Kylie and Kendall Jenner traded their Loewe snow boots for tiny swimsuits, boarded Kylie’s $73-million, snack-filled private jet, and traveled to Costa Careyes, a secluded oceanfront resort community and nature preserve along Mexico’s rugged Pacific Coast, known for being a private retreat for the international elite for decades.
With a combined Instagram following of over 650 million, the social media stars rented a stunning marigold villa perched on a cliff overlooking the emerald ocean, costing at least $6,500 per night. The Jenner sisters, along with a close friend, spent several days sharing envy-inducing photos of the villa’s striking architecture and exclusive location. The bold and Instagram-worthy clifftop estate, Sol de Oriente, is now available for purchase for $15 million.
In 1968, Italian artist, financier, and real estate developer Gian Franco Brignone surveyed a remote stretch of rainforest and rugged coastline between Manzanillo and Puerto Vallarta. He quickly acquired the 20,000-acre area and eight-mile coastline, despite the lack of roads to nearby towns.
Brignone envisioned a luxurious retreat for a global circle of artists, celebrities, and wealthy bohemians to gather for inspiration and relaxation. Over the years, creative architects designed vibrant, imaginative homes, built by skilled local artisans. His aim was to create a new architectural style with rounded, feminine walls of ‘elephant skin’ stucco, reminiscent of the Mediterranean but with soaring palapa-style roofs.
Unlike Cancun and Tulum, Careyes is more geographically and financially exclusive, with about 100 residences and several upscale accommodations at a boutique beachfront hotel. Celebrities like Tom Ford, Robert De Niro, Mick Jagger, and Uma Thurman have visited this paparazzi-free enclave, which The Hollywood Reporter has dubbed “Hollywood’s best-kept secret.”
The resort features numerous eccentric artworks and installations and hosts the ultra-luxury Ondalinda festival every November, attracting a select group of the world’s boho elite.
Sol de Oriente, completed in 1999 and designed by French architect Jean-Claude Galibert in collaboration with Brignone, offers the utmost privacy. The main villa, known as The Castle, boasts a three-tiered palapa and a moat-like infinity-edge pool, with three deluxe bedroom suites and extensive open-air living spaces that extend onto multiple terraces and the pool.
Below the pool, two ocean-view casitas each have a bedroom, bathroom, and patio, while a two-story building with another bedroom and bathroom sits near the cliff’s edge. A long staircase connects these villas to The Castle, though the tower suite can also be reached by a funicular. Staff housing is located in a separate structure.
Across from Sol de Oriente, Sol de Occidente, a pale-green counterpart, sits on Playa Careyitos, a beach as distinctive as Sol de Oriente itself.
Brignone, who passed away earlier at age 96, has his family and successors continuing his vision for Careyes. Sol de Oriente is now owned by Brignone’s son, Filippo Brignone, and is available through Carolwood Estates via Denise Moreno and Gordon MacGeachy.
