"With all the resort pyrotechnics up the coast, it's easy to overlook quiet, dignified hotels like Esencia, which still give you a taste of the area's original appeal. It was built as a winter retreat for an Italian duchess, not as a glamour-drenched resort with martini bars and air-conditioned cabanas. That contrarian spirit was actually the impetus for its transformation into a hotel in 2005--the duchess wanted to create an antidote to all the international slickness.
Her house has colonial echoes in its arched colonnade, mahogany shutters, and convivial living room. It contains seven guest rooms, five with full-on ocean views; her guesthouse holds two more big ocean-view rooms. The rest of the accommodations (there are 29 total) are in two-story buildings surrounded by jungle so dense I could plunge into my plunge pool au naturel. The prevailing sensibility is uncluttered: white plaster walls and floors, driftwood mounted as art, and splashes of color on cushions and bed runners."
Read the full article here: http://www.forbes.com/forbes-life-magazine/2010/1220/escapes-special-report-hidden-caribbean-six-resorts.html
