Puerto Escondido, Mexico

Casa TO

Price per night from$277.20

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (inclusive of taxes and fees) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (MXN5,397.84), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Casa TO Photos

Style

(Ce)ment to be

Setting

Hedonistic Zicatela

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Named after a templo oaxaqueño, adults-only Casa TO is a modern sanctuary revered by aesthetes and design lovers. Ludwig Godefroy’s brutalist architecture merits veneration, particularly at the hotel’s corazón — the indoor-outdoor pool — which is a symmetrical feat of cut-out cement archways and built-in, tiered sunloungers. Suites are blessed with plant-strewn terraces; oenophiles will worship the seafood restaurant’s organic bottles, and surf devotees can ride nearby La Punta’s waves. It’s a sacred space — one we’ll happily dedicate ourselves to.

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A bottle of wine

Facilities

Photos Casa TO facilities

Need to know

Rooms

Nine suites.

Check–Out

Noon; check-in, 3pm. Both are flexible by one hour, on request and subject to availability.

More details

Rates at Casa TO include a Continental breakfast and all-day fruit and filtered water in the lobby.

Also

Unfortunately, this biophilic basecamp is not suitable if you have reduced mobility. If you’re staying in a Garden Suite, there are steps down as soon as you enter the room, and again to reach the garden terrace; Terrace Suites are accessed via a poolside stairway.

At the hotel

Boutique, charged laundry service and free WiFi throughout. In rooms: air-conditioning and ceiling fan, tea- and coffee-making kit, minibar, free bottled water and organic bath products.

Our favourite rooms

It’s an art to make brutalism feel cozy and warm, but the designers at Casa TO have achieved just that. Cooling cement walls and geometric design characterize the suites, but vibrant flourishes add a Mexican touch — fresh bouquets of flowers, handwoven traditional textiles and photographic prints that spotlight local creative talent. You’ll find a ceramic urn with two shots of mezcal in your room: take a toast on the plant-filled patio in a Garden Suite or in the alfresco soaking tub in the Terrace Suites.

Poolside

The centrepiece of the hotel’s biophilic design is the indoor-outdoor pool. It’s a one-of-a-kind structure that’s laid out like a mirror: stand at either end and the entire space is framed by key-hole-like reliefs cut out of the concrete walls. Jungle-evoking plants and carefully curated furnishings add to the eye-candy effect, as do built-in sunloungers that terrace the back wall, allowing for lizard-like sunbathing. Leisurely lengths — or trying to get that perfect shot — are thirsty work, helpfully quenched by a poolside bar, which shakes up cocktails and kombucha.

Packing tips

Clear your interiors-inspiration Pinterest board: you’re about to get a whole lot of design ideas (and home envy).

Also

If you’re starting to feel achy from all the neck-craning you’ve been doing to take in Ludwig Godefroy’s shapely design, the concierge can arrange in-room massages and yoga classes on request.

Pet‐friendly

Four-legged friends are welcome to stay in all rooms for US$25 each a night. See more pet-friendly hotels in Puerto Escondido.

Children

This design-led retreat is for adults only.

Sustainability efforts

Eco is the MO at Casa TO: it sources energy from its solar panels, eschews all plastic, uses nearby suppliers, recycles and composts its waste, and supports the local community. Plus, the hotel’s indoor-outdoor design creates natural ventilation and its cast cement walls add to the cooling effect.

Food and Drink

Photos Casa TO food and drink

Top Table

On the raised cube-like booths that are built into the terrace’s wall, or at the bar for front-row seats to the culinary action.

Dress Code

Fresh-out-of-the-pool flies at breakfast; you’ll want your most up-to-the-minute threads for dinner.

Hotel restaurant

Terrace-set Glou Glou nods to the light, natural wine that takes its name from the French for ‘glug, glug’. At this restaurant-slash-wine-bar, sommelier Gabriela Moreno takes care of pouring the pét nats, while chef Luis Pabón whips up a seafood storm in the open-plan kitchen. The produce changes seasonally but you can expect to sample dishes such as watermelon aguachile or white clam with coconut leche de tigre; or skip the decision-making and opt for one of the tasting menus. You’ll want to find a way to work up an appetite between dinner and breakfast (how you do so is up to you) as the ricotta omelets and French toast with homemade bacon are worthy of not snoozing your alarm.

