was wonderful. Almost all the Mayan ruins on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula are inland, amid the shady, soaring trees of the jungle, and thus Tulum is pretty much unique in its status as a pre-Columbian beach hotspot. It couldn't have been more of a change from the package holiday chaos of Cancún and Playa del Carmen along the coast, and I loved it.
The gym has a staircase machine; and if it's busy, you can just repeatedly climb up and down the stairs instead.
(We hope you're enjoying the pictures, incidentally. If you'd like more, the Christie's International Real Estate website has 180 of them, which is the most I have ever seen on a property listing of any kind.)
This was all some time ago, but while there's been more development in Tulum since then, it's developed a reputation as a rather upmarket, laid back, eco-chic sort of a place. And that means that having a place here is probably a great idea: the best of both words, blending the magical Caribbean climate, easy access via Cancún Airport, and the laid-back atmosphere of this part of Mexico.
So, if you are in the market for a holiday home, fancy one like this, and have a budget in the region of £9 million (or more specifically US$11.9 million) — then today is your day.
Casa Luna is for sale at $11.9 million — see more details.
