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PLACES & SPACES | ROOMS & GARDENS | WORLD OF CABANA
Acamilpa is a 400-year-old hacienda surrounded by farms in Morelos, México. For over 50 years it has told the story of one family, and now it opens its secret rooms, gardens and vaults to let the visitors in. Rebecca Vaisman explores exclusively for Cabana.
BY REBECA VAISMAN | ROOMS & GARDENS | 15 SEPTEMBER 2025
The mouldy and grown vegetation seems to want to take over the beautiful decadence of the adobe walls. Walking through lush greenery to arrive at the Hacienda Acamilpa’s main house, while seeing the spectacle of its monumental domes come closer, feels like stepping into a different era. Everything speaks of the passage of time by proudly showing its patina. And for the Flores family, there’s much to be proud of.
For over 50 years they have owned this 70,000 sqm property in Morelos, México. Acquired in the mid-60s by Everardo Flores Serrato, a prominent Mexican businessman, and his wife, Elia, it’s a sugar plantation founded in 1604 by Jesuits. When the congregation was expelled from the country in the mid 18th century, the hacienda became the private property to different agricultural businessmen and continued with its production, until it was looted and burned down during the Mexican Revolution of the early 20th century.
The hacienda had stayed empty and abandoned for several decades when Everardo Flores read in a newspaper advertisement that it was to be sold. He visited the neglected site and could not turn away from its historic character.
From its very origins, Acamilpa was a factory and, as such, didn’t have a proper house. What Everardo wanted was to restore its fallen walls and reshape them into a family countryside house. He enlisted engineer Jesús Sánchez —who worked on the famed Las Mañanitas and other hotels in Cuernavaca— and enthusiastically participated in the project of turning the old factory into a 10,000 sqm house, with 13 bedrooms, several patios and gardens, a pool and a chapel. At the time, few other venturers were looking into building liveable and modern infrastructure to recover patrimony, but most people around Everardo Flores advised him of the contrary and thought he was crazy.
He saw the potential around him. And the beauty: he must’ve also relish in the beauty. Morelos is a state about two hours south of Ciudad de México. It’s known as “the state of the eternal Spring” because of its kind weather all year round. Winter is quite mild, and Summer is gentle, with some days of soft and refreshing rain.
This privileged climate has invited the appearance of many vacation residencies. Hacienda Acamilpa lays in the south of Morelo, about forty minutes away from the city of Cuernavaca, and is surrounded by thousands of hectares of sugar cane, which has been produced in the area for about 600 years.
“I always say that haciendas are living constructions, for their magnitude and history give them lives of their own”, reflects Andrés Flores, grandson of Everardo and President of the group that currently administers Hacienda Acamilpa. He still recalls the big family gatherings, when all Everardo’s siblings were invited and came with their offspring —everyone had around six or seven children—, ending up in informal lunches for 100 people. The hacienda also catered to some of the big names of the editorial business in México and abroad. Everardo was the patriarch that summoned everyone, and Elia was the caring hostess that made sure everything looked its best.
This is where Andrés Flores grew up. He remembers playing in the gardens when he was a small child, driving around the countryside with his cousins and later, as a young man, playing poker in one of the many cozy lounges. They always celebrated Independence Day in the hacienda and saluted the flag in a ceremony in the main patio, which resembles the centre of a small Mexican village. Every routine was so natural and familiar, that Andrés only realized the uniqueness of the place when he was an adult.
Acamilpa remained the family weekend home until Andrés began to run it in 2016 and open it up to the public for very exclusively selected events. “With my grandfather gone and the shift in the family’s business, this was the way of turning the house into a self-sustaining project”, explains Andrés. In 2024 the experience extended, and the hacienda also turned into a boutique accommodation with ten rooms.
Andrés has enforced rules for the family to keep their relationship with the house, without hindering the event venue and hotel aspect of it. Acamilpa must not lose its spirit, but the most important thing is to keep it in the best conditions and altogether. The chapel where his grandfather meditated while listening to classical music is still one of his favourite spots. And so is the pool, right in the heart of the hacienda.
The house still has its five dining rooms: the formal one, with a Persian rug, pendant lights and a mahogany table for 25 people; a breakfast dinner with views to the patio and the garden, and wooden furniture; the pool dinner with a barbecue and a more rustic setting; the kitchen nook, next to a display of traditional tableware of Michoacan; and the patio nook, guarded by a fountain and orange trees.
Acquiring Acamilpa encouraged the creation of an art, furniture and crafts collection specifically for the house. The bedrooms and halls show Viceregal paintings by Miguel Cabrera and Bernardino Polo, and 19th century scenes by Santiago Rebull. There is antique Talavera pottery, as well as mid-century pieces by ceramicists, including Felix Tissot, and clay vessels, vases, pitchers and planters that show the richness of traditional Mexican pottery and enhance the rooms and patios.
Gastronomy is an important feature of contemporary hacienda life, offering a mix between comfort food, and the traditional taste of the region. Acamilpa’s kitchen — led by chef Saúl Cortés and mayora Abril Carrión — brings together pre-Hispanic, colonial and modern gastronomic knowledge through produce that reflects and embraces the history of Morelos. Acamilpa does not have a formal restaurant - the kitchen is dedicated to its guests - but in Summer it admits some external reservations.
While walking in the gardens, Andrés recalls what his late grandfather used to tell him about the essence of places and how they needed to flow with nature. “I would ask him why he didn’t have the mould and weed ripped from the lawn, and he’d answer that we should always let nature take over and, in fact, help it do so”, remembers Andrés.
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