Fun Is Making a List of Favorite Mexican Hotels

In more than 15 years of travel to Mexico I’ve learned more than a few things about what I like in a hotel. I’ve stayed in dozens, from the funky, ramshackle beach-front cottage in Zihuatanejo in the early ‘70s to the hillside suite with its own pool in Acapulco’s sleek, sexy Villa Vera.

I’ve sweated through sleepless, mosquito-filled nights and lived serenely above such annoyances in hermetically sealed splendor.

There were housekeeping apartments in Cancun and Puerto Vallarta, a hotel room with cheap plastic furniture in Puerto Escondido and a regally furnished one in Cuernavaca, a bleak cell of a living space in Guanajuato and in Oaxaca a room large enough for an aerobics class.

What I’ve learned about Mexican hotels is that I value location over almost anything else except, possibly, the quality of the room service. If the hotel isn’t properly situated--on a good, swimmable beach, with a smashing view, or right in the heart of a city--it doesn’t stand a chance with me.

After location, everything else good about a hotel--food, service, ambiance, activities--is an extra. And when these extras add up, you have the best hotels in Mexico.

Tidy Beach Inn

Hotel Villas Del Sol, Zihuatanejo: Eight years ago I literally stumbled from La Ropa beach into this tidy beach inn on Mexico’s Pacific coast 150 miles north of Acapulco, and began talking with Helmut Leins, the German who had just built and opened it. I was astounded to find an ideal little hideaway with nice suites and good food on a wonderful beach.

Since then, happily, there have been essentially few alterations to the special barefoot sophistication of Villas Del Sol. The room count has zoomed to 17 from the original 9, all recently redone with air conditioning added.

Now there is a tennis court (Zihuatanejo’s first) in the back and an affiliated beach club next door. And, yes, prices are still magically reasonable for such a fine place--$140 for two (through April 30), including breakfast and dinner. Beginning May 1, prices are $110 for two.

Mexico has a tax of 15% built in to its hotel prices. The Villas Del Sol adds a 10% service charge to its prices, in lieu of tips. To book, call direct (011-52-743) 4-2239.

Casa De Sierra Nevada, San Miguel de Allende: Similarly small and smartly run by Peter Wirth, a Swiss whose family has owned European hotels for five generations, this inn with 14 suites and four rooms is the toast of San Miguel, a historic town on Mexico’s high inland plateau about 180 miles northwest of Mexico City.

Transformed a Charmer

“I’m running it like a small European inn,” Wirth said. He acquired the Sierra Nevada in 1981 and quickly transformed what was already a charming little hotel into a fine property with superb Mexican and continental food (the dining room is often booked days in advance). Airy, charming rooms are furnished with antiques and there’s a total commitment to service and artful ennui.

The hotel is really three separate buildings, all of colonial vintage, on a cobblestone back street close to San Miguel’s main square. Room rates range from $55 to $120. Call (800) 372-1323 or direct to the hotel, (011-52-465) 2-0415.

Las Mananitas, Cuernavaca: Behind high walls in the middle of once-sleepy and now-bustling Cuernavaca is this jewel that has coddled its clever guests since 1955.

The hostelry, whose name means Little Mornings, and the city are tranquil oases about 40 miles (and farther, psychologically) south of Mexico City. The climate is a splendid one of continual springtime. Wood fires crackle, peacocks fan their tails, romance lives.

The hotel has 14 suites and one marvelous two-bedroom unit, all furnished with pieces recovered from old Puebla estates. Several acres of gardens contain valuable sculpture, including Zuniga bronzes, exotic strolling birds and a hidden swimming pool.

In the renowned dining room, the emphasis is on grilled seafood and authentic Mexican fare--but the service can be lax if the dining room is busy. Rooms range from $29 to $85. Call (011-52-731) 2-4646.

Everything Works

Acapulco Princess, Acapulco: It’s extremely rare, especially in Mexico, to find such a large (1,032 rooms) but seemingly uncrowded and excellent hotel. Everything works here, from the theatrical lobby, with its jungle foliage and 16-story atrium, to the 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. room service.

It has hundreds of acres of gardens, one saltwater and four freshwater swimming lagoons (they can’t possibly be called pools), a very good 18-hole golf course fronting the hotel and Revolcadero Beach backing it, and 11 tennis courts (two indoors and air-conditioned).

The numerous restaurants are surprisingly good, and La Posadita has a mind-rattling buffet breakfast.

The Princess may not exactly evoke the real Mexico for everyone, but for vast beach resorts, this one is right up there. Through the winter season (April 19) the rates, including breakfast and dinner, are $195 to $250. Beginning April 20, prices will range from $90 to $135, with meals not included. Call (800) 223-1818.

Camino Real, Mexico City: This is one of the world’s finest big-city hotels, at prices astonishingly below the best in New York, Paris and the rest. The 700-room property is perfectly located across the street from Chapultepec Park and near the foot of the Reforma, Mexico City’s main boulevard.

