For years Mexican travel has focused on the country’s beachside beauties like Cancun and Puerto Vallarta, with the capital and a few cultural outliers like Oaxaca City and San Miguel de Allende thrown in.
That trend is rapidly changing as some of the country’s lesser cities and towns start to build an impressive infrastructure of upscale boutique hotels, fine dining, and a swath of authentic travel experiences for their visitors.
Puebla is one of those sleepy colonial gems that while always a stop worth making, has now upped the ante with quality accommodations and an increasing number of high-end eating and drinking options. For your next trip to one of Mexico’s most historic cities, we recommend pampering yourself in one of the following seven hotels.
La Purificadora
With the help of the firm Legorreta + Legorreta, founded by award-winning Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta, a 1800s era ice factory is now one of the city’s chicest places to lay your head. Fans of the architect will love seeing his classic geometry combined with pops of color like bright purple couches and a swimming pool that will turn you into a mermaid on display. Rooms continue the theme with smart, modernist design elements like see-through glass closets.
© Undine Pröhl
Meson Sacristía de la Compania
Quirky and kitschy, each room at Meson Sacristia de la Compania is overflowing with color, glimmer and gold. This is an antiquers hotel, right at the end of Puebla’s most well-known streets for antique shops and host to a weekend antique fairs on Sunday in the park. The hotel’s restaurant is popular with local families for big weekend lunches and and you will find more than one high-class Poblano lady hanging out there during the week. An organized choas with lots of personality, this hotel is great for a little hometown hospitality.
Rosewood Puebla
Newly christened in 2017, the Rosewood Puebla makes the most of its location’s deep historical roots, preserving the ancient stone washing tubs on the lower level of their property, renovating the on-site centuries-old chapel and incorporating design elements like antique glass and massive stone walls that make the place feel more like a castle than a hotel. Rooms are cozy and luxurious, and when the afternoon church bells peel through the courtyard you will think you’ve gone back in time.
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Presidente InterContinental Puebla
Great for big groups or folks traveling for business that want all the bells and whistles that come along with a top-notch, big name hotel, the Intercontinental is located just outside of the center of Puebla. The hotel has a standard high-end, contemporary design found throughout the intercontinental chain and in its rooms and common spaces are comfortable and straightforward. Their massive outdoor pool is an added bonus.
CasaReyna
CasaReyna has spacious, sweeping suites gathered around a central patio that exudes calm with whitewashed walls and cactus gardens. Local accents like hand-woven rugs and talavera tile accentuate the suites and tie into the building’s history in Puebla, part of which dates back to the 16th century. The hotel has several outdoor corners to tuck in and have an afternoon drink, as well as a restaurant of Poblano classics excellent enough to draw even the non-tourists to its tables.
El Sueño Hotel & Spa in Puebla
El Sueño has filled a 18th century private home with cozy suites and turn-of-the-century design pieces — think black and white parque floors, lampshades in the shape of woman’s torso or pillows imprinted with era images. According to the hotel, each suite is dedicated to a woman in history who never stopped dreaming. Though it might sound a tad cheesy, the decor feels lyrical and charming, not over-the-top, and the hotel’s size allows for a kind of personalized and warm customer service not possible in grander spaces.
Cartesiano
Puebla’s newest luxury boutique, opened in November 2017, offers 78 guest rooms split between an 18th century poblano mansion and a more modern wing connected through the hotel’s library. The grounds were once a tile factory and examples of this Puebla craft are replete throughout the rooms and common spaces. They have a rooftop deck, a pool that overlooks the city, and are located right in the heart of downtown, an easy walk to any of the city’s attractions, in particular the Sunday “Los Sapos” antique market.
Book any of these Puebla hotels here on HotelsCombined.
