Finca Victoria

Casa Botánica y Hotel

A farmhouse style Bed & Breakfast in the heart of the small island of Vieques, Puerto Rico.

The hotel is located on a hill with wonderful cross-ventilation, surrounded by luscious vegetation and the soothing symphony of the native Coqui frogs. Being on one of the highest points of the island provides us with an amazing view of sunrises and sunsets. The island has hardly any light pollution, which creates the perfect atmosphere to see the stars at night. Under the right clear-sky conditions, even the Milky Way becomes visible for stargazers to admire.

Amenities

Every room is a little universe

Each room is truly unique in it's own way. The Victoria Suite, Nuria's Suite, Sahar's Treehouse & The Baez-Haus-- each carries its own distinct feel based on its location on the property and the design of the space. All have private facilities, beach & bath towels, small cooler, basic kitchen utensils, mosquito net and a lot of personal touches. Every room has a ceiling fan because of our breezy location air conditioner is not needed.

Rooms have been carefully decorated with local vintage furniture, some form family and dear friends who know their ‘old furniture’ had a second chance to shine. Other pieces are from amazing finds around the main Island. The artwork has been carefully curated to create a beautiful narrative with the space. All source with local artists.

Every room is a little universe of its own and carries the spirit of a special person. Each room have been named after important people in Sylvia’s life who have collaborated and enriched her life beyond words. Each room is an homage for each individual and has been decorated and put together with love, intention and careful thought. Each room is an homage to friendship and long lasting relationships.

About Us

La Finca

(Farmhouse)

Finca Victoria is a two and a half acre property with diverse building structures spread around, all tucked among lush vegetation. Our land is fertile with a large variety of tropical plants, fruit trees, flowers and cacti. We have based the design of the space on permaculture principles, with areas designated for our herb garden, medicinal garden and an edible garden from which we source a lot of the food we serve in our ayurvedic vegan kitchen. We also utilise the plants from the finca to create some of the natural products that we sell in our store and use in our wellness house.

Our Story

Places That Change Your Life

There are places you visit that just change your life. For some people, it's an exotic far-away place, like a magnificent city in Europe. For others, it can be your neighbor's house.

For me, it was this place. La Finca.

I'm a Puerto Rican native, but I was living in New York at the time. 15 years ago, the film commission had granted me the task of documenting my whole home island through photography, to serve as a bank of images for film location managers in LA and other parts of the world.

By the end of my 3-month tour, I landed at La Finca. I recognized its magic and special energy immediately. A love affair started. When anyone asked me what my favorite place in the world from all my travels was, I would say without hesitation:

"La Finca in Vieques."

Eventually I befriended the owner at the time, Corky Parker, and my visits became more frequent…Read full story

Communal areas

A typical day in la finca

Our days start with 7am complimentary yoga classes on our sundeck, followed by an amazing inclusive vegan breakfast, served in a beautiful balcony overlooking the trees. This all happens at the hotel's central structure, an architectural hybrid of loft and wood cabin with black metal framing. Here you'll find lounging areas overlooking the natural water pool, a beautiful curated store with natural products, contemporary work from Puerto Rican artists and jewellery. There is also an oil making station where we prepare and mix essential oils, healing balms, teas, natural cigarette blends based on flowers, and other holistic goods. In the middle of the communal house sits a well curated store with kaftans, vintage clothing, jewelry from local designers and natural products all made in house or by other creators from Puerto Rico.

El Livin

THE COMMUNAL HOUSE

We call our large communal house El Livin ("the living room" in Puerto Rican slang). Built with high ceilings and metal trim framing, the house is a 50-foot long hybrid of spacious loft and wooden cabin. El Livin holds an indoor lounging area with an array of wellness and travel books, board games and a bar with complimentary herbal infusions and coffee. The oversize loft merges into the deck-pool area with hammocks and hanging chairs for lounging, our natural pool uses copper pipes to filter and sterilise the water. El Livin holds different areas within the space. The heart of the space is the hotel's open kitchen which opens up to a beautiful balcony overlooking the garden with communal tables for meals where we serve our inclusive plant based breakfast. There's a fresh snack bar with homemade lunches and dinners, kombucha and wines and beers. In the main pavilion of El Livin you will find our eclectic and well stocked boutique store and gallery featuring local artists. Last but least, the space holds our Ayurvedic herbal pharmacy, Casa Botanica, and its kitchen where we prepare the herbal concoctions.

