TRUE TRAVEL

by Tirekicking Today

SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS, Mexico - Travelers to Mexico who confine their adventures to resorts and luxury coastal hotels probably don’t think much about prices. Many of them arrive in Mexico on package tours, where hotels and meals are included in the overall price. Those of us who travel on our own see a completely different Mexico–especially if we steer clear of those resort regions on the Gulf or Pacific coasts, and shun high-end hotels in the big cities.

Mexico isn’t the bargain paradise is was a couple of decades ago. Regions vary enormously, too, and some parts of Mexico will set you back plenty.

In Mexico City, you can easily find Paris and New York hotel prices. Or, by accepting less lavishness (but suitable comfort), you can have a satisfying stay for under $30 a night. The Hotel Isabel, for instance, may well be the bargain epicenter of central Mexico City. Situated just a few short blocks from the Zocalo–the city’s historic main square, facing the primary cathedral and the Presidential Palace–the Isabel is old but not disheveled. Sure, you’ll find a few nicks and scratches around the walls, and a chunk of plaster or two missing; but you can get a single room here for 270 pesos a night (about $24), including a private bath and cable TV that’s full of Spanish-language channels. Well known for years to backpackers and suitcase-luggers alike, the Isabel has neither air conditioning nor heat, but they’re seldom needed unless you’re a fastidious traveler.

On a recent four-day stay, our exterior room had two small windows facing the street (which could be seen only by stretching hard). Interior room are darker. Travelers on a seriously limited budget can opt for rooms on the roof, which lack private baths but cost even less. Our latest stay, also of four days' duration, featured an exterior room with far larger windows, increasing the prospect for airflow within the room as spring/summer temperatures rise.

Downstairs is a restaurant that has been described in guidebooks as adequate, but is actually quite satisfying. Many more places to eat may be found within a couple of blocks, including an appealing member of the Sanborn's chain. Rooms are equipped with wi-fi. Coin-operated computers are available in the lobby, along with a tour desk, taxi request service, and pleasant employees. Best of all, you’re only minutes from one of the most historic and lively spots in all of Mexico.

Carnival festivities in Veracruz

In Veracruz at Carnival time in late winter, visitors might have to pay more than usual, and can opt for more deluxe accommodations. In March 2011, we chose a lovely Holiday Inn, close to the always-busy Zocalo, plus a final day’s stay at the freshly-restored Gran Hotel Diligencias right across the street from the square. Amazingly, despite it being the middle of Carnival, the Diligencias made a last-minute room available at a discount price.

Could we have stayed in Veracruz for less? Of course. One possibility is the Hotel Santillana, which sits across from the old fish market (now a parking garage with small restaurants at ground level). It's just minutes away from the lively Zocalo and the colorful malecon (walkway along the waterfront). Singles at the Santillana go for a modest 200 pesos (about $18), with private bath and a ceiling fan. Basic? Even a bit crude? You bet. Yet, the rooms are positioned around a colorful interior garden and are wholly adequate. In fact, my wife and I stayed at the Santillana for three weeks way back in 1980, paying only $13 a day. Obviously, the folks who determine the prices haven’t quite kept pace with inflation–which is often the case in Mexico.

Easygoing weeks in Chiapas

Next stop on our latest Mexican trek was San Cristobal de las Casas, where we made a second visit to the economical, appealing, and exceptionally well-run Le Gite del Sol–a mixture of hostel and basic bed-and-breakfast. Except for a listing in Lonely Planet guidebooks and some hostel directories, recently augmented by a new European-produced directory listing, Le Gite del Sol doesn’t get a lot of publicity. Yet, it manages to attract a continuous flow of folks from around the world. It’s practically unbeatable for friendliness, price, convenience–and a chance to share tales with visitors of all sorts, who cluster into the patio at breakfast time each morning.

That breakfast (a choice of four items) is included in the price of a single room: as little as $13 per day in low season, rising to 250 pesos (about $22) in high season, which begins as early as March 15. One visitor from Canada recently noted that the breakfast was the best he’d encountered in Mexico. Several others complained about inadequate breakfasts and sundry imperfections at other hostels in the area.

Rooms in the annex down the street are darker, smaller, and more basic. Less-expensive accommodations lack a private bath. In the colorful main building, they’re generally brighter and more roomy–attractively cheerful, too, in contrast to some of the more cell-like annex rooms. Residents of either building can take the stairs to the roof to sit at a table and view the surrounding city–the principal metropolis in the state of Chiapas. Or, they’re welcome to sit at one of the umbrella tables after breakfast is over, if they’re not yet ready to stroll the city or take one of the tours to surrounding areas that are offered.

Delightful Le Gite del Sol owners Denis and Adriana could have opened a conventional-type hotel in the area, but Denis explained that they liked the idea of having such a variety of people staying here, enjoying one another’s company as well as inhabiting the rooms. Denis is from Quebec, while Adriana grew up in Mexico. Both are about as solicitous of their guests as any innkeeper could be, making sure everyone is getting what they need.

Most of those guests stay for only a few days (an average of two, according to Denis), taking advantage of what this section of Chiapas has to offer before moving on. A few others, including ourselves, choose a longer stay. After residing at the Le Gite del Sol for two weeks in February 2010, deciding where to make a reservation for a month-long visit in 2011 took no thought at all.

Naturally, plenty of other low-budget spots are available in San Cristobal, both near the historic center and farther out into the neighborhoods. As one young German woman said at breakfast during our latest stay, she’d never seen so many hostels in a single community. In early spring 2011, several hotels near our lodging, and not far from the lovely Zocalo, offered promotional rates for their rooms–some of them under 200 pesos ($17) per night. Even the upper-end hotels in San Cristobal are reasonably priced. In the historic center of this city, the distinctively colonial Holiday Inn qualifies as the high-end choice.