The Best Hotels In Mexico City For A Frida Kahlo Pilgrimage
Our favourite Mexico City hotels, in neighbourhoods from too-cool Colonia Roma to classic Condesa.
If you’re planning a trip to Mexico, chances are its capital is high on your list – and these are the best hotels in Mexico City to stay at. The country is very popular with tourists (there were 45 million international arrivals in 2019) and it’s not hard to see why. But if you’re hoping to see the real Mexico, away from the (admittedly still fabulous) beach resorts, a stop in Mexico City is a must.
Frida Kahlo's house Casa Azul is in the neighbourhood of Coyoacán – the Blue House is an essential stop on any Mexico City itinerary. As an added bonus after your culture fix, Coyoacán is also famous for its churros.
Some of the best restaurants on the planet can be found in this sprawling city – and you’ll definitely eat well, from the simplest street stand all the way up to establishments serving elaborate tasting menus.
The neighbourhoods that tourists tend to stick to are Colonia Roma, La Condesa and Polanco. The former is one the coolest quarters, home to buzzy restaurants and bars, and just a great place to stroll around.
Roma Norte is where you'll find La Valise Mexico City, a boutique hotel waiting to be your private pied à terre. It's also home to buzzy Brick Hotel, which has a local-approved restaurant and a leafy rooftop.
Over in tree-lined La Condesa – where you’ll find the circular Avenida Amsterdam, once a horse-racing hippodrome and now a popular dog-walking spot for the city’s trendiest souls – hotels include shiny high-rises such as the Andaz and the Mondrian.
Read on to discover some of the best hotels in Mexico City, from boutique stays to luxury addresses...
Four Seasons Mexico City
For a hotel in Mexico on an altogether larger scale, try the Four Seasons outpost in Colonia Juárez. The hotel has a porte-cochere for dramatic arrivals and an equally slick lobby with various lounges sectioned off behind glass walls. The main hub of the hotel is the courtyard though, which has a fire-pit illuminating the proceedings after dark. This is where you’ll find the elaborate breakfast spread each morning; be sure to allocate adequate time.
If you’ve overdone it on the tacos and guac, you’ll be pleased to hear that there’s an Italian restaurant, so you can mainline truffle pasta instead. The hotel also has a pool, which is perfect for catching some rays and respite from the hot city streets below.
Brick Hotel
Roma Norte has no shortage of buzzy places for chic Mexicans to hang out at, but one of the liveliest is Brick Hotel on Calle Orizaba, one of the main thoroughfares. Along with its leafy rooftop, it has an equally plant-filled restaurant, Cerrajéria, popular with hotel guests and locals alike. The lobby is another supremely chic (and scented) hangout spot, and the guestrooms are cool and contemporary, with slick bath products by Mexican brand Persea Apothecary and small (yes, leafy) balconies in some.
The bricks in question were shipped from London by the banker who lived here more than a century ago. There are lots of lounging spaces within the hotel (which will supply some unsolicited living-room inspiration/envy), but outside, the neighbourhood’s Belle Epoque buildings and 19th-century boulevards await.
La Valise Mexico City
This tiny hotel in the heart of Colonia Roma currently has just three suites, but more are coming soon, along with a small spa and an expanded welcome area. La Valise also has outposts in impossibly charming San Miguel de Allende and down in Tulum.
This edition is the perfect boutique hotel in Mexico City if you want to feel like a local, since the spacious suites are more like apartments in your own stylish townhouse. Each has a distinguishing feature, whether it’s a bed on wheels ready to be rolled out onto the terrace or a revolving moon door separating the bedroom from the living space. There’s no restaurant, but staff prepare a cute breakfast tray to be delivered whenever you’re ready each morning, with delicious coffee helpfully supplied by the café next door.
And it's in the heart of Roma Norte, which means some of the best restaurants in the city are just steps from your front door. There's always a queue outside Panadería Rosetta; Blanco Colima has a grand setting; and Máximo Bistrot is not to be missed.
