Posada Carmelita, San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico

You can visit the hotel's website at Posada Carmelita or check out Hotels.com for deals on other accommodations in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico.

Comments:

Wow. This place was simply amazing. We loved everything about this posada. This place had charm, character, architecture, warmth, friendly staff, beautiful views, beautiful decor and everything else that we wanted. You won't hear us say this too often, but this place was perfect and probably one of the best values we've come across in the world. It's a shame that we didn't come here first when we arrived in San Cristóbal de las Casas because we would have loved to say here as long as we could. Sure we had the best room at the place at 350 pesos per night, but all the rooms provided equal character and charm. The views in the other rooms might not be as spectacular, but you can always get those on their rooftop patio that has amazing panoramic views of San Cristóbal de las Casas. One way or another, at this price, this is the best value in town. The only thing working against this posada is that it's not mentioned in the 2011 Mexico Lonely Planet Travel Guide. If it was mentioned, we don't think you would be able to get a room unless you reserved a room weeks in advance. Tip: When booking, ask for the corner room. It has the best views.

Location:

Located in the quiet colonial hill district of San Cristóbal de las Casas, this place is only a comfortable 5 block (slightly downhill) walk from Zocolo and historic center.

Room Comfort:

We were lucky enough to obtain the corner room for our stay and it had phenomenal views of San Cristóbal de las Casas. The large room was beautifully decorated and had large windows on two-sides of the room. There was also an additional window in the shower area of the bathroom. Even though there wasn't a heater in the room, the room stayed at a comfortable temperature at night when the outside temperature dropped close to freezing. The blankets provided in the room were warm and comfortable which also helped. There was a good supply of hot water 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This made showering with the window open in the cool mornings a joy! The rooms also had a television set, but we didn't even turn it on.

Everything about this room felt homey and comfortable. It's a place where we wish we could have stayed MUCH longer. There aren't enough good things we could say to really describe how amazing this place was, so we'll just let the pictures do the talking.

Cleanliness:

The hotel and room were exceptionally clean. Even my picky partner was satisfied with the cleanliness of the room. This is really rare even at the cleanest places.

Service:

This place lives up to our expectation of the quality of service that all B&Bs should aspire to. Although the relaxed and friendly, Spanish speaking front desk staff, Sergio, speaks very little English, his positive attitude, patience and willingness to  help was enough to communicate with us effectively, even though we couldn't speak or understand a word of Spanish. He is trusting and honest. Once again, nothing we say here would do justice to the exceptional service provided by Sergio and the rest of the staff at this posada.

Although there is free wireless internet in the main areas of this posada, we were able to connect to another free wireless network from our room. I guess the location on a hill has more advantages than just the view. Free drinking water was also provided.

We should mention that we did try to reserve a room through email and although the initial responses were quick and well received, we didn't hear back from them to our last email where we requested a change to our reservation dates because of a change in our travel plans.  Since we weren't sure if they received our email or if we had a reservation, we unfortunately ended up staying at Le Gite del Sol on our first night in San Cristóbal de las Casas.

Food:

Breakfast is not provided at this hotel. It seems like they are equipped with a kitchen, but don't offer any meal options. With so many great eateries around town, who cares anyway.

Other Notes:

We rented bicycles and rode them to San Juan Chamula which was a REALLY challenging 10km one-way ride from San Cristóbal de las Casas. A good portion of the ride is uphill, so if you are not up to the challenge, don't even bother attempting it. In San Juan Chamula, the locals tried to steal our locked bikes while we were buying the permits to La Iglesia Catolica, Church of San Juan, so we were a bit nervous leaving our bikes locked outside of the church while visiting the amazing church. If you are in San Cristóbal de las Casas, you really should find your way to San Juan Chamula so that you can visit this church as the traditions that you will witness are beyond description and beyond anything you will see anywhere else. We'll just leave it at that.

After San Juan Chamula, we biked to Zinacantan which was mainly downhill after the uphill climb leaving Sam Juan Chamula. Nevertheless, the 10 minute downhill ride was an exhausting 1-hour plus uphill walk back with our bikes. This town was less exciting than Chamula, but a great part of our experience.

Finally, despite being exhausted, we thought that biking to the Ecotourism park of Arcotete would be an easy flat 8km one-way bike ride, so we decided we had enough time to attempt to see it. When we passed San Cristóbal de las Casas, as this park was east of town, as opposed to west were Chamula and Zinacantan were, the road suddenly turned uphill again. Again, we thought that eventually the road would flatten out, but it never did. After the mental and physical challenge of not quitting, we did eventually make it to Arcotete. Not sure if the ride after what we went through that day was worth it, but the park did offer a nice cave, river and zip-lining. On the way there we were rewarded with some beautiful scenic views of the surrounding forest and an aerial view of San Cristóbal de las Casas.

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