If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.
Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (USD546.40), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.
History is writ large in Casa Polanco Boutique Hotel, a bed and breakfast in one of Mexico City’s most monied neighbourhoods, set at the edge of the second largest park in the world. It’s part Spanish colonial mansion that’s housed aristocratic families since the 1940s, and part sleek modernist block built by architect Claudio Gantous over four years. Its whiplash era shifts are testament to the country’s pacy dynamism and an homage to Mexican craftsmanship – furthered by the love that’s been given to the interiors, from gently restored stucco ceilings and marble floors, to treasure-hunted antiques (the work of design team M+M), and statement pieces from innovative studios. And, in this best-of-both world, there are lingering drinks with leafy views, spa escapism and romance that spans the ages.
Smith Extra
Get this when you book through us:
A private breakfast served in your room or on the terrace
Double rooms from £504.74 ($634), including tax at 16 per cent. Please note the hotel charges an additional local city tax of 3.5% per room per night prior to arrival and an additional service charge of 10% per room per night prior to arrival.
More details
Rates include an à la carte breakfast, minibar soft drinks, tea time (with drinks and snacks) from 5:30pm to 7:30pm, coffee and water delivered to your room at 7am, electric bikes and one set of clothes pressed a day.
Also
The grand entranceway to the original house has some stairs, but within there’s a lift to all floors and spacious ground-floor rooms that may suit guests with mobility issues.
At the hotel
Spa and gym, library, restaurant, honesty bar, pressing service, bikes to borrow, lounging terraces, concierge, free WiFi. In rooms: TV, Bang & Olufsen speakers, minibar, Nespresso coffee machine, bathrobes, Xinu bath products.
Our favourite rooms
Stick with the classics – the hotel’s newer rooms are easy on the eye, with dark woods, parquet flooring, luxe marble and white walls, but for that true lord-or-lady-of-the-house feel, you’ll want to stay in one of the four mansion rooms. There are three Premier rooms and one Grand with a sleek modern bath tub; all are spacious and light-flooded, with park views, and each has something special: an intricate stucco ceiling, windows with Eastern-style arches, curlicued ironwork. The two ground-floor rooms interconnect, and the two on the upper floor have balconies. Of the more modern rooms, we’d pick the Lincoln Park suite with its super-sized terrace.
Spa
The spa’s glazed cabin (big enough for two) is set overlooking the park atop the new annexe, so you feel far removed from the city hubbub. There’s a small but considered treatment menu for gentle unwinding after you’ve exhausted the shops in Polanco, and ambient lamps made by respected native designer Héctor Esrawe to set the scene. And, the hotel’s gym adds a touch of glamour to your work-out, not only with its hifalutin Technogym equipment, but with its original art nouveau feature windows and chic styling.
Packing tips
A hefty credit limit to allow for temptation, and gear for going out – Polanco is party-hard with label-draped denizens and a high concentration of the city’s be-seen hotspots, so you’ll want to look the part.
Also
The concierge can help set you up with an entourage of personal shoppers, drivers and whoever else can be of service.
Children
The casa may have once been a family home, but now it's more of a love nest.
Mexico City may be a go-go-go megalopolis, but you wouldn’t know it to sit on the hotel’s terrace and look out upon the leafy peacefulness of Lincoln Park. We’re also rather taken with the cosy corner sofas in the library lounge.
Dress Code
Burnished back-in-the-day looks or au courant couture.
Hotel restaurant
Waft through the hotel’s entrance hallway – an art-lined, marble-floored space from which a staircase spirals up – past the check-in desk and through the colonnaded arches and you’ll find yourself bathed in sunlight in the hotel’s glass-roofed atrium, La Veranda. It’s here where you can take breakfast (a buffet or locally inspired à la carte options), tea or an apéritif on a comfy sofa and under a parasol on particularly dazzling days. The focus is on the most important meal of the day, but the concierge can point you in the right direction when it comes to lunch and dinner.
Hotel bar
Make yourself at home – if you’re anything like us, this means helping ourselves to liberal servings from the honesty bar – here a chic decanter-laden drinks trolley in the library. It’s largely stocked with spirits – some of which are free for guests – and there's plenty of wine offerings, too.
Last orders
Breakfast runs from 7:30am to 11:30am; tea time is 5.30pm to 7.30pm; lunch and dinner are served from midday until 11pm.
Casa Polanco is in the upscale colonia of its name, to the northwest of Mexico City, close to the vast and verdant Bosque de Chapultepec. Dubbed the ‘Beverly Hills’ of CDMX, there are designer boutiques aplenty and some of the city’s priciest residences.
Planes
Mexico City Airport is the nearest international hub, just a 25-minute drive from the hotel. It’s well connected to both Americas and Europe with plenty of direct flights. Hotel staff can arrange transfers (around US$65 one-way).
Trains
There are two subway stations within walking distance of the hotel: Auditorio and Polanco, both on Line 7. From the airport, board at Terminal Aérea on Line 5, ride it one stop to Pantitlan on Line 9, then head west to reach Line 7.
