Through the drowsy purr of car tires on cobblestone streets drifts the driver’s voice: “Mira,” he says, pointing to the coral pink spires piercing the sky. “La iglesia.”
I’ve been waiting years to see it, the crowning jewel of this colonial town between Mexico City and Guadalajara where national independence was born in 1810. A UNESCO World Heritage site, San Miguel de Allende is a crayon box of colorful buildings in which historic charm and contemporary luxury live comfortably side-by-side.
Andanza, the hotel's signature restaurant(Courtesy of Casa de Sierra Nevada)
Casa de Sierra Nevada beautifully strikes that same balance across its six historic manors dating back to the 17th and 18th centuries. The first luxury hotel to open in San Miguel de Allende, the jigsaw puzzle estate is teeming with centuries-old Easter eggs—tiled fountains and romantic balconies, family crests and staircases carved in stone. Though it's a Belmond Hotel, the Casa de Sierra Nevada—like all of the brand’s properties around the world—is unique.
“Every hotel has its own history and identity,” says Marisol Ledesma, area PR and communications manager for Belmond Mexico. “Every hotel is celebrating the location.”
Each of the hotel’s 37 rooms is distinctive, too. Mine is in the Casa Palma directly across the road from the Casa Principal, where an interior patio with arched doorways and vines crawling towards the light serves as the dining room for the hotel’s signature restaurant Andanza. Through a lush courtyard, down a long corridor, past a sparkling pool, the suite’s heavy wooden door opens to two stunning rooms. There’s a generous sitting area of plush, elegant couches, a bedroom anchored by a cloud with a monumental wooden headboard, and a palatial bathroom with a copper tub and heated floors. A glass door opens onto a private enclosed patio with my own heated outdoor plunge pool.
A guest room at Casa de Sierra Nevada(Courtesy of Casa de Sierra Nevada)
I could spend the whole weekend here with not a single regret, but that would mean missing the rest of what I’ve come to think of as my soul mate hotel: a place so perfectly suited to my dreamiest Mexican fantasies, it might as well have my name etched over the door.
The most breathtaking is right upstairs. Tunki Rooftop, from the team behind Handshake, a Mexico City bar considered one of the world’s best, is an island of elevated cocktails and Peruvian cuisine that floats above the color-drenched city and its main church, Parroquia de San Miguel Arcangel. Tunki Talks are held here every other month, informal salons featuring individuals who’ve done extraordinary things in Mexican art and culture.
The events are among several experiences Casa de Sierra Nevada hosts, ranging from workshops with a local artist to tastings in the Wine Cellar or Blue Bar by local wineries. Indeed, in its extensive offerings, Casa de Sierra Nevada is more tiny resort than boutique hotel.
Tunki Rooftop at Casa de Sierra Nevada(Courtesy of Casa de Sierra Nevada)
My favorite activity is in the hotel’s freshly remodeled Sazón Cooking School, which begins with a turn through the market to pick out ingredients with chef Rubén Yáñez. Held twice daily and open to both hotel guests and the public, at my class we prepare a lavish meal of rich mole over marinated chicken, fresh tortillas, and stewed beans—traditional recipes that are among those collected by chef Rubén for El Bajío, the newest addition to Belmond’s Recipes & Wanderings cookbook series—then sit down family-style at a long, communal table to dig in.
It’s one of several exceptional meals I have over my stay at the Casa de Sierra Nevada. At the main restaurant Andanza, the menu strays a little farther from tradition to pair global influences with fresh local ingredients in dishes like octopus and pork tostadas with chipotle chili and shrimp with poblano chili, bacon, and manchego cheese.
A ten-minute walk from the Casa Principal is Restaurante del Parque in the brilliant red Casa Parque—the farthest of the hotel’s historic casas—with a menu that’s a diverse tour through Mexican cuisine, from molotes and aguachiles to tlayudas, huazontles, and tlacoyos. Once the home of the Lanzagorta family, the fortress-style manor also has a broad patio edged by a cacti garden for outdoor events.
The newly renovated Sazon Cooking School at Casa de Sierra Nevada(Courtesy of Casa de Sierra Nevada)
And Casa de Sierra Nevada could hardly be a hybrid mini-resort-hotel without a spa. Laja is back in the main house, tucked behind Andanza, a collection of quiet rooms around a covered, open-air lounge where they offer signature treatments like the 90-minute body exfoliation and aromatherapy massage based on the moon cycle.
Less visible to the naked eye (but just as important as its spa and restaurants) are Casa de Sierra Nevada’s suite of sustainability initiatives. The property already holds EarthCheck Silver Certification for environmental and community commitments that include zero-waste policies, the use of solar power, local sourcing for everything from food to craftsmanship, and water conservation through the use of a NASA-developed purification system. Even the greenery in the casas’ courtyards are endemic species chosen strategically to thrive in the local climate and attract pollinators. During my visit, a dedicated sustainability officer was on site working on improving existing initiatives and implementing new ones—another example of how this boutique hotel operates on a higher level than what its 37 rooms would suggest.
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter whether the property is technically a resort or a hotel, says general manager Michael Näther, “as long as it’s magic”—and truer words were never spoken.
From its historic architecture to its thoughtful modern amenities, the storybook-like enchantment of Casa de Sierra Nevada makes it an irresistible gateway to gorgeous San Miguel de Allende.
// Hospicio 35 (San Miguel de Allende), belmond.com
San Miguel de Allende is a UNESCO World Heritage Site(Courtesy of Casa de Sierra Nevada)
