Pablo Escobar’s vacation mansion turned artistic hotel in Mexico

One of the mansions of the late Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar — founder of the Medellín Cartel that inspired the Netflix series “Narcos” — is now a colorful, sprawling, luxurious boutique hotel in Tulum, Mexico.

Located in the coveted area of Quintana Roo, close to Cancún, Casa Malca now offers 71 suites and rooms from 60 to 120 square meters, the latter built on the beach and in the gardens, annexed to the original mansion.

It wasn’t always like that, however. When it opened in 2014, it only had eight accommodations for visitors.

Before the various renovations that transformed the address into this mini resort, the property had a more sinister past. Escobar would have chosen the address precisely because of the privacy and security it offered, surrounded by the forest and the sea. Its walls, according to the magazine Architecture Digest, still keep a memory of those times: they are bulletproof.

After the drug lord died in 1993, the mansion was closed, passed into different hands, and eventually became the property of the Mexican government. It was only in 2012 that Lio Malca, an entrepreneur in the arts market who made his career trading high-value works, came across it and decided to share his find with tourists.

“I bought the property because I thought it was insane. I couldn’t believe that in this world a property like this still existed and hadn’t already been taken over by a corporation”, he told the Cool Hunting website in 2016. Malca still kept some of the escape tunnels that Escobar would have installed in the mansion.

The former residence also offers other luxury experiences to guests, such as a spa, meals at one of the three restaurants in the house — Filosofía, Ambrosia and Head of a Mad Man — and the opportunity to see up close contemporary works of art on the walls and/or environments. transformed into an informal gallery that ranges from Jeff Koons to Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Persian rugs also share space with elaborate curtains and furniture mixed with more rustic ones, in addition to a Victorian sofa in the lobby. Its bar still has the walls covered in Keith Haring’s original Tokyo Pop Shop wallpaper. Two pools welcome visitors — one indoors and one outdoors.

Despite the spacious beachfront accommodations, it is the master suites that remain at Escobar’s original address that are the most expensive. Those who want to stay in the exact room where the drug dealer slept can ask for the Malca Suite, according to Town & Country Magazine. The value there is on request.

With most of its high season calendar for late 2022 and early 2023 already booked, Malca has daily rates starting at US$942 in simpler accommodation, in the gardens, still in March. More information about budgets and reservations on the website.

With information from UOL

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