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 (MXN5,265.00), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.
Woven into the urban fabric of Mexico City’s chic Condesa district, Octavia Casa is a stylish, six-key stay modelled on the owner’s contemporary fashion brand, Octavia. And though you might feel compelled to come dressed to impress (especially seeing the reeded glass catwalks that connect the indoor-outdoor spaces), the atmosphere is low-key and laid-back. The serene interiors score some serious style points with Mexican designers. When it’s time to strut your stuff, Condesa and neighboring Roma are on the doorstep – but we have a feeling the hotel’s rooftop will soon beckon you back, and remain in vogue with the city’s sundowner crowd.
Noon, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 3pm.
Prices
Double rooms from £297.28 (MXN6,371), including tax at 21 per cent.
More details
Rates don’t include breakfast, but a Continental spread (brought in from a local bakery) of fresh bread, pastries, homemade jams, charcuterie, and fruit juices can be purchased for just under US$20.
Also
There’s no elevator on property (rooms can only be accessed via the central staircase), sadly making Octavia Casa unsuitable for wheelchair users.
At the hotel
Rooftop terrace, courtyard, and free WiFi. In rooms: smart TV, air-conditioning, minibar, Nespresso coffee machine, tea-making kit, and Le Labo bath products.
Our favourite rooms
Each stylishly stripped-back room is as elemental in palette as the natural material it’s named after – including Lino (linen), Bronce (bronze), Roca (stone), Yute (jute), Tierra (earth), and Nogal (walnut). Muted neutrals set a soothing scene throughout the sleeping quarters, with cloud-like linens to sink into. For slightly more space to stretch out in, we’d plump for one of the two studios (Lino and Bronce).
Spa
There’s no spa onsite, but the hotel has local wellness brands Scape and Hauspa on speed-dial if you’d like an in-room massage.
Packing tips
In need of something extra stylish to slip into for the evening? You’ll want to save some space in your suitcase to raid Condesa’s trendy boutiques, which are brimming with vintage finds and artisan-made treasures.
Also
The teak lattices that cleverly shade the front of the casa were designed by Mexican architectural studio Pablo Pérez Palacios to act as a screen for guest privacy (while giving peeping passers-by a shuttered glimpse).
Children
Over-12s are welcome at this casa, but there are no extra beds, so another room must be booked.
Sustainability efforts
Water is recycled to irrigate the hotel’s plants and rooftop garden (which is where solar panels have been installed to maximize Mexico City’s sunny disposition).
Take a bamboo stool from the lobby and sit under the shade of the courtyard’s guava tree.
Dress Code
Lean into linens and natural colors to breeze between the casa’s indoor-outdoor spaces.
Hotel restaurant
Technically speaking, there’s no onsite restaurant – but guests can gather in the ground-floor courtyard for locally sourced baked goods at breakfast, sweetened with honey and homemade hibiscus-and-ginger jam.
Hotel bar
Again, there’s no dedicated bar area – just a chic rooftop you can head up to for sundowners overlooking the city (expect clinking glasses of natural Bichi wine, made in Mexico’s rugged Baja California Norte mountains).
Last orders
Just let the team know if you’d like breakfast the night before to ensure enough baked goods are brought in.
Room service
Who needs in-room dining when you’ve got Mexico City to eat your way through?
On a tree-lined avenue in the leafy Condesa district sits Octavia Casa, surrounded by quiet residential streets and neighbored by artsy Roma.
Planes
Mexico City’s international airport is around 45 minutes by car from the hotel (traffic-dependent). A transfer service can be arranged with the hotel in advance of your stay.
Trains
Patriotism and Juanacatlan stations are just under 10 minutes’ walk from the hotel; if you’re coming from the airport, you can take Line 5 to Pantitlán, then change onto Line 9 to Chilpancingo (a 15-minute walk from Octavia Casa).
Automobiles
Since you’ll be staying in one of Mexico City’s most pedestrian-friendly areas, there’s no need to hire a set of wheels. There’s no onsite parking at the property either, so you’ll need to take your chances on public street parking (which can be tricky at the best of times).
