Where Mexico City sleeps: Reforma, Polanco and the courtyards of Roma

About Where Mexico City sleeps: Reforma, Polanco and the courtyards of Roma

By the ULTIMATE Mexico City Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

Mexico City is too big to cross twice a day, so choose the neighbourhood first. Paseo de la Reforma is the grand avenue: the Four Seasons at no. 500, with its hacienda-style courtyard; the St. Regis at no. 439 and the Ritz-Carlton at no. 509, facing each other near the Diana fountain; and the Sofitel and the Marquis further along. Polanco, north of Chapultepec, has Las Alcobas and Hotel Habita on Avenida Presidente Masaryk and the W on Campos Elíseos. In the Centro Histórico, the Gran Hotel keeps its stained-glass ceiling above the Zócalo, and Grupo Habita has turned old buildings into Downtown Mexico and Círculo Mexicano. Roma and Condesa are the city of small hotels: Condesa DF, Brick, La Valise, Casa Goliana and Octavia Casa.

Reforma

The Four Seasons Hotel Mexico City is at Paseo de la Reforma 500, in Colonia Juárez, built around a courtyard in the hotel’s own words like a hacienda. The St. Regis is at no. 439 and the Ritz-Carlton at no. 509, by the Diana fountain and close to Chapultepec; the Sofitel Mexico City Reforma is at no. 297 and the Marquis Reforma at no. 465.

Polanco

Las Alcobas stands at Presidente Masaryk 390 and Hotel Habita at Masaryk 201, on Polanco’s shopping avenue; the W Mexico City is at Campos Elíseos 252, and Casa Polanco and Campos Polanco are small hotels in the quieter streets towards Parque Lincoln.

You don’t need a room: the Gran Hotel’s top floor looks over the Zócalo, and the St. Regis’s Diana restaurant looks onto its fountain.

The Centro Histórico

The Gran Hotel de la Ciudad de México, at 16 de Septiembre 82, was a department store, the Centro Mercantil, before it became a hotel; its Art Nouveau stained-glass ceiling, by the French artist Jacques Grüber, was finished in 1908 (CDMX official tourism site). Downtown Mexico, at Isabel la Católica 30, and Círculo Mexicano, at República de Guatemala 20 behind the cathedral, are Grupo Habita’s hotels in the old city.

Roma and Condesa

Condesa DF looks onto the Plaza Popocatépetl at Avenida Veracruz 102. In Roma, Brick Hotel is at Orizaba 95, La Valise at Tonalá 53, Casa Goliana at Guanajuato 199 and Nima Local House at Colima 236; Octavia Casa is at Amatlán 126 in Condesa.

Our advice: for a first visit, stay on Reforma or in Roma–Condesa and walk; save the Centro Histórico for long mornings.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Where Mexico City sleeps: Reforma, Polanco and the courtyards of Roma before you go.