Puebla, One of Mexico’s Most Beautiful Cities, Has a Hotel to Match It

Walking down the stately shaded streets of Puebla, it’s hard to imagine we owe the origins of Cinco de Mayo celebrations to this city. While the recently celebrated holiday has become an excuse for margarita-sozzled partiers to stumble around in sombreros, Puebla is a city of miles of orderly streets lined with ornately tiled palatial edifices in the shadow of a volcano on the Mexican highlands.

Long famous for its food (mole poblano and cemitas, to name two), riches (once the richest city in the country), and to-die-for Talavera tiles, to visit Puebla today is to spend time reminding yourself to close your mouth. Plus, with the dominance of Oaxaca and San Miguel Allende as destinations of choice for those seeking an urban escape with picturesque colonial architecture, Puebla has become almost under the radar.

Banyan Tree

Now, one of its most popular hotels, Banyan Tree Puebla, has been given a light refresh and is the latest selection for our series on exciting new properties, Room Key.

The hotel is located just outside the gridded historic center of Puebla next door to the Convent of San Francisco with its fiery color scheme of deep yellow and burnt orange and intricately carved multi-story doorway. In front of the hotel is the Talavera-clad Fuente de los Leones (whose fountains were dormant during our visit) and the hotel itself is a sky blue with white trim stucco historic 19th-century two-story building out of which rises a more modern fieldstone facade. Guests and visitors enter via an elaborate wrought iron awning.

Inside, the hotel retains most of its decor from its previous iteration as a Azul Talavera Hotel, maintaining the historic feel likely important to any tourist coming to Puebla. Rare is the visitor coming here to indulge in something new–it’s all about diving into the city’s tradition and historic elegance. So, the 78 rooms are outfitted with dark wood furnishings and things like wrought iron canopy beds and copper bathtubs. Even the gym on the roof is in an aged timber frame complex that disguises its modern function.

The property is a bit of a maze, curling around a leafy courtyard that makes it a popular spot for weddings. (The old tunnel underneath it is also put to work for a sort of staged romantic moment.) The major update as a Banyan Tree is the Southeast Asian group’s signature spa experiences, biodegradable bath products, and the Saffron Thai restaurant found in many of its properties.

Banyan Tree

But since Puebla and neighboring Cholula are famous for the gobsmacking number of over the top churches (the saying goes that Cholula has one for every day of the year), the most alluring part of this hotel is its rooftop which affords sweeping views over the whole city. And, on a clear day, one can see the beautiful but menacing Popocatépetl volcano just beyond. If you’re an early riser, go up just as the pool opens as the steam wafts off its heated waters, covering the landscape in a dreamy haze.