11 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.

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 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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.