By Carey Sweet 

    Since I’ve visited Punta Mita four times over the past year, my friends are curious. What great excitement exists there to make the boutique enclave such a top pick in the more than 760,000-square-miles that is the country of Mexico? A better question would be, what diversions are not there? For me, a type A traveler who packs so much into most trips that I come home exhausted and needing a vacation, the quiet, relaxed Punta Mita has become my respite.
    As a 1,500-acre beachfront village nestled on the north end of Bahía de Banderas in the Mexican state of Nayarit, development is limited to several private estate and villa communities. At the heart St. Régis and Four Seasons resorts. Once a visitor gets past the guard-gated entry, there is little reason to leave, and so much enticement to unwind. Punta Mita is located just about 10 miles north of Puerto Vallarta but is worlds apart from that bustling town of all-inclusive hotels, nightclubs and tourist shopping.
    Indeed, the word "mita" has been traced back to ancient Aztec language as meaning "Gateway to Paradise." There is golf at two Jack Nicklaus courses, played directly along the Pacific Ocean and off the “Tail of the Whale,” a par-three hole on the largest natural island green in the world. I can kayak, sail and snorkel, and sunbathe on miles of quiet, white sand beaches year-round, since average summer temperatures are 85° (crashing to 75° during winter). For the deep-pocketed - and let’s be honest, most guests here are - there is private yacht rental, from either hotel. In the spring, the community hosts a Gourmet & Golf Classic (2011 was the inaugural year) for a lavish celebration of food, wine and tequila. Chefs from around the world converge on the Four Seasons and St. Régis for four days of over-the-top parties, lunches and dinners, showcasing foods as tantalizing as tripe tacos and as intriguing as Victorian kangaroo pie. The festivities include friendly golfing competition, and, when I visited for the 2012 Classic, more Veuve Clicquot poured than I’ve ever seen in my life.
    As soon as I arrived at the St. Régis for my check-in, a chilled flute of the champagne was placed in my hand. Another was offered as my private butler  led me to my garden suite. At the opening reception that evening at the resort’s ocean front Sea Breeze Beach Club, some 200 guests worked their way through 80 bottles of Veuve Clicquot, as well as the copious wines, martinis, margaritas and whiskies also being offered.
    While the Gourmet Classic takes place just once a year, a lavish lifestyle is a Punta Mita hallmark year-round. It’s evident from the very lobby of the St. Régis, where cocktails are offered from an open bar on the back patio that acts as theater overlooking gardens, fountain pools and a swath of azure ocean framed by palm trees. Opened in November, 2008, the property features 89 guest rooms, 30 suites and a three-bedroom presidential suite, with buildings cloistered in two-story casita arrangements that include bonuses like private patios and outdoor rain showers. Spread over 22 acres of private peninsula, recreation includes three restaurants, three infinity pools with private cabanas, a fitness center, private beach club, tennis courts, and a 10,000 square foot Remède spa. For the resort’s grand opening during this ongoing recession time, just one guest room was booked, I learned. For the Classic weekend, the property was at 99 percent occupancy.
    It’s clear this isn’t rustic Mexico. Actually, if there’s any drawback, the Punta Mita experience is so manicured it might be anywhere with a gorgeous beach – Hawaii, Fiji, or the like. As a cap, we can visit an expansive sales center that invites us to purchase Punta Mita property. And I love it all. The décor breathes comfortable opulence throughout, in lavish accents of Mexican galarza stone, river stone, marble, onyx, wood and clay, paired with Old World European furnishings. In the mornings, complementary coffees and pastries are delivered  to the rooms, and in the afternoon, an elaborate tea service is hosted in the lobby.
    “Please let me know how I can serve,” said my butler as he showed me how to work the complicated phone system that could be used to summon him 24 hours a day. A private butler is St. Régis signature, and while in reality the butler is no different from a bellman or concierge at any fine property, it’s certainly fun to say, as in “more Veuve Clicquot, please, private butler.”
    Fair warning: this resort is very popular with families tugging along herds of small children. Perhaps the kids like soccer games on the lawn next to the casual, al fresco Las Marietas Mexican restaurant, or the piñata parties that staff set up on the beach, or playing Bingo in the La Tortuga Children's Club.
    Yet there is plenty of adult-only escape, too, notably the resort’s signature restaurant Carolina. Ambitious adult tastes are fed very well here, with dishes like Caribbean lobster roasted with spices and served atop fennel mousseline with a hint of Papantla vanilla and coriander vinaigrette. Executive chef Sylvain Desbois emphasizes seafood, done in rich flavors and vibrant colors, such as a dramatic spider crab decorated with lemon confit and fennel atop melon-mint gazpacho, or the Canelón, bringing an artichoke stuffed with lobster, foie gras and earthy truffle.
    This is also where I savored some Mexican wines, as a welcome alternative to the mostly South American and Italian brands I so often see in Mexican restaurants. One of my favorites, Casa Madero of Valle de Parras in Coahuila, is renowned as the oldest winery not just in Mexico but in all the Americas, and makes a very good 2V Chenin Blanc-Chardonnay blend, plus a delightful 3V blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Tempranillo that drinks like silk.
    Much of a vacation can be made napping happily on cushy canopied day beds on the beach, cooled by caressing breezes and complementary popsicles offered by staff. So it was that well-fed and well-golfed through the Gourmet Classic, my biggest exertion on this most recent trip ended up being a visit to the spa. At this sanctuary, the relaxation lounge spans through open, draped walls to gardens set with a Jacuzzi and plunge pools. Yet the massage actually rejuvenated my lazy bones, with the therapist using firm, quick strokes and slow, deep kneading pressure to unlock stress points I now could not conceive how I had ever managed to acquire.

