Hotel Hacienda Merida

"This eight-room hotel in an 1840 hacienda may be just a few blocks from Mérida’s central plaza, but in the evening, when bats dart through the courtyard’s colonnaded portal and stars twinkle above the palm trees, you’ll feel like you’re at a country estate. The sense of seclusion is reinforced by unobtrusive staff, towering ceilings, and two lovely courtyards. Yucatán’s capital city has several other excellent hotels set in nineteenth-century homes but none with such contemporary style: dark-wood furniture is set on red-stained polished-cement floors, and abstract paintings adorn the foot-thick walls, painted in a traditional combination of rust and creamy yellow. Though the hotel’s four larger rooms are dubbed "executive," don’t expect officelike details (except for free Wi-Fi). The space that might have gone to a desk is turned over to a huge bathroom and a vast shower, all the better to enjoy local treats like natural honey shampoo and sisal bath scrubs. Perhaps the most soothing of all is the massage therapist, available every evening."