El Fuerte

This hotel was a mix of good and bad. The common areas are super interesting with lots of folk art. The rooms are big, but there was no hot water (and little water pressure). The pool was very dirty--it would have been nice to be able to jump in or at least stick my feet in the water as el Fuerte gets very very hot.

This is a beautiful hotel with so much to offer. The pros are that it is beautiful and so much of the historic culture of Mexico is wrapped up and culture of the area. It is centrally located to downtown and everything you want to see. There are nice restaurants within five minutes. Walking distance The cons is that no one in our group were able to get cool. The cooling unit in every room of our group was not sufficient to cool the rooms. It never got below 82. If you are able to sleep when it’s hot, you will have no issues.

Pros: Rooms big and comfortable Courtyard is gorgeous (attached) Pool area nice and relaxing (dubious cleanliness but it was 36 degrees c) Staff generally helpful (if you can locate them) - the new owner of the restaurant, Diego (I think), was very kind and informative Location is right next to the main square and less than a minute from the museum and malecon etc The much more expensive hotel located 30s away organised tours and does the Zorro show so you can just go there to sort out activities. They also allow use of their bigger pool as long as you buy something Aircon works and is essential Cons: The first room we were given had a ceiling that leaked water onto the socket my charger was plugged into as well as the bathroom leaking (this was during a rainstorm in the afternoon while we were napping) Rooms inconsistent as everything is so old so in our first room the fan didn’t work but in our second the lamp was missing - we much preferred room 2 to the initial one we had Generally very dark inside and windows covered and unreachable so there is no natural light in rooms Breakfast is absolutely awful, my girlfriend loves chilequiles and described them as the worst she has had in 2 years of living in Mexico. The eggs and coffee both cold and flavourless Hotel does not provide transport to and from El Fuerte town so you have to factor in 300$ for both legs to the station which is a complete rip off as it is a 10min drive each way