The 22 BEST Boutique Hotels in Mexico, from Tulum to Cabo | Jetsetter (2024)

Italian owner Stefano Marceletti lovingly restored this colonial-era Yucatán residencein Mérida, and you get a real sense of that European influence, from the wrought-iron chandeliers and antique furniture to the exposed beam ceilings and bathrooms lit by skylights. The breakfast patio and central pool bordered by swinging hammocks ooze romance, as do the guest rooms, though the ones you want (and should book) are those on the top floor for their private balconies overlooking it all.

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If you come to Habitas just to sleep, you're missing the point. To call this a "hotel" merely scratches the surface of all you can find here—we're talking music performances, wellness retreats, mezcal tastings, alfresco movie nights with Academy Award-winning directors... Of course, if you want the traditional Tulum experience, they've got that, too. Just 32 thatched-roof rooms sit alongside one another in the jungle and are linked by sandy pathways to the Moorish-style restaurant and ocean-facing infinity pool.

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We’ve lost count of how many times we’ve written about Esencia, but it truly doesn’t get more romantic in Mexico than this whitewashed bohemian retreat, where everyone from Gwen Stefani to Kate Bosworth has laid their head. Couples will find everything they could dream of here: gloriously private beach and jungle cottages, a standout Japanese-Peruvian restaurant, a stellar spa, fresh-pressed juices at the bar, and an untrammeled beach lined with palapas and loungers equipped with “service” buttons, so you need never leave your chair. What more do you need?

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Off the Yucatán’s northern coast, Isla Holbox is the car-free, white-sand island of your castaway dreams. Time moves slowly here, with only a handful of hotels to choose between. The most stylish is Punta Caliza, whose 12 A-frame cabins feature thatch roofs and are built beside a network of winding, sea-colored pools you can jump into straight from your digs. There’s no formal restaurant on site, sadly, but included breakfast (chilaquiles, omelettes) kicks the day off on a delicious note.

Another of our favorite spots to stay on Holbox is Casa Las Tortugas, a palapa-style retreat comprised of treehouse-esque villas with a creative lean—think driftwood art, colorful walls, fringed hammocks, seashell curtains, and Mexican fabrics sewn by local artisans. It even features a few feel-good extras like custom-made organic soaps and an artist residency program. While the pool is small, all is forgiven when you discover there’s no road between the property and the sand.

Part perfumery, part spa, part hotel, Coquí Coquí Merida Residence & Spa in Merida is one of the most understatedly glamorous stays in the whole of the Yucatán. There’s just one suite, and boy is it a doozy: picture high ceilings, an iron four-poster bed, period furniture, antique mirrors, jewel-tone velvet drapes, and not one but two freestanding French bathtubs. After popping into the café for an herbal tea, the boutique for a browse of local handicrafts, and the spa for a decadent treatment, all that’s left to do is explore the historic “White City.” Luckily, it’s right outside your doorstep.

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Formerly known as Mar Adentro, this modernist, design-lover's dreamscape fronting the Sea of Cortez is now overseen by Viceroy. Sure, guest rooms have been refreshed and a clutch of new-concept restaurants have opened (including an added beachfront bar and pool), but you’ll still find the same bits of magic architect Miguel Angel Aragonés gave it when it first opened in 2015—namely, the bird’s-nest-like restaurant and electric-white buildings "floating" near an elevated walkway that draws your eyes to the sea.

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Foodies dream of places like Acre Baja­, an immersive farm experience outside San José del Cabo where award-winning farm-to-table meals and daily house-made mezcal tastings are supplemented with pool dips, yoga sessions, hiking excursions, and a dozen treehouse suites where you can stay the night. Every room was built using local materials and comes with creature comforts like cotton robes and ice chest minibars—though we doubt you’ll be feeling peckish after multi-course feasts of heirloom tomato gazpacho, local fish tacos, vegetable coconut curry, and whatever else the chefs decide to whip up from the garden.

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A colonial former palace (now a UNESCO World Heritage site) in the Centro Histórico is now Downtown Mexico, which puts an industrial spin on 17th-century architecture. Cases in point: the über-chic patio lounge with lipstick red sofas, an edgy rooftop bar and pool terrace surrounded by canary-yellow daybeds, and 17 crash pads where you'll find original volcanic rock walls, high brick ceilings, and handmade cement tiled floors.