Worth getting out of bed for
Mexico City’s charms are best enjoyed by those who go without a plan, and simply get lost within the mish-mash of street markets, art galleries, and buzzing mezcal bars. If you do have your sights set on, well, a few sites, you’ll need to venture into the centro histórico (for the show-stopping Metropolitan Cathedral and Palacio de Bellas Artes). Every visit to this colorful city is a vibrant treat for the senses, but the electric-pink Casa Gilardi and Frida Kahlo’s Casa Azul (Blue House) top the list. And after a day absorbing the chaotic beauty of the city, retreat to Octavia Casa’s idyllic embrace in the leafy, laid-back Condesa neighborhood (arguably the greenest in this green city). Fronted by art deco buildings and dotted with outdoor sculptures, Parque México is a peaceful spot for golden-hour strolls, yoga classes, and picnics. Avenida Amsterdam is also nearby, a former horse-racing track that’s now a tranquil, plant-lined walkway where residents escape the city’s heat. You’re also on the border of the trendsetting Roma district, where you can browse quirky bookstores and linger at quaint cafés by day, before settling into a low-ley mezcal lounge after dark.
Local restaurants
Your in-room guide book has been carefully curated by Octavia’s owner, but a few of her foodie favorites include Botánico (for its secret-garden patio and seasonally changing menu); and Mexican-Mediterranean fusion joint, Lardo: the sister restaurant to Roma’s Rosetta (also by the talented chef Elena Reygadas) brings the flavors of Europe to the rustic outdoor tables – which often spill out from the French doors onto the street – laden with charcuterie boards, zesty salads, and wood-fired pizzas.
Local cafés
The humble tortilleria has been given a sleek update by Enrique Olvera, Mexico’s most famous chef, at Condesa’s Molino el Pujol – where locals queue around the block most mornings for this tiny open kitchen’s corn-based delights. The tortillas and tacos are so moreish you’ll want to return for lunch and dinner (an excuse to try the pillow-soft tamales and grilled, creamy elote). Just a couple of streets over from Octavia Casa is Ciena, a neighborhood go-to for wholesome brunch plates.
Local bars
Make like the locals and head to Hugo for the evening, a hip wine bar in Roma that hinges on natural, biodynamic labels – mostly grown in Mexico’s Valle de Guadalupe. Relatively new-kid-on-the-Condesa-block is Caimán (named after the South American alligator), a swanky spot for light bites, cocktails, and wine with suitably reptilian bottle designs. Snack on homemade potato chips and dips, olive mixes, and tins of your favorite seafood, washed down with mezcal-based margaritas, dirty martinis, and whiskey sours.
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 minimalist-chic hotel in Condesa and unpacked their hand-sculpted ceramics and artisanal mezcal, a full account of their cosmopolitan break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Octavia Casa in Mexico City…
Octavia Casa is as serene on the inside as it looks from the sidewalk. Mexico City’s strong sunshine is filtered through slim wooden slats, creating dappled light-play within the whitewashed walls – and the tropical foliage out front hints at the nearby greenery of Condesa’s tranquil parks and leafy walkways. The hotel’s owner, Mexican clothing designer Roberta Maceda, is known for her simple, functional style in the fashion world, an ethos which extends to her first venture into hospitality.
As expected, Maceda’s hotel has been dressed in a killer outfit of soft, neutral tones paired with natural textiles, rattan and bamboo furniture (sourced from Mexican studios like Ente, Encurdo, and Onora), and polished concrete floors. The overall look is cool and contemporary – with some traditional elements at play, like the chukum-finished walls (an ancient Mayan stucco technique using tree-bark extracts). It’s rare to find such a slow-paced hideaway in the bustle of Mexico City, so we’d relish every lingering moment sat beneath the courtyard’s vertical garden, with a good book on a padded window nook, or on the plant-fringed rooftop drinking in the skyline (and a glass of natural wine or two).
