Villa Bokéh
Colourful colonial casa
Hacienda in the Highlands
Villa Bokéh’s polished terracotta-tiled floors and red pantile rooftops sandwich a gleaming white colonial hacienda complete with fairy-tale turrets and lofty cypress trees out front. Follow the meandering lakeside path to the turquoise outdoor pool with its blue-and-white parasols, or wander the extensive gardens where intoxicating scents of lilies, purple agapanthus, and vibrant bird of paradise flowers are accompanied by a symphony of birdsong. If even a gentle wander seems like an unnecessary exertion, retreat to the vine-draped verandah, where marshmallow-soft sofas provide perfect vantage points for daydreaming as fluffy white clouds drift across the volcano – don’t worry, it hasn’t erupted in over 80,000 years, so you’re quite safe.
Facilities
Rooms
15 rooms and suites.
Checkout
12 noon. Check-in is 3pm. Both are flexible, availability permitting. Please request in advance.
More Details
Rates include a continental breakfast served in the restaurant, including fresh fruit juice, bread, jam, fruits, cold meats and Guatemalan coffee from nearby San Miguel Dueñas.
Also
Much of the art in the hotel (and there’s a lot of it!) comes from the owner’s private collection. You can take a guided tour of the fine textiles, sculptures and paintings that adorn the hotel’s public areas if you want to learn more about them.
Free Internet Access
Laundry
Pet Friendly
Pool
On-Site Restaurant
Room Service
Spa
At the Hotel
Outdoor pool with separate hot and cold Jacuzzi tubs, spa, gym, gardens, billiards room, boats for exploring the lake, free WiFi. In rooms: tea- and coffee-making kit, filtered water, minibar with drinks and Guatemalan chocolates, bathrobes and slippers, locally made organic toiletries.
Our Favourite Rooms
Each room and suite at Villa Bokéh has been individually designed with its own unique colour palette, and dressed with artworks and textiles from or inspired by Guatemala, such as photographer Mitchell Denburg’s black-and-white portraits of Antiguan locals and fine century-old tapestries curated by Guatemalan textile maestro Violeta Gutiérrez Caxa. You can expect hand-carved colonial-style furniture, vintage mirrors, statement rugs and big, beautiful, tiled bathrooms. All of which makes picking a favourite room like picking a favourite child. That said, we favour the Indigo suite for its fresh tones of white and baby blue, mezzanine seating area, and large balcony that frames superb views of the gardens and volcano beyond.
Poolside
The outdoor pool promises sumptuous day-beds, swaying palm trees and swoonsome volcano views. Add an ice-cold margarita and 10 minutes in the Jacuzzi tubs for ultimate chill.
Spa
Adjacent to the pool area, the spa offers a range of massage and facial treatments.
Packing Tips
Antigua isn’t exactly known for its shopping, so nipping out to replace the designer bikinis and budgie smugglers you left in a drawer at home is likely to end in disappointment. It’s also worth taking some stout walking boots, binoculars, water bottles and insect repellant if you’re planning on hiking up the volcano.
Children
Kids are welcome, and there a few diversions in the gardens to keep younger ones entertained, including a gnome trail, boating on the lake and a small play area with a swing and slide. Babysitting services are available on request.
Gallery
Food & Drink
Top Table
Grab a candlelit table by the lake for a romantic evening accompanied by the moonlight silhouette of Volcán de Agua and soundtracked by cicadas singing in the trees.
Dress Code
Pressed pastel linens and bold tropical prints are the order of the day in these lush colonial-style surroundings. Bring a light jumper or woollen shawl for long evenings on the terrace.
Hotel Restaurant
Diners at Bokéh 3.1 spill out onto the huge terrace that overlooks the lake and volcano. Cuisine is international, but informed by fresh, seasonal Guatemalan ingredients sourced from the garden and local farmers. The signature dish is as good a place to start as any: grilled sea bass with corn mousse and tomato fondue, served with charred fennel and zucchini. It’s open from 7am–10pm for breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner, with special weekend brunches also served in the glasshouse in the grounds.
Hotel Bar
Bar el Burro’s clean white walls, terracotta-tiled floors, beamed ceilings and volcano views provide a relaxed setting for wine, beer, cocktails and snacks.
Last Orders
Bar, restaurant and room service all take orders until 10pm.
Room Service
Available during restaurant hours, from 7am to 10pm.
Planes
La Aurora International Airport in Guatemala City is around 25 miles from the hotel. The drive, across densely forested mountain highways, takes around an hour. One-way transfers can be arranged at a cost of $115 for up to three passengers and $150 for four to eight people.
Automobiles
You can hire a car at the airport if you fancy exploring the volcanic region around the hotel – including the vast Lake Atitlán a couple of hours away. We’d recommend a four-wheel-drive vehicle for negotiating dirt tracks, especially during rainy season (April to October). There’s a free, secure parking lot at the hotel.
Worth Getting Out of Bed For
The tranquillity of the sun-kissed terrace, broken only by the chatter of native birds and the gentle clink of ice in your gin cocktail, can make starting outside the Villa Bokéh grounds something of a wrench. So here’s the good news: you don’t have to go anywhere. There are plenty of lazy pursuits right here at the hacienda. Find a shady spot beneath the palm trees and get lost in a book for a few hours. Take a boat onto the lake and drift beneath the arched bridge and out among the lush foliage that lines its banks. Fancy a romantic picnic against the backdrop of that picture-perfect volcano? Go for it! Staff will even lead you on a tour of the extensive gardens, pointing out interesting plants and native wildlife such as pink-headed warblers and, if you’re lucky, wine-throated hummingbirds, with their distinctively shiny pink bibs.
You can (and probably will) easily spend several days eschewing the colonial treasures of nearby Antigua in favour of shuttling gently from massage room to pool to hot tub to day-bed. But visit Antigua you must – its baroque Spanish-style architecture, colourful buildings, cobbled lanes, and crumbling colonial churches are manna from heaven for even the most amateur photographer. The view of our old friend the Volcán de Agua through the mustard-yellow Santa Catalina arch is one of the city’s finest.
But why stop at just looking when you can warm your toes on a hike up the volcano’s jungly slopes instead? The moderately challenging 10-mile round-trip from Santa María de Jesús takes around eight hours, or less if you take your four-wheel drive to the designated parking zone part-way up. Expect picturesque coffee and corn fields along the way, as well as increasingly fab perspectives on the neighbouring volcanoes and mountain ranges as you ascend. Should you reach the rim of the crater, you’ll be rewarded with splendid views across the valleys as far – on a clear day – as the Pacific Coast, some 50 miles distant.
Earn or Redeem Points with World of Hyatt
This Mr & Mrs Smith hotel participates in the World of Hyatt loyalty program. As a member, you can earn and redeem points and enjoy exclusive benefits for qualifying nights. .