The hotel, the masterpiece of architect Ricardo Legoretta, is built around a huge central courtyard in a graceful blend of modern design and traditional Mexican materials. The numerous restaurants include a branch of Paris’ Fouquet’s, and there are also several lounges and night spots, four swimming pools, four rooftop tennis courts and a health club.

Even the lobby-level art collection is impressive, and a grand piano is played to heighten the effect. All of this makes the Camino Real a favorite with local society and a hot spot of refined activity. Rooms range from $72 to $98 (through April 18). Call (800) 228-3000.

Las Brisas, Acapulco: There is no better place in Mexico to hide out. Spread over 700 mountainside-hugging acres above the sea, Las Brisas has 300 private marble-floored casitas (most of them semi-attached bungalows). There are also 250 swimming pools strewn with hibiscus blossoms and 150 pink-and-white Jeeps.

The grounds rise 1,200 feet from the sea level of La Concha Beach Club to the five tennis courts just below the massive cross that crowns this incomparable hotel’s hill.

“You’d have to be mad to build this place from scratch,” Las Brisas general manager Werni Eisen says with a laugh. Eisen is right. It would easily cost more than $100 million to duplicate this place. The view, serenity, service and food are simply among the finest in Mexico. There is no better place to disappear and recharge. Winter rates (through April 25) are $160 to $300, plus $16 per day for service charges, in lieu of tips. The price includes continental breakfast delivered to your door. Beginning April 26, rates will range from $105 to $250. Call (800) 228-3000.

Daydream Castles

Las Hadas, Manzanillo: Daydream castles in the sky are the stuff of Las Hadas’ white-on-white fantasy of ersatz Moorish architecture set on its own cove beach. This place is a tropical fairy tale of gracefully bending cobblestone walkways, fanciful towers and carefree ambiance.

Missing are square corners, ordinary views and disruptions. Famed architect Jose Luis Ezquerra planned things this way. He said Las Hadas represented his statement “against equality and regularity in aesthetics.”

When the hotel opened in 1975 at a breathtaking cost of $33 million (it has only 203 rooms) it was, on a per-room basis, one of the most expensive hotels ever built. By 1982, without the upkeep that tropical hotels demand, Las Hadas had gone into something of a decline. But since Westin began managing the property and put several million dollars into it, it’s as good as ever.

Las Hadas offers four fine restaurants, a good beach (glimpsed in the movie “10”), a vast swimming pool, an 18-hole golf course, 10 tennis courts and a marina. Rooms are $125 to $150 in winter. Starting April 26, prices are $100 to $120. Call (800) 228-3000.

Garza Blanca, Puerto Vallarta: Five miles south of lively Puerto Vallarta, where the best beaches are hidden, this elegantly simple hotel has stood in regal isolation since 1968. It has grown to 57 one-, two- and three-bedroom suites, chalets and villas spread on the beach and up the hill, but its essential flavor of refined relaxation is unchanged.

Besides one large common pool Garza has 35 private ones, a tennis court, a putting green, discreet service and good, simple Mexican food; big breakfasts are a joy served alfresco overlooking the nice (and private) beach. Rates run $150 to $295 in winter. Beginning April 29, prices are $130 to $240. Call (800) 331-0908.

Hotel Palmilla, Los Cabos: In this powerfully peaceful little Mexican village facing the Sea of Cortez, the 69-room hotel lies on 2 1/2 miles of uninterrupted beach near the tip of a nearly deserted 800-mile peninsula.

Obviously this is a tranquil place. It is run with absolute dedication to comfort and service by U.S.-based Atlas Hotels, which arrived at the 30-year-old hotel in 1984 and invested millions to renovate the entire place, add 20 rooms and air conditioning, and upgrade everything else. Food (American and continental, with some Mexican) is mostly flown in from San Diego.

Palmilla’s swimming pool is backed by three tennis courts and two paddle tennis courts, a four-vessel sportfishing fleet, croquet, horseback riding and a well-stocked library. Prices through May 31 are $205 to $266, including service charge in lieu of tips and three meals. Beginning June 1 rates are $90.75 to $114.95, including service charge (no meals). Call (800) 542-6082.

Diver’s Paradise

La Ceiba, Cozumel: A resort hotel that also manages to serve as one of the premier diving centers of the island, La Ceiba is my favorite place on Mexico’s Caribbean coast. This special 113-room hotel is a real find in an area of big, instant hotels on Cozumel and across the lagoon at Cancun.

The region is known for its crystal waters, superb reefs and abundant sea life. Paradise Reef is just offshore, and a big two-engine passenger aircraft (sunk for the Mexican movie “Cyclone,” and not a crash) lies on the bottom in perfect snorkeling view less than 100 yards from the hotel.

Scuba and snorkeling packages are part of La Ceiba’s attraction for its generally younger clientele, but so are its nice rooms and the surprisingly good food (possibly the best on the island).

For less active sorts, there’s a swimming pool and a sandy beach behind the sea wall fronting the lagoon. Winter room rates are $67 to $87. On May 1 prices are $55 to $75. Call (800) 621-6830.