27 Best Hotels in Veracruz, Mexico

Once the home of a coffee baron, this 19th-century mansion—a 15-minute drive from Xalapa—is now a luxury hotel. The lobby, decorated with a fine collection of period antiques, feels like the entrance to a private home. Rooms have original tile floors, beamed ceilings, and heaters for Coatepec's often chilly weather. Stained-glass windows bathe the restaurant in warm reds and yellows. The posada can arrange coffee plantation tours and river excursions.

Azúcar specializes in barefoot luxury, and many of the guests are honeymooners. Thatch-roof bungalows gather invitingly around a sunken pool overlooking waves crashing 20 feet away. Private open-air seating allows you to take in the ocean view from a daybed of plush pillows or a colorful hammock. Private outdoor showers, straw hats, and whimsical furniture lend a sense of fun, while flat-screen TVs and pristine white rooms provide touches of elegance. An optional package for a minimum of four people includes two nights, one dinner, airport transfers, and round-trip travel from Mexico City on a Cessna 206. The hotel also arranges trips to El Tajín.

This hotel close to the aquarium is a good bargain. Rooms, all of which have ocean views, are spacious and furnished with modern furniture, including flat-screen TVs. Suites also have large sitting areas, a refrigerator, and a small kitchen.

A cheerful, yellow colonial building—just three blocks from the zócalo—houses this inexpensive hotel. Rooms are centered around an interior patio, and are simple but cheerful with bright paint schemes and fabrics. All rooms have TV and Wi-Fi.

The only hotel in town on the Río Papaloapan is in a 19th-century house that's considered a historic monument. Rooms are simple, with beige ceramic floors and white bedcovers. The joys here are in the details: linens are high quality, towels are fluffy, and service is extremely attentive. Owners Francisco and Elena speak English quite well; other staffers have a harder time but always make an effort. You can rent bikes and arrange rafting trips through the hotel.

The lobby in this high-rise on Playa Mocambo is adorned with glass sculptures. Many of the rooms face the ocean, and the suites also have small balconies. The poolside fountain and the activities in the play area make this a good bet for families traveling with young children. It's across from Las Americas mall.

This splashy hotel reclines on the soft sand at Playa Costa de Oro. Its marble corridors all seem to lead to the giant serpentine pool, maze of bridges, and lush gardens facing the ocean. The brightly colored rooms all overlook the beach. You have access to a 9-hole golf course 20 minutes away. Note that quoted prices often include breakfast; let them know your preference.

This brick-red hotel is a 10-minute drive from the center of town, but it has hard-to-find (for Xalapa) amenities like a swimming pool. The modern guest rooms in the three-story, colonial-style structure get plenty of morning sunlight.

The 2003 renovations of this 18th-century building into a stately hotel transformed the entire Centro Histórico: it lends elegance to the laid-back zócalo. Locals grumble that the decorations in the rooms lack any trace of Veracruz, but all you have to do is throw open the French doors to enjoy warm winds blowing through the palm trees and marimba bands in the square below. The second-floor terrace, which surrounds a small pool, is a great place to escape the heat.

You can't miss this hotel, because its profile resembles an arrow pointing straight up. It's also one of the best deals in town. Rooms are impeccably maintained, and the eager-to-please staff makes sure you have a map of the city on arrival and a bag of local coffee to take home.

Overlooking the Río Coyopolan, this two-story hotel couldn't have a better location. From the colonial-style building you can hear the river spill into a few small waterfalls. Rooms are small, but cheerfully decorated with local handicrafts. The open-air restaurant, La Molienda ($), serves fresh river fish. There's also a satisfying selection of beef and chicken dishes.

This place certainly earns its name—tropical flora tumbles from the balconies. The art deco–style structure, dating from 1940, has gracefully curved windows on the corner overlooking the town's elegant church. The rooms are, for the most part, spacious and sunny. Some have better views than others, so ask to see a few before you decide. El Quijote, which dominates the ground floor, has excellent seafood.

Built in 1793 first as an elegant mesón, this hotel facing the zócalo has lots of charm. The wrought-iron elevator, brought from France in 1904, was, together with the one in the Chapultepec Palace in Mexico City, one of the first in Latin America. Though a bit dated, rooms have a certain elegance; many have balconies on the square.

