For my trip to Mexico City in March 2023, I chose to stay at the Hampton Inn & Suites in Centro Histórico. For its central location in the historic district, and also the ability to pay for my entire stay with points, this was a great option for me.
Standard King Interior Room
For 7 nights in a King Nonsmoking room, I used only 120,000 Hilton Honors points which was 20,000 points per night but with the 5th night free benefit. So paying for 7 nights with only 6 nights’ worth of points felt like a great value.
What I didn’t fully understand when booking was the layout of this hotel. The whole building has rooms around the outside, and the inside of the building is laid out around a central atrium that is open in the center. So for this ex-convent that has been retrofitted into a hotel, your options for rooms are either a room on the exterior wall, a room that opens into the atrium in the center, or an interior room. My room was on the 5th floor and was completely interior. That window? It’s not real.
At first, I was horrified. I could not fathom spending a week in a room with no window, no opening to anything on the outside. It felt claustrophobic. I almost went to the desk to request another room.
But I decided to sit with it for a bit and see how I felt. I’m so glad I did. I quickly realized is that central Mexico City is absolute chaos outside. If I’d had an exterior view room with a window, there would have been no peace whatsoever. The atrium facing rooms get all the noise from the elevator and the breakfast lobby and guests walking by.
I had absolute peace and quiet in my little corner of the 5th floor (which was above the atrium), and I quickly realized that this was a good place to be. Every day I would come in off the streets and just need time to rest and focus. My room was silent, unlike the never-ending activity just outside on the street. So yeah, I missed having a window but I spent pretty much all day outside every day so it was fine for just being in my room to sleep.
Was it clean? Yes. Was it outdated? Yes. Was there hot water in the shower? Yes. Was it adequate? Perfectly. So it wasn’t the most stylish or interesting hotel, but it was perfectly fine. Like I said, I was only there to sleep.
And most importantly, I felt very very safe there. There are two security guards on the ground floor every day. One right at the door outside, and another inside the lobby. I also had to swipe my guest key card when I went in as well. The guards were very sweet and would always say hola and adios to me as I came and went every day.
Like everywhere else in Mexico City, you cannot drink the tap water. The amount of plastic this place uses is astronomical and really disheartening, but it must be done. I went to the OXXO a few blocks down or the farmacia next door to buy big jugs of water to last me the week. It’s pretty inexpensive, and I had to refill my stock just once mid-week. I hoped the bigger jugs would use less plastic, but I don’t know.
It’s just mind boggling how many single-use bottles get used in that city every day. I also used bottled water to brush my teeth, just to be safe. It might have been fine, but why take chances when you’re on vacation in a foreign country?
Free Breakfast Included
This hotel includes free breakfast, and it was just okay. Selections were a little limited, but they had a few choices of Mexican hot breakfast and some American foods. There was mostly cereal, oatmeal and yogurt, and eggs and protein of some kind. They tried to jazz up the scrambled eggs by putting corn and chiles in it, and it was kinda cute that they tried that, but it just wasn’t appetizing. The Mexican food was definitely the best tasting out of all the offerings, and they alternated between guisados and chilaquiles. The coffee? Eh. Not great.
Most days I ate very little for breakfast, because I was heading out to do a food tour.
Luckily it didn’t matter! Just across the street is the biggest, most amazing bakery called Pastelería Madrid you can possibly imagine. And right around the corner is another one very similar! The bakery is mind-blowing! You grab a tray when you enter, and then just fill it up with whatever you want and when you check out, it’s barely a few dollars. They have all the breads, donuts, pastries, conchas, and croissants.
I mean, none of it is very healthy but if you like a significant blood sugar spike first thing in the morning, this is your thing!! I only went there once because I can’t eat stuff like that for breakfast, but I got a ton of things for only like $3 American dollars. They also offer hot foods and entrees but I never figured out how to order it.
My weeklong stay at the Hampton Inn Mexico City-Centro Historico was perfectly fine. I loved the location, just two blocks from the massive Zocalo, with easy walking to many of the main sights. If I were to come back to Mexico City (and I hope I get to!) I would probably stay in Roma or Condesa for a more peaceful experience.
HOTELS IN OTHER PLACES
