OCTAVIA CASA

If Mexico City is a whirlwind of colors, sounds, and flavors, Octavia Casa is a calm refuge in which to recover from the sensory overload. Located in Condesa, one of the city’s hippest neighborhoods, this boutique hotel is the passion project of Mexican designer Roberta Maceda, who enlisted architect Pablo Pérez Palacios to create a space in the same spirit as her modern women’s clothing line. The result is stylish yet refreshingly down-to-earth; its interiors are light-filled and minimalist, almost ethereal, characterized by clean, simple lines and natural materials.

In keeping with the theme, the seven suites take inspiration from different natural elements, and feature whitewashed walls, carved wooden furniture, linen sofas, raffia rugs, and king-sized beds with buttery-soft cotton linens and fluffy down duvets from Maceda’s homewares line. The look is understated, but each suite has a few eye-catching pieces by Mexican designers, like charmingly handmade coffee cups, elegant blown-glass water carafes, and ceramic planters with cheerful greenery.

A Mexican-style continental breakfast is served beneath a guava tree in the hotel's courtyard patio. There’s no restaurant on site, but given the location amid a sea of appealing cafés, restaurants, shops, and bars, plus easy access to historical and cultural attractions, guests are unlikely to linger around the hotel for much of the day. But the rooftop is a glorious spot at sunset, and since it’s reserved for guests only, it’s a pleasingly relaxed place to enjoy the views, while sampling natural wines produced in Mexico’s Baja California Norte mountains.