Casa de Sierra Nevada, A Belmond Hotel, San Miguel de Allende

The quietly stylish Mexican town of San Miguel de Allende is the perfect setting for a classic refuge like the Belmond Casa de Sierra Nevada, equal parts 16th-century residence and modern luxury boutique hotel. The level of service is high, as professional as it is warm, and the hotel’s old-world charm is always allowed to shine through.

Thirty-seven rooms and suites are divided among six colonial mansions, and they’re all different, keeping to the floor plans of the original houses. Even the smallest rooms are quite large, and the suites even more so, most with working fireplaces. And despite the name, the Deluxe One Bedroom Suites are the most up to date — the décor is still classic, with timbered ceilings and ornate woodwork, but the appointments are luxury-hotel modern, from the LCD televisions to the private plunge pools.

Its claim on the upper end of San Miguel de Allende’s luxury market is solidified by a casual restaurant, and the full-service Laja spa — enough to make the Belmond a complete package, without even mentioning the latest addition, a school teaching Mexican cooking.

How to get there:
Belmond Casa de Sierra Nevada is 177 miles from Mexico City. It is a 90-minute drive from Del Bajío International Airport and one hour from Querétaro International Airport.