Mexico City
Mexico


The Experience

You can't do better than the Four Seasons for location -- on bustling Paseo de la Reforma, Mexico City's own Broadway, almost within walking distance of leafy Chapultepec Park. Nor could you top it for hidden glamour -- a modern version of a traditional hacienda shielded behind a somewhat plain facade, soaring to eight floors and anchored around a richly verdant central courtyard and fountain that would make a Colonial-era patron proud. One of Mexico City's first true five-stars, the Four Seasons remains a bastion of formality and refinement. While many of the capital's newer boutiques aggressively embrace style over service, the Four Seasons continues on course, confidently knowing it offers the best of both.

The Rooms

Along with the hotel's bar and restaurant, all of the Four Seasons' 240 rooms and suites were recently upgraded -- with new Italian cotton sheets, LCD plasma TVs and next-generation, ultra-high-speed Wi-Fi connections. They're welcome additions to the existing Euro-Latino decor, which offers a bit more local flair than the standard Four Seasons, with original Mexican art, carved wooden furniture, ocher-colored walls and blankets made from traditional Mexican textiles. All rooms include full-size marble baths, and, unlike in many hotels, the best views are of the hotel's inner courtyard rather than the street scene outside. Premier Terrace rooms, in particular, include private terraces to best experience the elegant courtyard below.

The Service

Mexico City takes visiting industrialist and other corporate titans very seriously, and nowhere more so than at the Four Seasons. Kids are well attended to, and there are free weekend cultural tours led by experts. Make friends with the executive chef, and he might even take you along on a morning run to the central market -- North America's largest.

The Highlights

In this most social of cities, the Four Seasons is the social HQ for both the local and visiting elite. Indeed, despite being mere moments from one of the busiest thoroughfares on the planet, the hotel's public spaces retain a sense of calm and quiet -- from the outdoor dining patio to the nearby bar with its word-class selection of....what else...tequilas. Reforma 500, the hotel's formal restaurant, serves mostly Mediterranean-styled dishes -- from paella to a lamb tagine -- with a few Mexican accents. More typically Mexican favorites -- including chapulines (fried grasshoppers) and fried worms -- are on offer at El Bar -- a perfect match for all those tequilas. And there's a compact gym and swimming pool to work off a hangover.

-- David Kaufman

Find Hotel Deals on Yahoo Travel»