A sophisticated creamy-white facade has replaced the purple exterior; the Jetsons–esque lobby is now dressed with leather furniture. Though it's lost its personality, Lois is still a good budget option. Guest rooms have subdued pastels; spend a bit more for one with a hot tub.

The most luxurious lodgings in Tuxpan are at this modern hotel overlooking Parque Reforma. The five-story building—which qualifies as a high-rise here—is frequented by business executives who meet for drinks in the small video bar or for dinner in the pleasant restaurant. The rooms, all painted in neutral shades, have views of the river. It's not hard to relax by the sparkling rooftop pool.

One of the town's most modern hotels is in a three-story structure across from the Río Tuxpan. Spacious rooms don't have much personality (they're decorated with simple wooden furniture and neutral colors), but they do have a/c, Wi-Fi, and cable TV. Many rooms also have good views.

Rooms in this waterfront high-rise are completely up-to-date. You'll want to spend a few more dollars to look out over the ocean. The inviting, cool, marble-floor lobby is usually crowded with business executives closing a deal.

The trick at this hillside hotel is getting the right room; the dozen or so rooms with views of the town are the best, but check the mattress for firmness and be sure to specify whether you want air conditioning, before you settle in. All rooms are spic-and-span though the décor feels dated and a little stark. Although the staff does not speak English, they go out of their way to figure out what you need and deliver it promptly.

The lobby full of people shouting into cell phones is a giveaway that this is the city's best business hotel. It's on a hill high above Parque Los Tecajetes, so there's a nice view, but you'll need to take taxis back and forth into town.

As it's beyond the strip of hotels along the highway, this sprawling property is more private, with wonderful gardens to explore, a small area with crocodiles that you can study from behind a fence, and a pleasant beach that few other than fellow guests hang out on. The hotel can arrange bike and horseback rides.

A royal lieutenant of the Spanish viceroy lived in this colonial house some 200 years ago. Now it's a gem of a small hotel, restored with earthenware tiles, rustic wood beams, and lime-pigment washes on the walls. Rooms surround three small bougainvillea-covered courtyards and have lovely hand-carved wood headboards, Talavera lamps, and hand-loomed bedspreads. Mesón's friendly, dedicated founders have also opened additional hotels in Xalapa and Coatepec, which can be found at the Web site.

In an enchanting colonial-era building with long corridors and graceful arches, the Meson del Mar is an intimate hotel near the waterfront. A staircase leads up to a breezy patio where you have a view over the rooftops. Exposed-wood beams and tile floors in the guest rooms recall a more gracious era. Rooms facing the busy street have double-paned windows that keep out most noise. Gandara, the open-air restaurant, serves a wide variety of fish dishes.

On the plus side, this colonial-style hotel is a short walk north of Parque Juárez. Unhappily, that walk is mostly uphill, perhaps a reason why the rates are so reasonable. The rooms are simple and quiet, but some are on the small side, so look at a few before you decide.

A staircase decorated with hand-painted tiles leads you up to the second-floor rooms at this bright pink hotel. Ask for one of the spacious rooms facing the street so you can look out over the rooftops. Don't miss a meal at the seafood restaurant ($), which has tables in the beamed-ceiling dining room or on a shady porch.

Surprisingly plush, but small and somewhat crowded, rooms are set around two flower-filled courtyards with worn patio furniture at this budget hotel. Its location a few blocks north of Parque Juárez is ideal. The Mexican restaurant at the hotel entrance specializes in churros and is a comfortable place to have a snack and relax.

This well-designed, whitewashed hotel is the most elegant along the strip. Each spacious room has a TV, DVD player, and balcony overlooking the hotel pool, which is just off the beach. White walls and white linens contrast with a few pieces of dark-colored furniture. The hotel has a DVD library and a palapa with video games, a pool table, and board games like chess and Scrabble. The small third-story bar, overlooking the water, hosts karaoke on Friday and Saturday.

Across from one of the nicer sections of the downtown beach, this hotel lets you enjoy the sun of Veracruz without the scene of Boca del Río. As you might guess when you see the small playground, it caters mostly to families. The spacious rooms surround a garden with a tennis court, swimming pool, and hot tub.