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HOTELS IN CUERNAVACA & GUANAJUATO
& THE BEST RESTAURANT IN MEXICOMexico Connect Forum Discussion Threads
Posted by Maurice on March 17, 2000
I am looking for nice hotels in Guanajuato and Cuernavaca. My budget is about $90/night, including tax. Any recommendations?
GraciasPosted by jennifer rose on March 17, 2000
It’s out of the price range you described, but it’s also out of this world. Las Mananitas in Cuernavaca. Its 21 suites and one room are to die for. (Spend other nights at lesser establishments, sleep in your car, sell your car if you have to…..) Even if you opt not to stay here, at least treat yourself to a meal at what is among the best, if not The Best, restaurant in all of Mexico. If you’re looking for a pleasantly different experience in Guanajuato, consider the 8-room La Casa de Espiritus Alegres. Prices are in the $95-$115 USD range.
Posted by Maurice on March 17, 2000
Gracias for the tip on Las Mananitas. I have heard a lot about Las Mananitas and was considering staying one night there for the same reasons you mentioned. How much would it be, anyway? $150, $200?
Thanks for taking the time to answer.
M.Posted by Richard Ferguson on March 18, 2000
In Guanajuato, you might consider the Santa Fe on the square. We plan to stay there on our next visit, four starts, maybe $75 US per night. Our hostess in San Miguel recommended it.
RichardPosted by JB on March 18, 2000
Real de Minas outside of Guanajuato or the less expensive El Fraile which is downtown beside the Teatro Juarez and culturally a much better place...las estudiantinas (troubadors), the museum of Diego Rivera, galleries, Alondiga de granaditas where they hung the heads of the 4 insurgentes and is a museum to the independence. It's where it all started. As far as Las Mañanitas goes, I'd save the bucks and just eat there. My theory is that once you’re asleep you don't know where you’re at anyway so why fork over good money just to sleep? Go once during the day for a drink in the garden and once at night. Do not miss having a Don Julio tequila with their own sangrita on the side or a bullshot. Actually, the food is overrated. I think people think it tastes good just because of the excellent service and nice ambience. My best friends own a store exactly in front of Las M and they have some really interesting stuff. Other places...Sumiya used to be Barbara Hutton’s (Woolworth heiress) home. Great Japanese food. Maria Cristina very nice and also, I have a friend who opened a bed and breakfast right downtown and it is very nice. There are many very nice hotels here. One of my favorites is the Hacienda de Corez, Hosteria las Quinteas etc. I could also arrange for you to stay with a Mexican family. Once you get closer to arriving I can help with whatever you need. There are some really great places to eat here too. Let me know.
Posted by jennifer rose on March 18, 2000
Las Mananitas’ habitaciones are more than just a place to sleep. For starters the bathroom is larger than many New York apartments, done up in green marble. The bathrooms in the garden terrace are actually a series of rooms which make the American Club in Kohler, Wisconsin (the hotel property with the best bathrooms ever invented) pale in comparison. Even the mirrors deliver a better-than-usual image of the usual face confronting you in the morning. Hotel guests have access to a garden/pool sanctuary that’s beyond the ken of those who invade the place solely for a good meal. Now, this isn’t your ordinary nice hotel garden….we are talkin’ wandering peacocks, grass manicured so finely that it seems to have been cut with the finest cuticle scissors. We are talking about an oasis of tranquility, a step into Architectural Digest, a private nirvana where all’s right with the world while you’re there. A sense of “Who cares what’s outside the gate?” sweeps over you at Las Mananitas. We’re talking a place, albeit expensive, where you feel that you fully received your money’s worth when the final reckoning of the bill comes.
Posted by Maurice on March 17, 2000
About the best restaurant in Mexico, I thought it was the San Angel Inn in DF?
Posted by Peter on March 17, 2000
Both restaurants are out of this world. San Angel Inn is a place you want to visit wearing suit and tie for dinner. It is more than first class. The Las Mananitas Inn is something entirely different. To get the full experience go there early afternoon, enjoy few drinks in the great garden and have a late lunch say around 4 pm. They will bring the menu to you while you are relaxing and then escort the guests to their table when ready. San Angel Inn is not expensive at all and with Sir Winston Churchill, also in Mexico City, one of the best restaurants in Mexico City. Las Mananitas is heavy on the wallet but worth it. Just came back from there and miss it already. There is an excellent hotel for about $ 65- double occupancy where I shall go on my next trip. POSADA TLALTENANGO. ph. (52 73)13 25 25 fax 130395. It is on Eucaliptos No. 77. Nice rooms, great restaurant and very large pool. Garden type atmosphere. Hope this helps a little. Have fun.
Posted by David Lida on March 18, 2000
I hate to be a contrarian, but I think the food in San Angel Inn is rather pedestrian. They do make the best margaritas I've ever had, and the only really good martinis in all of Mexico City. The stunning courtyard is a great place for an afternoon cocktail.
Posted by Ed Martin on March 18, 2000
Las Mananitas is well worth the price of a meal, but I would stay at Las Quintas. More to do and the food is great. Also, in Cuernavaca, La India Bonita is among the best I have ever eaten in. In the fall, really beginning in August, try their Chilies en nogato, which is a national dish. Best food I have ever put in my mouth, no lie!
Posted by David Eidell on March 18, 2000
Aside from showpieces with Wine Captains and Salad Corporals, there is an unobtrusive seafood restaurant in Guaymas, Sonora that may well be in the upper tier. Its name is DEL MAR and offers superb Lobster Thermidor. In La Paz, a smallish Chinese restaurant by the name of PEKIN has the best Chinese food I've ever eaten. Just about everyone who has eaten there raves about the quality and selection.
In Tepic, Nayarit, the restaurant associated with the Hotel Buganvillas served an outstanding quail braised in orange sauce and smothered in shallots. And of course, there is my favorite restaurant of all time: El Taco de Huitzilopochtli, in Ensenada. Superb Mixiote de conejo, Huazontles, Huitalacoche, flor de calabaza, and other authentic Alimentos de Azteca. And then there was a little restaurant in Valladolid that served killer salpicon de venado (I breathed flames for hours afterwards).
¡Buen Provecho!
David