The Best Boutique Hotels to Book in Mexico City

You’ll feel like you’re staying in a stylish friend’s home at this four-room turn-of-the-century mansion turned boutique hotel in Mexico City’s hip Roma district. Enter the bright courtyard filled with climbing plants and foliage, pause to sip artisanal mezcal from the honesty bar, then skip up the small staircase to your room. Each light and bright suite is named in honor of past residents, including a Mexican historian, an urban planner, and a besotted Frenchman who fell for the lady of the house. When it’s time to turn in, an oven-baked cookie awaits.

Any definitive list of Mexico City’s top boutique hotels has to include crowd-pulling, effortlessly cool Condesa DF, from Mexico’s homegrown Grupo Habita. At the triangle-shaded rooftop bar, you can rub shoulders with the city’s hippest residents, as you sip cucumber mezcal mojitos and snack on Japanese-inspired salmon sashimi bites. Rooms are pared-back – the perfect antidote to all the action elsewhere – daubed in creamy shades and minimalist wood-paneling. Outside, Condesa and Roma wait to be explored.

Bohemian travelers flock to Chaya B&B boutique hostel in Mexico City for its note-perfect design, set around a leafy, church-spying courtyard, where low-slung hammocks lure guests to come and hang out. Further cementing the laid-back feel is a resident dog who totters about the place and a long communal table where you can trade tips over breakfasts of piping-hot Chiapas coffee, quesadillas and Mexican mole sauce. Even better is its location: set atop Barrio Alameda, a complex on the edge of Alameda Park that harbors independent shops and restaurants.

One of the most inviting aspects of this urban oasis in the Cuauhtémoc neighborhood is its translucent glass pool – ideal for slaking the heat after a long day exploring Mexico City’s heady ‘hoods. After cooling off, work your way through the organic seasonal menu at the restaurant, crafted by plant-forward chef Joaquin Cardoso, who learnt his skills at the Crillon and Plaza Athénée in Paris. Don’t miss in-house concept store, Taxonomía, too: a local favorite for fashion, accessories and ceramics created by local designers.

Unwind in a private apartment at Dominion, in the heart of luxurious Polanco, the Mexican Beverly Hills. All suites have a kitchen, living room and everything you need to live independently – even free-spirited views of Parque Lincoln, with its statues dedicated to Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King. Breakfast is included, and early-morning laps in the heated outdoor pool or afternoon gym sessions are there for the taking.

Set within a 16th-century palace, this extravagant boutique hotel in Mexico City is fit for a king (or queen). In the lobby, an immense Louis XV chandelier towers above checkin, setting the tone for the the palatial decor, which also includes a Tiffany-style stained-glass ceiling, imported from France in 1908. To top it off, zip upstairs in a gilded antique elevator to the rooftop bar for an expansive view of the vibrant Plaza del Zócalo below.

All the trappings of a luxury hotel are evident at this Polanco pensión: from fine linens to a finger-on-the-pulse concierge and two top-flight restaurants. But Las Alcobas takes it to the next level, making it one of Mexico City’s best boutique hotels. Ring your personal bath butler to arrange a spa-like treatment in your suite, upon which steam jets will be set, bath oils presented and mood lighting dimmed for ultimate relaxation. Afterwards, head down for dinner at Dulce Patria, one of the top restaurants in Latin America.

Step inside this unassuming townhouse in Roma Norte to find an immaculately styled three-bedroom hotel – little sister to larger La Valise in Tulum. Each suite has its own flare. For a night beneath the stars, bed down in La Terraza, which comes with a sliding bed, that can be wheeled onto the terrace on command. Though La Valise doesn’t have a restaurant, room service is on hand from Rosetta, an age-old Roma mansion run by leading chef Elena Reygadas.