Andaz Mexico City
Calling all dog lovers: Andaz Mexico City in La Condesa in the pup-loving pad for you, complete with a ‘Wooftop’ you can work from with furry friends in tow. The high-rise hotel is one of the biggest around, perfect for fans of facilities – which in this case include a spa, a café with pastries to grab and go (or sit around and enjoy) and a gym. It’s around the corner from Avenida Amsterdam.
Up on the actual rooftop, there’s a small pool plus a bar that gets very rowdy at weekends. Dishes served here at Cabuya include hearty steaks, grilled prawns and, of course, tacos and super-smooth guacamole.
Mondrian
Just next door to the Andaz, the Mondrian is in a former office building, which dates back to the Sixties. The outdoor area, complete with fire-pits and vintage cars, is the hotel’s social heart and this is where you’ll find Cleo – a haven for fans of Levantine food and anyone who’s maxed out on al pastor tacos. Dishes include classic mezze dips, kebabs and tuna tartare. If you’re here over the weekend, don’t miss the Sunday brunch.
Things get even more friendly up on the rooftop, which has incredible views out across to the mountains on the outskirts of the city on clear days. Each room has a mural created by Ara Starck, daughter of the hotel’s designer Philippe.
Colima 71
Colima 71 is on a street of the same name in Roma. It’s big on architecture, art and design (its official tagline is ‘art, community, hotel’), and was created with the help of artisans from all over Mexico.
The hotel is a short drive away from Paseo de la Reforma, Mexico City’s grandest street. There’s an honesty bar and a coffee shop, plus a courtyard with a 40-foot-high installation by the artist Sofia Taboas and fire-pits to sit around and get to know your fellow guests.
The Red Tree House
The Red Tree House is a small-scale Mexico City hotel for travellers who like to feel truly immersed in a place. It’s in Polanco, officially Mexico City’s poshest neighbourhood.
The friendly vibes start as soon as you enter, so you’ll feel at home from the outset, with staff on hand to help schedule your sightseeing. It’s popular with all kinds of guests, including backpackers and solo travellers. The rooms are set around the leafy patio – Frida fans should book the aptly named Frida Room.
Condesa DF
Mexico City’s original boutique hotel, Condesa DF is in, you guessed it, La Condesa. It was designed by India Mahdavi, who wanted to give the hotel a European feel, fitting since it’s housed in a 1928 French neoclassical building.
Along with chic interiors, the hotel has a hot tub, sauna and health club, as well as two restaurants – El Patio, which is where to head fir French-Mexican fusion flavours, and Arriba on the fourth-floor terrace, which artfully combines Japanese and Mexican food.
Volga
A block from Paseo de la Reforma, Volga is also within walking distance of Roma and Condesa. It’s officially in the Cuauhtemoc neighbourhood. The Brutalist building is hard to miss and the interiors are just as spectacular.
Dining spots within include a rooftop with 360-degree views where you can lounge poolside in between small plates and excellent mixology. The hotel is also home to a restaurant by the acclaimed Baja California-born chef Edo Kobayashi.
Downtown
Centro Histórico is a little shadier than Mexico City’s more gentrified areas, but attempting to change that rep is Downtown, part of Grupo Habitas, which is behind some of the best hotels in Mexico.
The hotel is set within a 17th-century building with all of the grand proportions that inevitably brings. It was once the Palacio de los Condes de Miravalle, but has had a modernising makeover. There are plenty more historic landmarks on the World Heritage Site’s surrounding cobblestoned streets, though.
Caroline Lewis has been a travel journalist for more than a decade, reviewing luxury hotels and covering destinations all over the world, but with a soft spot for Greek islands and absolutely anywhere in Italy.
Among her most memorable trips are a month spent subsisting almost solely on guacamole in Mexico, sleeping in a room made of ice in Swedish Lapland and a rather lengthy but thankfully bear-free drive across America's wild west.
She was previously deputy chief sub-editor on the print team at Harper’s Bazaar and is a long-time contributor and editor at Mr & Mrs Smith. She writes about travel for Hearst Digital titles such as Harper’s Bazaar, ELLE, Red, Esquire and more. She read English and Philosophy at Durham, before doing a master's degree in magazine journalism in her hometown of Bournemouth.
When she's not testing out the buzziest new hotels, she's at home in London, probably baking.
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