I have spent the better part of 16 years covering Mexico as a travel writer, which means I have slept in a lot of very beautiful beds. I lived in Puerto Vallarta for years, back when the Riviera Nayarit was still more fishing village than Five-Star, and I watched this coastline evolve from something raw and wonderfully scruffy into one of the most sought-after luxury destinations in the Western Hemisphere. I have stayed at properties so stunning they made me audibly gasp, and I have stayed at properties so aggressively luxurious they made me feel vaguely lonely. After a while, they start to blur.
Which is why, when I checked into Susurros del Corazón on the exclusive Punta de Mita peninsula, about 45 minutes north of Puerto Vallarta, an Auberge Resorts Collection property with 59 suites and villas draped across a stretch of Pacific coastline that I know well, I arrived the way I always do: with a reporter’s eye, a local’s gut, and a bit of a defiant dare. Go ahead. Impress me.
It did.
Inside a guest suite at Susurros del Corazón, the Auberge Resorts Collection property in Punta de Mita, Riviera Nayarit, Mexico. Bleached wood ceilings, a carved geometric headboard, and linen furnishings give way to floor-to-ceiling glass doors with balcony views over the resort’s infinity pool and tropical gardens.
(Meagan Drillinger)
The Thing About Puerto Vallarta
Here’s what I’ve always loved about the Bay of Banderas region, and what makes it genuinely different from other Mexican resort corridors: it has always been a melting pot. Locals, tourists, foreign residents, fishermen, and foodies have historically shared the same beaches and the same plastic-chair restaurants without much fuss. There’s an ease to the place, a warmth between strangers that is undeniably organic. It’s the thing that made me fall in love with this corner of Mexico in the first place, and it’s also the first thing that tends to dissolve when the luxury development moves in. Gated communities and exclusive enclaves have a way of doing that.
So the question I bring to every new high-end resort in this region is the same: does it have the soul, or just the square footage?
A handwritten welcome note and handmade Ojo de Dios talisman left by staff at Susurros del Corazón, the Auberge Resorts Collection property in Punta de Mita, Riviera Nayarit, Mexico.
(Meagan Drillinger)
The Answer Came in a Bottle
I hadn’t been at Susurros long when I returned to my room to find a bottle of mezcal waiting for me, but not just any bottle. The staff had decorated it with tiny cutout images of me, sourced from my years of travel writing, each one representing a different adventure and a different corner of the world. Alongside it was a handwritten note and an Ojo de Dios, the yarn-and-wood talisman made by the Huichol people of western Mexico, traditionally woven to protect its bearers. The note wished me new stories on every road, something new learned at every destination, and the courage to always set off again.
I know that a waiter asking if I’d prefer gluten-free bread doesn’t mean we’re friends. I have been in this industry long enough to understand that exceptional service is, in its own way, a carefully rehearsed performance. But the bottle was something else. Someone had taken the time to research my work, distill it into a single object, and say: we see you. That’s just kindness.
The morning tea basket reinforced this. I drink tea, not coffee, a detail that apparently did not go unnoticed. Each morning, a basket of tea fixings appeared outside my door so I could bring it onto my balcony and brew a cup as the sun came up over the palms. It’s a small thing that is, somehow, still everything.
It also set the tone for mornings at Susurros. Each day brings a different movement offering on the beach or lawn. Guests can choose from yoga, mat pilates, bootcamp, breath work, surf fitness, and sound baths. For something more formal and restorative, the ONDA Spa is there when you need it.
Sunset over the Pacific at Susurros del Corazón, Punta de Mita, Riviera Nayarit, Mexico.
(Meagan Drillinger)
The Scene at Susurros
The design at Susurros is doing something that many luxury resorts in Mexico get completely wrong: it is committed to Mexican materiality without resorting to Mexican clichés. There’s no Talavera overload or terracotta overkill. Instead, you get rough volcanic stone on the exterior walls, pebble mosaic floors, and a bathroom anchored by a sculptural freestanding soaking tub with graphic black-and-white hand-painted tile shower walls.
The guest rooms are warm and airy, with bleached-wood ceilings, a carved geometric headboard, linen everything, and floor-to-ceiling glass doors that open onto a balcony overlooking the property’s tiered infinity pool. At sunset, that pool becomes a mirror, doubling the silhouettes of the palms against a sky that turns the color of ripe mango.
La Boquita, the open-air beach bar at Susurros del Corazón in Punta de Mita, Riviera Nayarit, Mexico. Whitewashed log fencing, wicker lanterns, a wood-burning oven, and teak loungers make this one of the most atmospheric sunset spots on Mexico’s Pacific coast.
(Meagan Drillinger)
Two Fantastic Restaurants
Susurros offers two distinct dining experiences, both worth your time. Casamilpa, the main restaurant, swings Mediterranean. Think labneh with kaffir oil, kalamata olives, and pistachios; a romesco of piquillo peppers, smoked almonds, and sun-dried tomato; a rustic kale salad with Brussels sprouts, pecorino, and pickled red onion; and a grilled steak kebab with a bright mint-parsley salad, flatbread, and sumac.
La Boquita is where the resort lets its hair down. The open-air beach bar, with its whitewashed log fence, wicker lanterns hanging from a bare-branched tree, and a wood-burning oven glowing at the far end of the deck, does pastor tacos with grilled pineapple, kanpachi ceviche with leche de tigre and habanero, and a build-your-own michelada menu that is delightful. If you’re more interested in cocktails, order the Nahual, mezcal with cilantro criollo, grapefruit, and lime.
On Wednesday and Sunday evenings, the beachfront gives way to a barefoot, toes-in-the-sand grill dinner, freshly grilled seafood and locally sourced meats, cocktails in hand as the sun drops into the Pacific. Go at sunset. Don’t make other plans.
The infinity pool at Susurros del Corazón, the Auberge Resorts Collection property in Punta de Mita, Riviera Nayarit, Mexico. Guest suites with floor-to-ceiling glass balconies overlook the pool and tropical gardens, just steps from the Pacific Ocean.
(Susurros del Corazon)
The Verdict
Punta de Mita has come a long way from the quiet peninsula I first got to know. The development is real, and so is the exclusivity. But Susurros del Corazon manages to hold onto something the best of Puerto Vallarta has always had: a genuine warmth between the people who work there and those who visit.
That mezcal bottle is sitting on my desk as I write this, the little paper version of me grinning from its label, the Ojo de Dios hanging nearby. I have covered Mexico for 16 years, and I have stayed at a lot of beautiful resorts. A small handful of them stay with you. This is one of them.
