For someone who loves to travel but has a limited budget, Mexico offers a dazzling array of options for sleeping cheap while on the road. Despite steadily rising prices during the last decade, two people can still bed down almost anywhere in the country for $500 pesos – or considerably less – per night.
When exploring a city new to us, we often use a guidebook like “Lonely Planet” or “Let’s Go Mexico” to make a reservation for the first night, but once we arrive, we hit the streets and go into detective mode, often scoring a place we like better for the rest of our visit. This way, you can bargain with the staff at the reception desk and ask for a discount (yes, skeptics, you CAN do this!), especially if you’re traveling in low season and plan to stay awhile. No matter how hard the guidebooks try, things change between research and publishing, and they can’t possibly list everything. Following are some of our favorites.
Mexico City is filled with pricey accommodations, but two blocks from the Revolution Monument is the Hotel Oxford, where we paid less than $200 pesos for a spacious room with a king-sized bed a few months ago. We’ve been going there for years, so we usually book in advance to get one of the two rooms boasting balconies overlooking the tranquil park next door.
Nearby Cuernavaca is home to the renowned “Las Mañanitas,” but for a fraction of the price, you can relax at Hotel Colonial, conveniently located on a side street between two of the downtown’s busiest thoroughfares. The rooms aren’t huge, but that way it’s easier to watch cable TV from the bed, and there’s a pleasant outdoor courtyard if you need more space.
After a day of climbing the steep, narrow, winding streets of Taxco while constantly on guard to avoid being wiped out by taxis doing the same thing, it’s a pleasure to unlock the door of a room at Posada San Javier. If you’re lucky, your view takes in the Parroquia de Santa Prisca. This rambling property enjoys a pristine setting even though it’s in the midst of the city, and it boasts a large enclosed garden surrounding a refreshing swimming pool. Rarely have I stayed in a Mexican hotel offering more outdoor nooks and crannies to escape with a good book for some privacy. You can get an apartment here too, but that will cost you more than $500 pesos a night.
The last time we visited Queretaro, we happened upon the Posada Méson de Matamoros after spending one night in a larger establishment with less personality on the zócalo. Our cozy second-floor room had a tiny balcony with pothos vines cascading down its wrought-iron railings, and the central courtyard created a friendly and sheltered ambiance.
When we stay in artisan-rich Tonala, we make a beeline for the Hacienda del Sol, where promotional prices in September, 2006 were $290 pesos for a room with one double bed and $380 for a king. There are rustic Mexican accents decorating the rooms as well as the public areas, arts and crafts for sale in the commodious lobby, and a tequila gallery to boot.
Six kilometers away from Tonala is the more upscale community of Tlaquepaque. Although prices there are higher, you can still snag a comfortable room for two under $500 pesos a night at Posada de la Media Luna. The doorway from the street is very plain – nothing you’d look at twice – but once upstairs, you’re welcomed by yet another homey courtyard and a well-equipped communal kitchen.
Although we haven’t tried it yet, next time we venture to downtown Guadalajara we’ll head for the Hotel Janeiro, only eight blocks from the city’s massive twin-spired cathedral. Someone gave us a flyer for this place recently advertising promotional rates around $200 pesos a night for “impeccably clean” double rooms.
One of the things differentiating Mexican posadas and inexpensive hotels from their United States and Canadian counterparts is the wide variety between available rooms that cost exactly the same amount, and Morelia’s Hotel El Carmen illustrates this perfectly. On our first visit, we were delighted by our pleasant second story room with French doors overlooking a park, but the second time around we arrived later than expected and were shown to the last available accommodation: a postage stamp-sized cell so small you either had to stand on the bed or out in the hall to change clothes. And the $300-pesos price tag was indeed identical for both! So, if you don’t like the first room you’re shown, don’t be afraid of asking to see another.
Closer to home base in Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo is the laid-back oceanfront town of Pie de la Cuesta, about an hour this side of Acapulco. For total solitude and lots of time to devour the latest bestseller on a secluded beach, book a room at Ukae Kim. We got there during low season and talked our way into a three-night deal for $300 pesos a night rather than the $400-pesos price tag posted on the list of “tarifas.” If you’re as lucky as we were, you can dine at the hotel’s onsite restaurant seated under the lone gazebo at the end of the pier while the surf pummels the shoreline at sunset.
If you don’t want to tax your brain with too much Spanish, head for the heavily “gringo-ized” resort town of Rincon de Guayabitos an hour up the coast from Puerto Vallarta and hang your sombrero at As de Oros for a spell before high season gets well underway. We’ll be back again this year before December 15 and hope to find the pool area as deserted as it was last year. For $400 pesos a night, we got a suite with both a tiny balcony and a kitchen.
On the way back to Zihua, get off the bus at Caleta de Campos north of Lazaro Cardenas and savor the local flavor at one of the two or three rustic hotels a block or two from the beach. Here you’ll NOT hear much (if any) English being spoken. Use the money you’ll save on accommodations for some on-the-spot Spanish lessons!
If you want the cheapest digs imaginable, grab your backpack and take the bus out to Barra de Potosi, south of Zihua on the way to Petatlan. Wander up to some of the modest beachfront homes and strike a deal with the owners for a freebie hammock under the stars as long as you promise to buy your meals from them. You can scrub up in the ocean.
In Tepoztlán, where you can climb a mountain to a pyramid an hour from Cuernavaca, we stayed at Hospedaje Mahe for $250 pesos. Our room was small, but it was spotless, and the place had an outdoor pool. Besides that, I was sicker than a dog when we got there, and the friendly proprietor stopped by frequently with Nyquil and herbal tea.
In Tequisquiapan, an hour southeast of Queretaro, our room at the Posada San Francisco looked out over a huge garden and a swimming pool guarded by the statue of a nymph. And in neighboring San Juan del Rio, we found it’s worthwhile to check out a place that looks OK even if your guidebook gives it only one star and a so-so writeup. Our economical two-star hotel on the outskirts of town couldn’t hold a candle to the charming one-star posada we saw later smack dab in the middle of this tiny town. (A middle-aged memory lapse prevents me from sharing its name.)
Then there’s Patzcuaro, where an increasing number of hostelries let you save pesos on sleeping to spend on crafts. An old favorite is Posada Mandala behind the Casa de Las Once Patios, where our second floor room was filled with Mexican touches and our balcony afforded a stunning view of the city by night. A new favorite is La Casita de Rosi, across from the Basilica, which features spacious seating areas and Rosi’s cooking. And we can’t forget Méson de San Antonio just down the block, a handful of suites situated around a lovely courtyard. It is undergoing a thorough renovation and now houses artist studios and a gallery. You might have to spend a little more here, but the same type of setup in the U.S. would be at least double the price.
There are dozens (probably hundreds) of other posadas throughout Mexico, and you can find phone listings for many of them on the Internet, even though quite a few don’t have their own websites. For comprehensive listings of the country’s hotels from ultra-luxurious to backpacker specials, try www.zonaturistica.com and www.allmexicohotels.com. Both sites will ask you what city you’re interested in, and you can take it from there.
