Monte Taxco

I must admit that the numerous negative reviews about this property made me more than a little anxious about staying there. But since this hotel stay was part of a tour, I had little choice but to stay there.

I was very pleasantly surprised. I found the hotel very clean, quaint and charming.
It is located on the outskirts of the colonial town of Taxco, about 2 hours south of Mexico City. The hotel itself sits on the top of a mountain and is accessible by either automobile or a cable car operated by the hotel. I took the cable car, a very picturesque journey of about 5 minutes.

The main lobby and front desk are located on the top level of the hotel. There are some guest rooms on this level, along with the swimming pool, restaurant, nightclub and a silver shop. The lone elevator takes you down to the other 3 guest room levels. My room, number 125, was located on the lowest level of the hotel. The elevator jerked a little on stopping. I often opted to take the nearby stairway to the other levels.

The rooms are decorated in a colonial style with vibrant colors. Unlike many modern hotels, this one still uses actual keys to open the room doors. Each room has (depending on what level your room is located) either a balcony or a patio, with a view of the surrounding mountains and the city of Taxco. At night it is a beautiful sight to behold!
The rooms have the standard amenities such as air conditioning (that actually worked), a telephone and television. My room had no clock radio. Good thing I had my iPod Touch to set a wake-up alarm. The bathroom was good-sized with a tub and shower and offered a basket of luxury bath and body items with the hotel logo emblazoned on the containers.

My wife wasn’t feeling well when we arrived at the hotel. I ordered chicken soup with rice from room service. I have to admit it was very good and very well presented with crackers and rolls. A tad expensive at $97 Pesos for both of us (about $10 US), but, good nonetheless! Our tour package included a buffet breakfast the next morning. It was also very tasty with a wide variety of both Mexican and American breakfast items.

A few quirks: I had to register a credit card with the front desk before they would give me a TV remote control. Unfortunately, the issued remote did not operate the TV in the room. Also, the hotel did not provide wash clothes in the bathroom. Some in my tour group asked for them, we just did without them and used the face towels provided. They could not cash my traveler’s checks for pesos at the front desk.

But, all the horror stories about the Monte Taxco mentioned in some reviews did not hold true in my experience. The only negative experience was that our overnight stay did not provide enough time to really explore the resort and all it had to offer.