Automobiles
Driving in Mexico City can be chaotic with a (sometimes very) fast and loose approach to the highway code, tiresome traffic jams and street vendors vying for your attention, but as long as you keep your wits about you it’s a definite possibility (or you can hire a driver to navigate the city for you). Most international visitors start their road trips in Mexico City, heading north to see the likes of San Miguel de Allende, or south to beach hop the Yucatán, so you’ll likely survive a city stay without a car. There's no private parking at the hotel, but plenty of available spaces in the surrounding streets.
Worth getting out of bed for
The hotel acts as more of a beauteous base from which to propel your adventures, but they can offer you a massage, call in a personal trainer or take part in mat Pilates, Yoga classes and Meditation sessions. Home to one of Mexico’s most expensive streets (the luxury-boutique-lined Presidente Masaryk Avenue) and one of the largest parks in the western hemisphere (the Bosque de Chapultepec), the Polanco neighbourhood is certainly one of CDMX’s most significant, attracting the city’s wealthiest and flocks of culture vultures. There’s much to grab your attention, but first, hit the line-up of designer labels along Presidente Masaryk Avenue if you have pesos to burn, or explore the – relatively – less expensive options at glamorous open-air mall Antara Polanco. Once you look the part then you’re all set to go promenading through Chapultepec Park (all 17,000 acres if you have the stamina…) There’s enough to do within its borders to distract you for days: see giant pandas at the zoo; trace the city’s history exploring the collections of exceedingly grand Chapultepec Castle (home to the National Museum of Cultures); chart eclipses on the famed Aztec Sun Stone, just one of the fascinating artefacts at the National Anthropology Museum; and see Mexico’s most profound modern artists on display at both the Rufino Tamayo Museum and the Modern Art Museum (which has amassed over 3,000 paintings). The latter has a selection of Frida Kahlo’s works, but you may prefer seeing them in the more personal setting of her peacock-blue home, in the Colonia del Carmen neighbourhood to the south. Just as colourful, with its planes of pink and orange, is architect Luis Barragán’s jawdropping futuristic casa on the southern border of Chapultepec. Parque Lincoln (opposite the hotel) doesn’t have as much going on, but its sculptures and graffiti scrawls, genteel lakes for toy-boat races and hugely popular playground make it worth wandering through. Soumaya Museum has a huge collection of pre-Hispanic and European treasures (notably a trove of Rodin works) for you to lay your eyes on, but the undulating building they’re housed in is an attraction in itself. Teatro Teicel has a programme of plays and musicals, the iconic Paseo de la Reforma will take you to the central Zócalo and surrounding monumental buildings if you walk its length. And, you’re just a short hop from the hipster havens of Roma and Condesa.
Local restaurants
Restaurants in Polanco reflect the ‘hood’s ritzy nature – here American chains rub shoulders with upscale global eateries and joints owned by celeb chefs. But, we say forgo fanciness to sit on a curb and messily devour the menu at beloved hole-in-the-wall taqueriaEl Turix (21 Avenida, Emilio Castelar), whose cochinita pibil has earnt a cult following. For a more elevated experience, chef Enrique Olvera is your man – he’s built an empire in the area, which started off with world-renowned Pujol, where the tasting menu that twists and turns through traditional and fusion flavours is worth securing a hard-won reservation. His more casual bistro-style diner Eno, close by, is a cheaper way to discover his genius, or try his protégé’s accomplished cookery at Quintonil, where the menu’s equally myriad, serving charcoal-roasted chicken with mole sauce, nectarines and clams; uchepos (tamales) with cheese foam and confit peppers; and guava rocks with caramelised white chocolate and pink pepper to finish. And, with Dulce Patria, chef Martha Ortiz (who’s starred on Top Chef Mexico), brings a sense of fun to seriously haute Mexican cuisine: think pan negro dusted with a flour Dia De Los Muertos skull, garnishes cut into butterfly shapes, sweets served on wooden toys, and plates that resemble a Kahlo-esque palette.
Local cafés
Maque Café (131 Avenida Altavista) has a Continental feel, but doesn’t deviate too far from tradition, serving top huevos rancheros and pan dulce. And Otro Café’s (78 Shakespeare) coffee game is shot-in-the-arm strong.
Local bars
Take a wild guess what Gin Gin Polanco excels in: yes, its cocktails largely come laced with its namesake spirit; most keep it simple with some rosemary and a dash of lemon oil here, or a spritz of grapefruit juice there, but the signature sipper is a heady blend of cardamom, ginseng, peppermint, ginkgo biloba and beer. For less single-minded spirits, head to Il Canto (247 Campos Elíseos) whose cocktails are highly regarded (especially the martinis), then warm up your pipes, because its other claim to fame is as a raucously fun karaoke joint.