Edible Garden

the real farm to table

There are several areas where we grow food. As you walk into the property, you will be greeted by the first set of terraces for our edible garden. These terraces are built from the original shutters of what used to be "La Finca Caribe." This house was dearly known to many people and hosted countless numbers of visitors and families. Nothing was left of it after the hurricane hit the shutters, and yet these doors now hold the food we eat at breakfast, in the snack bar and at our pop up dinners. Near the Wellness House facing the south of the property there is a beautiful slope with our solar panels and contour terraces where we produce more edible goods. Please ask one of our hosts for a walk through if interested.

Ayurvedic Kitchen

Food made with love

In our ayurvedic kitchen we serve a daily amazing complementary vegan breakfast. The kitchen is sourced by our own edible garden of organic vegetables. We’re honoured to have our amazing chef Brittany Lukowsky, who has dedicated herself to creating savorous and healthy plant-based dishes under the Ayurveda structure which uses the 6 flavours to create balance and harmony. The kitchen and restaurant is located at the hotel's central structure, an architectural hybrid of loft and wood cabin with black metal framing. In addition to the complementary breakfast we create a delicious warm meal to be served as lunch or dinner. Our snack bar is available 24 hours and is fully stocked with a variety of snacks and full meals that can be your perfect picnic or your meal.

Vegan night series

We have become well known for turning our communal house into a pop up restaurant with candlelights and loungy playlists every Friday night. We welcome friends, locals and guests to join in this precious event where we serve a four course plant-based meal created by our collaborator chefs. Read more about our dinners here.

Boutique Store & Gallery

tastefully curated clothing, JEWELLERY, Natural products & artwork

The boutique store is located in the hotel’s central structure. It carries fine jewellery from local designers such as Luiny, Mick Urban, and Jesus Gomez. We have a beautiful section of vintage clothing and accessories that has been sourced in Puerto Rico as well as in other parts of the world by Sylvia. We carry a lovely selection of kaftans, as well as a very special line of summer clothing from our designer friend Helena Fredriksson. Among the accessories we have a unique collection of sandals from Cousin Sandals in a variety of vibrant colours and styles.

We are also very exited to showcase a talented group of contemporary Puerto Rican artists such as Camilla Buxeda, Guanina Cotto, Angel Pagan and Amanda Sanfiorenzo among others.We carry prints, originals as well as sculptures. Our gallery space also carry ceramics from Judi Tani and other world finds.

A part of our store has been dedicated to outsource artisans that create wonderful natural products such as local honey, cold pressed soaps, reef safe sunblock, Puerto Rican chocolate, scrubs and a variety of smoke blends. Also within the store we showcase all the Ayurvedic products that are produced right in the house in our apothecary. For more information about the Casa Botanica products please click here.

Yoga

Rise and shine - start up your day

I know that it sounds crazy to wake up at seven in the morning on your vacation to come to do yoga, I’m always surprised to see a full deck of guests on their mats ready to rise and shine.

Something happens when you’re surrounded by nature, that your body falls into the natural rhythm of day and night and even though it’s hard to believe but you will wake up with the day and there is no better way to start the day than with an intention, a grateful heart and a strong practise.

Our classes are focused on breath matched with movement, alignment and creative sequences. Expect a beautiful Savasana under the open sky, the fresh air of the morning, the sun on your face with singing bowls to close the practise.

The Apothecary

Dedicated to our ayurvedic services

The Apothecary is part of Casa Botanica, the layer of Finca Victoria dedicated to our Ayurvedic services. In this herbal pharmacy we rescue old "grandmothers" Puerto Rican remedies, as well as classic Ayurvedic formulas. We integrate the medicine of our local plants, spices and herbs into the ancient knowledge of Ayurveda. We have created a variety of beauty and health products ready for purchase, but we are also happy to create something special just for you. Is it in the apothecary that we also prepare the medicated oils, balms, and herbal concoctions for the Wellness house. It is here that we also create our staple infusions which we serve daily, each herbal tea is made for each of the the three Dosas.

Among the items we sell in our Apothecary you will find: Homemade tea bags, herbal facial steams, Bath soaks, body polishes, spice mix formulas, infused honeys, medicated oils, medicated balms, soaps, biodegradable organic shampoo and conditions enhanced with essential oils made for you. Face tonics, face wash, triphala eye wash, hair oil, natural sunblock, deodorants, and supplements.

We also carry powder herbs and we can create a formula for each client to take home that will nourish and serve as a tonic for a particular ailment you wish to work on.