The Hotel That Began as a Love Story
Casa Kimberly has always been a living love story. Today, it is Puerto Vallarta’s most romantic hotel.
The story begins in 1963, when Richard Burton arrived in a sleepy fishing village on Mexico’s Pacific coast to film The Night of the Iguana. He and Elizabeth Taylor — screen legends as famous for their passionate, scandalous romance as for their award-laden films — were in the whirl of an affair that had set the world talking. She was still married to Eddie Fisher; he to Sybil Williams. But they couldn’t bear to be apart, and so Taylor came too.
Puerto Vallarta, in those days, had no paved roads, one telephone, and a bay of such beauty that neither of them could quite bring themselves to leave it behind. Burton arranged for Taylor to stay in a pink casita on Calle Zaragoza, directly across the narrow street from his own. He built a bridge connecting the two above the road below — as useful for avoiding the paparazzi camped on the hillside as it was for escaping their spirited quarrels — and gave the house to Taylor for her 32nd birthday in 1964. They married and divorced each other twice. They never lost their affection for Puerto Vallarta.
Our Story
The two casitas that Burton and Taylor called their beloved home-away-from-home are now Casa Kimberly. Puerto Vallarta’s only Michelin Key hotel was, in its first life, a refuge for the most famous love affair of the twentieth century. We’ve tried to restore it as one.
Our nine suites are distributed across the two original houses and an addition built into the hillside. Each suite is designed individually and appointed with magnificent antiques, crystal chandeliers, and hand-painted Mexican tiles. Most open onto spacious private terraces with outdoor Jacuzzis, where the evening breezes move through linen curtains and the lights of Puerto Vallarta stretch below. Inside, king beds dressed in European linens invite the kind of rest that arrives only when a room has been truly considered. Bulgari amenities grace every bath. The pink marble heart-shaped tub that Taylor herself commissioned is still here, in the suite that was her own.
The Elizabeth Taylor Suite is layered and commanding — bold color, high ceilings, views over Banderas Bay that tend to stop conversation. The Cleopatra Suite, named for the film that first placed Taylor and Burton opposite each other, carries the same opulence. The Richard Burton Suite is quieter — warm wood, an antique armoire, an Oriental rug underfoot, the room of a man who was also a serious reader. The full range of suites is at Luxury Suites.
The Puente del Amor — the Bridge of Love that Burton built above Calle Zaragoza — still connects the two original houses. Our guests cross it today.
The Iguana
Our rooftop restaurant, The Iguana, is named for the Huston film that first brought everything here. We serve contemporary Mexican cuisine above the old quarter’s rooftops, with Banderas Bay in the distance and the soft sea breezes that make an evening meal here something to linger over. The tequila bar is serious and well-assembled. The Iguana is a table worth reserving, particularly at sunset, when the light over the bay does what only it can.
The Spa, the Pool, the Gym
A private spa cabin — with jacuzzi, sauna, and treatments available by arrangement with our preferred therapists — offers an unhurried respite when the afternoon calls for it. Our lozenge-shaped pool, in which both Taylor and Burton swam, sits at the heart of the property. A small, well-equipped gym is available for those who prefer to begin the day differently.
The Zona Romantica
We are in the Zona Romantica — Puerto Vallarta’s original neighborhood, built on hillside colonial lots with cobblestone streets, warm-toned facades, and the genuine texture of a city that has been lived in for a long time. Los Muertos Beach is a short walk. The galleries along Basilio Badillo are an afternoon. Dinner in any direction, on foot, without a plan.
The large resort zones north of the city offer their own pleasures, but the experience tends to stay within the resort perimeter. Here, the city surrounds you — and for a romantic stay in Puerto Vallarta, that is precisely the point.
When to Come
Three to four nights suits a first visit well — enough to arrive, settle in, take one excursion, and leave several evenings open to find their own shape. The lovebirds who gave this place its name returned again and again over the years. We find that our guests often feel the same inclination.