A beautifully ornate iron gate slowly swings open and a grand villa in bleached white stucco and pink stone comes into view. Mr Smith and I walk up a set of steep steps, pass beneath an elaborately carved arched doorway towards the distant murmur of laughter in a sun-flooded atrium. A sweet floral scent hangs thickly in the air and a vast green marble floor, as though liquid, spills out in front of us. No, this hazy vision is not a dream, but the very real first moments of our Casa Polanco experience. Not Mr Smith dropping his bag on my foot, the persistent trill of a phone alarm reminding me how late we were for our appointment across town, nor the impatient horn of the waiting taxi outside could break the magical spell.
By the time we set foot in Casa Polanco, we were already several days deep into our Mexico City adventure. We had, we thought, gotten to grips with this sprawling city. We’d shopped in Roma, eaten in Coyoacán, paraded through Chapultepec Park and visited more extraordinary museums than would seem physically achievable or mentally advisable. Our brains were whiplashed from a recurring onslaught of Diego Rivera murals and Aztec artefacts. Mr Smith had begun to feebly murmur ‘no more’ each time I produced my prepared list of institutions. So, we arrived at Casa Polanco flushed with the kind of unfounded confidence that every traveller displays after a few successful days abroad, we thought we had the measure of Mexico City. But, it seems not – we were not prepared for Casa Polanco.
Much of the transformative effect of Casa Polanco has to do with the beautiful bones of the building itself and the nostalgia it evokes. Named after the neighbourhood it inhabits, Casa Polanco was built as a family home in the 1930s, just one house in a grand scheme for an elegant residential suburb away from the bustle of the city proper. This was the time when poets dined with revolutionaries, artists were celebrities and everyone who was anyone wanted to be right here. Casa Polanco’s private owners have painstakingly restored every carved flower, every filigree, to bring this ‘Californian Mission’ building back to glistening perfection. As I lazily scan the bookshelves and tabletops filled with beautifully curated vintage and contemporary objects, I begin to recognise vases, photography, textiles from the local design galleries Mr Smith has had the pleasure to be dragged around. I do an internal cheer for Casa Polanco’s quiet dedication to locality.
The ambition of Casa Polanco, so Regina the benevolent and fountain-of-all-knowledge concierge tells me during an impromptu tour, is to reinstate the building as a home, albeit with a changing cast of temporary family, of which Mr Smith and I were now part. With only a handful of rooms, a staff with whom we are immediately on first-name terms and a rampant imagination such as mine, I have no trouble inserting myself and Mr Smith enthusiastically into this fantasy.
Today, only a fraction of the original Polanco mansions are left, in their places are embassies and high-end restaurants. Everyone, it seems, wants to be in Polanco. Prior to our arrival, we had turned to the internet for a summary of this Mexico City district and quickly come across words like ‘ritzy’ and comparisons to Beverly Hills. After settling into our vast and luxuriously appointed room, Mr Smith and I crossed the street and passed through the small but pretty Parque Lincoln into Polanco’s epicentre to see if the internet was correct. Happily, while luxury car showrooms and Nobu franchises are available for those who might desperately need them (Mr Smith and I did not), this wasn’t the sum of the area. We found a relaxed neighbourhood that reveals its elegant past through tree-lined boulevards and manicured Modernist buildings.
Back at Casa Polanco, the fantasy rolled on as Mr Smith and I relax in the library room after dinner. As we ease into the velvety couches, music softly playing, we admire the contemporary Mexican art on the walls and flick through the seriously impressive collection of books, and are treated to our first, delicious mezcalita by Benjamin, another of our Casa Polanco family, who makes them for us ‘the traditional way’. The scene is practically sepia tinged. Benjamin’s mezcalita making is just one example of many small moments of extraordinary service we encountered at Casa Polanco. My favourite is being woken up with a freshly made cappuccino as a prelude to breakfast, the charmingly named ‘eye-opener’; while Mr Smith quickly became accustomed to being offered champagne every time he set foot into the lounge. A champagne ‘tea’ is part of the hotel’s daily schedule, no doubt an incentive to encourage visitors like us to linger at the casa. Mr Smith and I, however, needed no such enticement.
We weren’t at all surprised to find out that Benjamin, Regina and their colleagues have received training from a renowned British butler school. More unexpected was discovering how good Mr Smith is at being butlered. He may be the best butlered guest Casa Polanco has had the pleasure to host, so pleased is he by every suggestion and delighted by every bit of attention. As we prepare to leave, I wonder about the long-term effects Casa Polanco may have on him. This kind of treatment can be difficult to recover from.
In truth, Mr Smith and I lived two days and two nights at the Casa Polanco in a suspended state of bliss. We are certain that we have found it, fellow travellers, the holy grail of hotels: an establishment with all the heart and authenticity of an independent hotel, but with the sheer quality expected from the most established luxury group. When we eventually leave, our new-found Polanco family comes to wave us off. A visibly crestfallen Mr Smith waves back forlornly. But as we pull away, my phone begins to fill with messages from the Casa Polanco front desk of suggested places to eat and things to see in our next Mexican destination. You see, I say to Mr Smith, don’t worry – you can leave Casa Polanco, but Casa Polanco never leaves you.
