Casa de la Luz Hotel Boutique

The location has its tradeoffs. Being in the historic center puts the sights within walking distance, though getting an Uber to the hotel can be difficult, especially when events or demonstrations close roads around the central square. We also didn’t always feel comfortable taking the quickest walking route at night. It’s a huge city, so that wasn’t surprising, and the staff, rooms, food, and cocktails made up for it. If you want to feel immersed in the culture, this is a good place to stay. We loved our four nights here. The historic building is gorgeous, well cared for, and comfortable, and our roomy, characterful bedroom had everything we needed: effective air conditioning, outlets on both sides of the bed, strong water pressure, robes, slippers, Kleenex, and washcloths. Breakfast was fantastic, and the restaurant’s food, service, and cocktails were great. The staff were the best part, so friendly and helpful. We’d definitely recommend it.

We were especially impressed by the upstairs restaurant. Breakfast was excellent, and I’d recommend choosing the included breakfast. On two mornings when we had to head out early, they even gave us a boxed lunch. The hotel itself is lovely, peaceful, and very comfortable, with Zocalo and public transportation close by. Service was top-notch, especially from Heidi at the front desk. She was very helpful, and her English was perfect.

The rooftop bar and restaurant were a treat, and I had one of my best cocktails there. Breakfast was delicious, too. The hotel was beautiful and clean, and it exceeded what we expected. Everyone on staff was so friendly and helpful. The air conditioning was the one problem, it was very noisy. Still, if we come back to Mexico City, we’d choose this hotel again.

We really liked the character of this small hotel, and all the staff were wonderful. The included breakfast was outstanding. When we asked in advance, they also prepared good boxed lunches for our pyramid tour. Being just a couple of blocks from Zócalo makes it easy to wander out into the old city, though demonstrations happen almost daily. We were there when La Presidente Scheinbaum was speaking, and hundreds of busloads of people came in. We like walking, so we covered more than 9 miles that day to reach Roma, Condesa, and Chapúltepec without getting caught in the gridlock. I wish it were easier to refill water bottles with potable water. At simpler places elsewhere in the country, we’d had jugs on each floor. Here we had to go up or down to the restaurants, which didn’t work when we got home late or left early. I hate relying on single-use plastic bottles. The single-use coffee pods were also convenient but created a ridiculous amount of waste. After seeing the Veracruz area, the staggering amount of plastic waste in CDMX, and almost no efforts to reduce it, made me sad. The hotel has a great ambience and a real sense of history. We much preferred the personality of this small place to a large hotel.