Casa Mexilio In Merida Mexico Is A Treasure Of A Hotel

Merida’s Full History is Worth the Trip

Merida is an ancient colonial city and the capital of the Yucatan state proudly located to the west of Quintana Roo, abundant with historical churches, architecturally distinctive buildings, delectable flavors, music, night life, shopping and more.  Each night, the Historic Center hosts traditional folk dancers, right in front of City Hall, dancing to live music, in traditional dress.  On Sunday nights, salsa and cumbia dance liven up the streets.  Restaurants and street vendors are abundant, as is the shopping.  Staying near the Main Square is recommended.

My wife and I had the joy of staying at Casa Mexilio, in Merida, over the first weekend in August, 2009 and it was one of the most unique places we have ever stayed.  Located near the town center, about 4 blocks from the main square, you’ll discover Casa Mexilio squeezed in amid residences and merchants along one of the normally urban sections of Merida.  All of the buildings in this section of town have no spaces between them and the only method to quickly discern where one ends and the next one begins is the variation in paint.  Each block is consequently full in distinctive colors and personal distinguishable window boxes, signs, benches, and the like. 

The main entry to Casa Mexilio, a Merida hotel, is somewhat non-descript, with a few iron gates fronting wood doors right on the street.  Don’t be fooled by the lack of ordainment outside this exceptional small lodge.  When inside, the hotel is more museum than hotel with vintage furniture, artifacts, books and pictures throughout.  It really is akin to stepping back in time.  The lodge is a transformed home dating back to the late 19th century and is detailed of its own intriguing history as are the buildings and city of Merida that encompass it.

The main courtyard of the hotel is positioned directly behind the front desk and service locale where you will find a luxuriant garden and “grotto” like pool with a Jacuzzi.  It always stays nice and cool due to the shade of the gardens and protected location, a great place to cool off anytime and very romantic.  We went for a swim to cool off before bed one night and the burning smell of copal was a nice touch (this is a regional herb and incense noted for its purification properties).  This section with the trees and plants almost reminds you of being in a jungle cenote except there are stairs and balconies just about everywhere you gaze.  There is even an elevated footbridge that connects one of the top sections of the lodge.  In attendance are patios, landings and obscure garden nooks everywhere; the place begs to be explored.

Our room was astonishing with very high ceilings and reasonably clean with a comfortable king sized bed, extra pillows, ceiling fan and AC, although we only used the AC for a few hours at night, the ceiling fan was wonderful for air circulation.  The furniture, like everything else we saw while we were there were classic, antique couches, chairs, dressers, bed and wardrobes, really nice touches. Our room also had eclectic tiled floors.  I truthfully don’t know the actual name of our room, but each one has its own unique charm with similar furnishings from what we could see, one of the nicest Merida hotels available.

Our only disappointment was missing a great breakfast!  We got up very early…too early for breakfast seemingly as we looked around and didn’t catch a glimpse of anybody (this was roughly 7am) so we walked a few blocks to one of the local cafes.  Upon our return to the inn one of the waiters stopped by our room asking if we wanted breakfast.  We’ll without doubt seize that on our next visit!  We will be back to Merida in quest of further interesting sites, sounds and flavors and recommend this hotel to anyone, as it is genuinely a magical place.