© Lonely Planet Publications 959 THUMB TAB DIRECTORY DIRECTORY Directory a private bathroom containing hot shower, CONTENTS WC and washbasin. (In this book, rooms are assumed to have private bathroom unless Accommodations 959 otherwise stated.) Activities 962 Midrange accommodations are chiefly hotels, Business Hours 965 ranging in comfort and atmosphere according Children 965 to price, though in some areas of Mexico even Climate Charts 966 M$400 can get you a cozy, attractively decorated Courses 966 room in a friendly small hotel. Some midrange Customs 966 hotels have swimming pools, restaurants, in- Dangers & Annoyances 968 house travel agencies and other facilities. Many Discount Cards 969 of the country’s most appealing and memorable Embassies & Consulates 969 lodgings are in this price bracket – small or Festivals & Events 970 medium-sized hotels, well-designed and cared Food 971 for, with a friendly atmosphere and personal Gay & Lesbian Travelers 971 attention from staff. In some places you’ll also Holidays 971 find apartments, bungalows and more comfort- Insurance 972 able cabañas in this same price range. Internet Access 972 Top-end hotels run from the classier hotels Legal Matters 972 in the cities to deluxe coastal resort hotels and Maps 973 luxurious smaller establishments catering to Money 973 travelers with a taste for comfort and beautiful Post 975 design, and the funds to pay for it. Shopping 975 Room prices given in this book, except Solo Travelers 976 where stated otherwise, are high-season Telephone 976 prices. The exact dates of the high season vary Time 978 from city to city, and sometimes between dif- Toilets 978 ferent hotels in the same city, but in most of Tourist Information 978 Mexico high season typically means Semana Travelers With Disabilities 979 Santa (the week before Easter and a couple of Visas 979 days after it), most of July and August, and the Volunteering 980 Christmas–New Year holiday period of about Women Travelers 981 two weeks. Outside the high seasons, many Work 982 midrange and top-end establishments in tour- ist destinations cut their room prices by 10% ACCOMMODATIONS to 40%. Budget accommodations are more Accommodations in Mexico range from ham- likely to keep the same rates all year. Through mocks and huts to hotels of every imaginable this book we note major deviations from the standard upwards to super-luxury resorts. normal seasonal pattern; in many places on This book divides accommodations into the Pacific coast, for example, high season three price ranges: budget (where a typical runs from December right through to Easter. room for two people costs under M$400), We also note special deals, low weekend rates midrange (M$400 to M$1000) and top end and other ways you can cut costs. (above M$1000). In this book we use ‘single’ (abbreviated Budget accommodations include camping to ‘s’) to mean a room for one person, and grounds, hammocks, palm-thatched cabañas, ‘double’ (‘d’) to mean a room for two people. backpacker hostels, guesthouses and econom- Mexicans sometimes use the phrase cuarto ical hotels. Recommended accommodations sencillo (literally, single room) to mean a room in this range will be simple and without frills with one bed, which may be a cama matri- but generally clean. Hotel rooms usually have monial (double bed); sometimes one person 960 DIRECTORY •• Accommodations lonelyplanet.com Apartments BOOK YOUR STAY ONLINE In many resort areas you can find tourist apart- For more accommodation reviews and re- ments with fully equipped kitchens. Some are commendations by Lonely Planet authors, very comfortable and attractive and they can DIRECTORY DIRECTORY check out the online booking service at be good value for three or four people, espe- lonelyplanet.com/hotels. You’ll find the true, cially if you’re staying more than a few days. insider lowdown on the best places to stay. The internet, local ads and tourist offices are Reviews are thorough and independent. good sources of information on these. Best of all, you can book online. B&Bs Mexico’s growing number of B&Bs, mostly can occupy such a room for a lower price found in tourist destinations, are usually than two people. A cuarto doble often means small, comfortable, midrange or top-end a room with two beds, which may both be guesthouses, often beautifully designed and camas matrimoniales. offering friendly, personal attention from In popular destinations at busy times, it’s the owners. best to reserve a room in advance or go early in the day to secure a room. Many places take Bungalows, Cabañas & Villas reservations through their websites or by Cabañas are usually huts (of wood, brick, email. Otherwise try by telephone – if the place adobe, stone or other materials) with a palm- is not booked