Villa Agua

All guests must register with the Casa de Campo Concierge office, and for a small daily fee ($30 per adult per night & $15 per child per night), are granted access to resort areas and amenities. Casa de Campo Resort facilities and amenities include golf courses ($), the fitness centre ($), racquet center ($), restaurants ($) and bars ($). Contact Rental Escapes for more information about pricing.

At Villa Agua, you arrive across a travertine path that floats over a shallow reflecting pond, palms standing in the water on either side. This is a five-bedroom contemporary family villa set into the Barranca hillside, with sea views from the upper floor and an included cook handling all the meals for ten.

The villa is built around water. The curved pool runs the length of the back terrace, with a sun-shelf at the shallow end for the smallest guests. A long alfresco table for twelve waits in the shade nearby. By late afternoon the household has spread out — teenagers in the upper-floor lounge with the wood-slat wall, the older guests on the primary-suite terrace where the ocean shows past the palm canopy.

Barranca sits on the resort's northern hillside, with the Racquet Center a short cart ride down and a longer cart trip to Teeth of the Dog, ranked the Caribbean's top course by the World Golf Awards. Minitas Beach is a quick ride past the marketplace. Villa Agua is the villa to book when there are ten of you, half of them under twelve, and you want a base where the kids can scatter, the adults can stop noticing them, and someone else is putting dinner on the table.