Hotel bar

If the sound at Glou Glou is ‘glug, glug’, then that heard at Bar TO is one of ‘mmm!’, thanks to its menu of mezcalitas, martinis and mimosas. Its signature cocktails will give you the liquid courage to indulge in a poolside photoshoot, and its kitschy bites of Portuguese tinned goods are on hand to fuel you between poses. Help yourself to homemade kombucha, local beers and fresh fruit at the lobby’s honor bar, which is stocked around the clock.

Last orders

At Glou Glou, breakfast is 8.30am to noon, and dinner is between 6pm and 10.30pm. Bar TO serves from 11am to 11pm; filtered water, fresh fruit and an honesty bar are available at any time in the lobby.

Location

Photos Casa TO location
Address
Casa TO
Morelos s/n Brisas de Zicatela
Puerto Escondido
70934
Mexico

You’ll find Casa TO in Punta de Zicatela, a jungle-backdropped surfing community that sits opposite the bay to Puerto Escondido on Oaxaca’s rugged coastline.

Planes

Puerto Escondido’s international airport is a 25-minute drive from the hotel; staff can arrange private transfers for US$30 each way. Further afield there’s Oaxaca International Airport, which is two and half hours away by road.

Automobiles

La Punta (the neighborhood’s nickname) is compact enough to take in on foot, but you’ll need wheels to reach the pristine, smaller beaches. Taxis are easily arranged, or if you hire a set of wheels — a moped is a nifty idea if you’re travelling as two — there’s free street parking outside of the hotel.

Worth getting out of bed for

As irresistible as Casa TO’s corners may prove, the siren call of the Oaxacan coastline is just as tempting. La Punta Zicatela is a short stroll away and surfers flock to its breaks — staff can arrange surf lessons if you want to master your pop-up — but cove-like Playa Carrizalillo, secluded Playa Coral and vast Playa Bacocho are better bets for aquamarine-sea swimming. 

You’ll find more bright colors on a visit to Laguna de Manialtepec, where bioluminescence is an otherworldly phenomenon. Continue the theme of getting back to nature with dolphin- and whale-watching boat trips, or while releasing just-hatched turtles on the beach. Staff can arrange ultralight flights and parachute jumps, or opt for something more low-tempo with an in-room massage or yoga class.

Local restaurants

Chicama is a cornerstone of Zicatela’s culinary scene: its Peruvian-fusion plates of zingy ceviche and spicy tiraditos draw a crowd, who stay for its beat-heavy playlists and fruity cocktails. At cool-kid Atarraya, Mexican classics are paired with Japanese flavors that are best relished under the terrace’s lanterns. Melt-in-your-mouth sashimi and seared-salmon maki rolls are stand-outs at sushi bar Sommo.

Local cafés

If the coffee in your room is to your liking, you won’t have to travel far to meet its makers: round-the-corner Ojitos Abiertos serves its house-roasted beans alongside traditional breakfasts. Malagua is your one-stop shop for too-pretty-to-eat brunches, specialty brews and early-evening copas of natural wine.

Local bars

It would feel mildly sacrilegious to swing by Juana Mezcala and not try the nation’s favorite smoky spirit — sample it in a spritz or neat. The views from Punta Vida’s terrace are pretty mesmerising: gaze at the sunset-backlit surfers, convivial beach games or your thirst-quenching cerveza.

Reviews

Photos Casa TO reviews

Anonymous review

By Mr & Mrs Smith

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this designed-to-the-nines hotel in Oaxaca and unpacked their potent mezcal and handwoven textiles, a full account of their picture-perfect break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Casa TO in Puerto Escondido…

Monolithic Aztec pyramids and cisterns in Istanbul aren’t naturally linked, but French architect Ludwig Godefroy drew inspiration from both for adults-only Casa TO and its jaw-dropping design. Like the temples it nods to — ‘TO’ stands for templo oaxaqueño — there’s a harmony with nature, as plants climb its walls and adorn the suites’ terraces. 

Its geometric corners have a viral quality — even the most media-shy might find themselves hungry for photos of the archway-framed pool or cube-like banquettes at Glou Glou — but, far from a fad for your socials, its considered construction was conceived with longevity in mind. An act of vernacular architecture, which celebrates local workers, building techniques and materials, Casa TO roots itself in contemporary Oaxacan communities. Its respect towards Mother Earth isn’t contrived, it’s culturally and mythologically woven into its identity.

And with its brutalist good looks bolstered by personalized service and top-notch wining and dining, we think Casa TO might be the blueprint for future stays.

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Price per night from $277.20

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