Paris meets Mexico inside this 1928 Art Nouveau sleep courtesy of native architect Javier Sánchez and French interior designer India Mahdavi. Picture handwoven Oaxacan rugs, French windows overlooking artsy Condesa, clawfoot tubs in select guest rooms, and a Japanese-Mexico fusion restaurant on the ground floor where you can fill up before co*cktails at the fourth-floor rooftop lounge lined with daybeds. If you time your drinks right, you’ll be treated to the sun setting over the Chapultepec Castle and Parque España.

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An unofficial Little Tokyo has existed in Mexico City since the 70s, and the place to stay right now is Ryo Kan, a 10-room bolt hole dubbed the first ryokan in Latin America. Behind its origami-like all-white façade, you’ll find key elements of Japanese design—sliding doors, tatami floors, a central courtyard with a Zen garden and a koi pond—beside more Mexican details (granite sinks, enamel dishware). Guest rooms even come withyukatarobes to bring up to the rooftoponsen, where four round baths shielded by shoji screens let you soak above the city streets.

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If anyone could be trusted to bring the colors of San Miguel de Allende inside this mayoral villa turned five-suite boutique, it's a textile designer—and that's exactly what Mariana Barran de Goodall did. Bold prints and fabrics are everywhere you turn, sourced from places like India and Denmark, while the rooftop restaurant and wine bar churns out Peruvian boldness of its own (along with a selection of fine wines rarely found in Mexico). Goodall herself organizes craft workshops and salsa-making classes on site, and there's even a gallery concierge to help you buy local art—and get it home in one piece.

Casa Delphine, one of San Miguel de Allende’s most stylish newcomers, is a jewel box of a boutique. No surprise there, given its owner Amanda Keidan is a jewelry designer herself. Each of the five airy suites features a cantera fireplace, a balcony overlooking a secluded courtyard, and handmade details by local artisans. Keidan also added space for cooking classes so guests can get a hands-on approach to local life. The room to book: the two-level rooftop suite, which recalls a Spanish hacienda.

The adults-only Hotel Amapais bringing glamour back to Puerto Vallarta when it opens in 2020 in the town’s historic Zona Romantica. Unlike its neighbors, Amapa fuses Mexican heritage with a modern edge—just look to the guest rooms, which feature balconies overlooking the water and herringbone brick and bespoke ceramics that spotlight Mexican craftsmanship. There’s even a ground-floor café and restaurant which draws in both locals and visitors, though it’s the rooftop pool and bar that makes Amapa truly shine—perhaps thebest place in town to take in the sunset, co*cktail in hand.

We are so thankful that British billionaire Sir James Goldsmith discovered the beauty of Costalegre. Cuixmala, formerly his private estate, is now a 13-room hotel and one of Mexico’s most exclusive resorts. Spread across lush jungles and rugged coastlines, golden-sand beaches and tropical fruit plantations, the property's 25,000 acres are home to an organic farm, flower nursery, lagoons, soccer pitches, and horse stables where cowboys lead trail rides (and don’t be surprised if you spot a zebra or two in the wildlife sanctuary). Choosing where you rest your head—in Casa Cuixmala itself or one of the property’s freestanding casitas, bungalows, or villas—might prove even harder than what to fill your days with.

When Grupo Habita brought their hip city boutique recipe to Puerto Escondido, on Oaxaca’s Pacific coast, fans followed. The result: a boho beachfront hideaway where jet-set crowds come to kick back in barefoot luxury. All 16 thatched-roof bungalows have their own plunge pools and minibars, the open-air restaurant puts a Oaxacan spin on local fruits and seafood, and the social scene buzzes from day to night as guests migrate from the beach club pool to the underground nightclub.

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Getting to Verana isn’t easy: after a 40-minute-long drive from Puerto Vallarta, guests hop in for a 30-minute panga boat transfer to a tiny fishing village called Yelapa—then hike 15 minutes up a steep slope (don’t worry—mules carry your luggage). Once you arrive, though, you’ll discover what makes it all worth it. If fact, you won’t find a better view of the Bay of Banderas than from the eight open-air suites scattered across the jungle hillside. Rooms offer their own distractions, but it’s worth exploring, whether that’s to go whale-watching, bird walking, kayaking, getting a treatment at the spa, or booking even more immersive hikes through the jungle.

What Amuleto lacks in beachfront property, it makes up for in show-stopping views. The six-room boutique sits on a hill above Bahía Zihuatanejo and is one of the best (and most romantic, in our opinion) places to watch the sunset along Mexico’s Pacific Coast. Because of its aerie-like perch, Amuleto is far removed from the area’s major resorts, resulting in maximum privacy. Not that you’ll be wanting in that department—every suite here is sprawling, and some come with their own terraces, hammocks, and infinity plunge pools that make a strong case for never having to even hit the beach below.

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