Arriving at the Wyndham El Conquistador Resort in Puerto Rico is a sensual experience. A rainbow of flowers blooms along the curving drive beside golf course fairways. Colorful parrots soar overhead, with El Yunque rainforest looming emerald green and hazy in the distance. Nestled along the length of a cliff 300 feet high, the resort looks out over the exact spot where the Caribbean's translucent turquoise meets the sapphire blue of the Atlantic Ocean. For a new guest arriving, it's like slipping unexpectedly into a Gaughin landscape.

El Conquistador Grand Hotel Pool

Accommodations are offered in the resort's original Grand Hotel's Las Brisas, a distinctive V-shaped structure with panoramic views of the sea, and La Vista, just steps from championship golf, tennis and the resort's main pool, plus three new areas nestled like little villages on the grounds of the resort. Las Casitas Village, on the cliff's peak, is an exclusive villa hotel and one of only two AAA Five-Diamond hotels in the Caribbean. Its villas feature bedrooms, living rooms and full kitchens, plus private check-in, pool and restaurant. Las Olas Village, built into the side of the cliff, wraps around its own swimming pool, with a dramatic funicular ride to El Conquistador's other facilities. La Marina Village, just above the resort's ocean harbor, has a casual Mediterranean ambiance, perfect for guests arriving by yacht.

What draws many guests to El Conquistador is golf. Arthur Hill's redesign has made the course an interesting challenge and a visual delight, with water in play on five holes, and a sometimes insidious wind on all par-threes.

After you've conquered (or been conquered by) the course, there's always tennis, the sybaritic Golden Door Spa (just named by the readers of Conde Nast Traveler as North America's top resort spa for treatments, programs and facilities), a dip in one of five pools, or a boat ride to the resort's private Palomino Island for sunning, water sports or horseback riding on the beach. Kids have their own fun with the resort's Camp Coqui program, named for Puerto Rico's amazing singing frog.

The resort offers an assortment of package deals. One of the best is "Four For Free" from $229 per night April 21 through December 23. It includes a fifth night free, upgraded room (if available), free daily breakfasts for two and free round trip airport transfers. The famous Golden Door "Spirit of Life" spa program, for two, includes four nights in Las Casitas, two 50-minute spa treatments daily per person, breakfast and lunch each day, unlimited spa and tennis usage, Golden Door bathrobes, fitness evaluation, daily exercise class, morning power walks, private airport transfers, welcome and parting amenities, taxes and tariffs - all for under $500 per person per night ($3,989 double occupancy) April 21 to December 31.

For more information, call 800-WYNDHAM (996-3426) or visit El Conquistador at www.wyndham.com and click on Wyndham Resorts.

- Judi Janofsky & Rich Steck