Crisscrossing the state of Yucatan, five of Mexicos most appealing boutique hotels are hiding in plain sight.
Instead, we found some of the most interesting destinations right in our backyard.
Once a private duck-hunting club, the property was converted into a nine-room hotel last year.
From left: Breeze-block walls at Club de Patos, in Sisal, give the property a striking look; Casa Puuc is set in a 1914 building in Mérida.From left: @Aorist/Courtesy of Club de Patos; Nin Solis, Styled by Tami Christiansen
There’s a tropical-modernist feel in the rooms and private terraces.
The restaurant serves mostly Mexican dishes at breakfast and lunch and Italian specialties at night.
The hotel’s owners intend to keep things small, with just the current nine guest rooms.
From left: Decu Downtown, in Mérida, mixes modern and traditional Mexican design; the pool at Casona Los Cedros, in Espito.From left: TAMARA URIBE/COURTESY OF DECU HOTELS; MANOLO R. SOLIS/COURTESY OF CASONA LOS CEDROS
A stay at the Casona has become a repeat weekend escape for us.
The eight-room hotel is built into a 19th-century home that was meticulously restored by French architect Laura Lecue.
The floors are lined withpastatiles, and the walls are finished using a traditional Mayan waterproofing technique.
Behind the historic building is a pool surrounded by a tropical garden.
The bustle of the market and town square seem a thousand miles away.
Merida has seen a wave of boutique hotel openings, too.
When it was renovated recently, some rooms were done in colonial motifs with antiques.
Others were influenced by Mayan design with walls ofchukum,an ancient form of stucco.
“I love Merida.
There’s a calm and a peace here, and in Yucatan generally,” Fernandez told me.
They regularly stop in on their migrations.
I suppose humans are not the only ones interested in checking out an interesting opening.
Our trips around this little state are just getting started.