Nueve 25 Hotel Boutique

To call Guanajuato an old mining town hardly does it justice. It's perhaps better described as the one-time location of the world’s largest silver extraction site, a town founded and made fabulously wealthy after the Spanish struck gold and silver in the early 16th century. Nueve 25 Hotel Boutique is one of a handful of luxury hotels in the UNESCO-honored historic center, the name a reference to the precious metal — a composition of at least 92.5% pure silver is required for the denomination of sterling silver — that put Guanajuato on the map.

Housed in a historic building with high beamed ceilings and exposed stone walls, but refreshed with a sleek, contemporary sensibility, the hotel’s look mixes historic and modern. The courtyard-style lobby is elegant and airy with old-world details like pale checkered tile floors, high arching doorways, wrought iron railings, and greenery spilling over the first-story balconies. Rooms and suites are simpler but just as stylish. Some feature original stone walls and whimsically tiled bathrooms, while others have high beamed ceilings from which striking bedside lamps are dramatically suspended. All feature espresso machines, Egyptian cotton sheets, and bath products by L’Occitane.

The hotel offers a small spa and a wine cellar, stocked with wines produced nearby, located in the building’s old cisterns. But the crowning glory is the rooftop terrace with its spectacular view of the neigborhood's antique churches and bell towers. Its open-air bar and restaurant serve a mix of local and international cuisine; at sunset, when the basilica is romantically silhouetted against the surrounding hills, one can’t go wrong with a locally produced tequila on the rocks.