     The Four Seasons is a pleasant, picturesque walk up the beach from St. Régis, though most visitors between the two properties will take a chauffeured golf cart or car. From one dramatic entry to the next, both resorts compete for the luxury market, though the Four Seasons seems geared more toward adult recreation with its high-end boutiques for snapping up goodies like regionally crafted jewelry and art.
    In fact, kids are sequestered within their own resort-within-a-resort, in the Oasis complex, a family-oriented building that houses 23 rooms and suites and is encircled by a Lazy River meandering pool for inner tube rides on a gentle current.
    One must-do here is the market catch meal at Bahía, the new Richard Sandoval beachfront grill and bar. The “coastal Latina” eatery debuted in February, as a more casual follow-up to Four Seasons’ Ketsi, which Sandoval introduced in 2009. Three times a week, the chefs gather on the Las Cuevas beach to welcome in a local fishing boat, and work with Puerto Vallarta area fishermen to select the best daily catch. After a discussion with their guests about the colorful choices hauled in – red snapper, yellowfin tuna, dorado (mahi mahi), octopus, colorful Parrot Fish, and a flat-bodied beach flounder looking quizzically with both its eyes on one side of its head – they display the whole fish on ice in a canoe, sparkling against the sun and a backdrop of manzanillo trees.   I selected my fish, and the chefs prepared it to order. Chef Sandoval himself happened to be on site that day, conducting one of the optional cooking classes available with the market lunch, and he worked the open-air flames alongside his executive chef Philippe Piel.
    This experience truly spoke of seaside Mexico, in the appetizer of grilled octopus, the tender-chewy seafood tossed with nopales pico de gallo, tomatoes, queso fresco, mild panela cheese, and black olives in a vibrant preserved lemon-honey vinaigrette with plenty of gutsy Serrano chile kick. Fresh pink snapper was next, quickly marinated in citrus, tomato and an array of chiles, slathered in mayonnaise for a lovely moist, tangy crust, and grilled in a basket before being plated with crunchy chayote-cabbage-carrot slaw.
    Another irresistible indulgence is booking the Four Seasons’ 55-foot private yacht, complete with a Wave Runner tacked on the back of the boat. This is hardly an everyday voyage, spanning a six-hour tour up and down the Puerto Vallarta coastline and around the nearby Marietas Islands for bird watching. If the shaded relaxation area on the upper deck, or sunning areas on the bow, stern and rear upper deck prove too tiresome, we can retreat to the living room and kitchen, or the posh sleeping suites with private baths. Constantly, the ship butlers offer us more tequila, more sushi, and more Veuve Clicquot.

Sayulita

    Travelers seeking a more real taste of Mexico can drive to Sayulita, about a half-hour northeast of the resorts. You bump along sandy roads until around a bend, you discover a tiny village flanking a bohemian beach where visitors and surfers like to camp, or stay in casual B&B’s and no-frills bungalows.
    You can eat well here. Capitan Cook is a popular hangout, touristy with its palapa-topped beachfront structure and gringo dishes like a shrimp burger. But ask for the specialty, which is "sarandeado," meaning a whole fish grilled on wood fire so the skin crisps and the meat roasts moist and succulent. You can drink here, with cold beers and stiff, sweet cocktails the most popular choice. And you can shop here, with some worthwhile purchases, since development over the past few year has brought in a small array of art galleries and notable boutiques next to the curio stores selling Nacho Libre wresting masks.
    If you’ve planned your trip for spring, you may wrap up your vacation with Gourmet & Golf Classic farewell gala dinner (the upcoming event is scheduled for April 15 to 28, 2013). In 2012, the supper took over the deck of the infinity pool at the Four Seasons, the sparkling water appearing to flow seamlessly into the ocean, dancing with the sunset dipping in salute to the Sierra Madre mountains in the distance. Top chefs took the stage for applause after preparing their global feast, including Michael Mina, Richard Sandoval, Patricia Quintana, Kaz Okochi, Jose Salas, Claudia Fossa, Ramon Bramasco and Philippe Piel.
    Yet, no matter the time of year, and for pure do-nothing vacation bliss with or without fancy chefs, Punta Mita remains truly that  "Gateway to Paradise."