Villa Lama

3-bedroom 3-bathroom villa with private pool a short stroll from Flamands beach.

With its breezy, open-air architecture, relaxed sense of aesthetics, and heavy palm fronds and vibrant hibiscus in the thick gardens right outside, Villa Lama brings to mind a luxury tree house, St. Barth-style. The rental property embodies indoor-outdoor living and barefoot chic at its most chic - and why not stay barefoot, when Flamands Beach is a mere 500 meters away?

But why be in such a hurry to leave? Villa Lama is a welcoming Caribbean paradise of its own, a tranquil retreat for family vacations with older children or couples traveling together. The look is pleasingly rustic-luxe: all whitewashed or light-colored natural woods, stone stairways, classic shutters, comfy seating and romantically canopied beds.

The layout, though, is clever in its combination of spaces designed for lively socializing as a group and for quiet moments of intimacy or solitude. There's a cozy dining able under an Asian-inflected pavilion on the pool terrace, and a pair of deck chairs perched for prime sunset viewing at a discreet distance away, as well as an outdoor lounge whose invitingly cushioned banquettes would easily seat ten people, and an indoor living room set up with a suite of soft white overstuffed couches and chairs.

There are two full-fledged dining areas, and a large chef's kitchen that's set up to prepare lavish meals for the group.

Lama's master bedroom is in the main house, but its second and third bedrooms, likewise, are in separate wood-and-stone cottages, providing sublime privacy and quiet when that's what's in order. Terraced into the verdant hillside at various levels, each bedroom has a king or queen bed and its own outdoor shower with a foot-soothing pebbled floor.

To move from their intimate cocoons to the livelier group spaces, guests pass along stairways fringed with young palms flowering trees, providing a constant immersion in nature. The rambling layout also offers abundant conversational nooks, decks, verandas and sitting areas, as well as a swimming pool with views out over the green-carpeted hills and blue-sparkling sea.