out, a simple phone call earlier thatched roof. The most basic have dirt floors in the day, saying what time you’ll arrive, is and nothing inside but a bed, and you provide usually sufficient. A few places are reluctant the padlock for the door. At the other extreme, to take reservations, but don’t worry, you’ll some cabañas are positively deluxe, with elec- always end up with a room somewhere. tric light, mosquito nets, large comfy beds, Accommodation prices are subject to two private bathroom, fans, décor, hammock- taxes: IVA (value-added tax; 15%) and ISH strung deck and even air-con and kitchen (lodging tax; 2% or 3% depending on the – though they’ll usually still have an agree- state). Many budget and some midrange est- ably rustic, close-to-nature ambience. Prices ablishments only charge these taxes if you for simple cabañas run from about M$100 to require a receipt, and they quote room rates M$200. The most expensive ones are on the accordingly (ie not including taxes). Generally, Caribbean, where some luxury cabañas cost though, IVA and ISH are included in quoted over M$1000. prices. In top-end hotels a price may often be A bungalow is usually similar to upper- given as, say, ‘M$1500 más impuestos’ (M$1500 range cabañas but more sturdily built and gen- plus taxes), in which case you must add 17% erally forming part of a midrange or top-end or 18% to the figure. When in doubt, you can hotel. Bungalows are typically free- standing ask, ‘¿están incluidos los impuestos?’ (‘are taxes units set in gardens or grounds. Villas, in hotel included?’). Prices given in this book are those contexts, tend to be even more sturdy, com- you are most likely to be charged at each place, fortable and upmarket. with or without the taxes, according to the establishment’s policy. Camping & Trailer Parks In our accommodations listings the inter- Most organized campgrounds are actually net icon (i) means that the establishment trailer parks set up for RVs (recreational ve- has internet-connected computers for guests hicles, camper vans) and trailers (caravans), to use (this service may or may not be free but are open to tent campers at lower rates. of charge). A growing number of accommo- They’re most common along the coasts. Some dations also provide wi-fi access for those are very basic, others quite luxurious. Expect traveling with their own machines. to pay between M$100 and M$200 to pitch The air-con icon (a) means that the es- a tent for two, and M$250 to M$300 for two tablishment offers at least some rooms with people with a vehicle, using full facilities. air-conditioning. Quite a lot of restaurants and guesthouses Similarly, the nonsmoking icon (n) indi- in beach spots or country areas will let you cates that some rooms, but not necessarily all, pitch a tent on their patch for around M$25 are nonsmoking. to M$40 per person. lonelyplanet.com DIRECTORY •• Accommodations 961 DIRECTORY DIRECTORY Hammocks Hotels You will find hammock space – and often Mexico specializes in good midrange ho- hammocks too – available in many of the tels, where two people can get a comfortable more low-key beach spots in the southern room with private bathroom, and usually half of the country. A hammock can be a very air-con, for about M$400 to M$1000. The comfortable, not to mention cheap, place to more you pay within that price range, the sleep in hot, southern areas (keep mosquito more facilities, comfort, style and design repellent handy). You can rent one and a the place is likely to have. Many Mexican place to hang it, usually under a palm roof hotels have modernized and upgraded their outside a small posada or beach restaurant, facilities in recent years, adding aesthetics for M$30 or M$40 in some places, though and additional comforts to their priorities, it can reach M$100 on the more expensive often in pleasing combinations of contem- Caribbean coast. With your own hammock, porary and traditional, Mexican and inter- the cost comes down a bit. It’s easy enough nationally influenced taste. Many midrange to buy hammocks in Mexico, especially in hotels have a restaurant, bar and internet the states of Oaxaca and Chiapas and on the facilities (often including wi-fi). Quite a Yucatán Peninsula. lot have swimming pools. Among the most charming lodgings, in both the midrange Hostels and the top-end brackets, are the many old There are now hostels suitable for budget mansions, inns, and even monasteries and travelers in most towns and cities where convents, turned into hotels. These can be this kind of traveler congregates. If you fol- wonderfully atmospheric, with fountains low reasonably well-trodden trails, it’s quite gurgling in flower-decked, stone-pillared easy to stay in nothing but hostels through- courtyards or verdant gardens.