Description: Hotel Casa Lucia is a very nice and quaint boutique hotel localed in the heart of Merida. It is on Calle 60 in between Calle 53 and Calle 53. (Note that in Merida all the even street are parallel with all the odd streets perpendicular forming a grid....very easy navigation) On weekend evenings Calle 60 is cordoned off and the street is filled with vendors and outdoor dining. The hotel is also located directly across from Santa Lucia Park and Santa Lucia Church. In the morning on the weekend the park turns into a crafts market with local vendors selling all different types of wares. It should be noted that "Hotel Santa Lucia" and "Hostel Santa Lucia" are also in the area immediately surrounding this square so be careful not to get confused.
The hotel itself is very nice with a very attentive and courteous staff. I was staying at a hotel for a wedding that had actually rented out the entire place as the whole hotel is only about 15 or so rooms. Ten of the rooms are adjacent to the swimming pool and gardens in a two story building. The corridors run outside with 5 rooms to a floor. The other four or five rooms are in a building attached to the lobby (2 or which are reached through a staircase in the lobby and 2 or t 3 from a staircase outside)
The rooms themselves are quite large and were very very clean. All the rooms have either one large or two double beds, a television with a DVD player, a double closet, alarm clock, safe, and a very powerful and very very effective air conditioner. The bathrooms are enormous....way bigger then necessary. The shower is so big it doesn't even have a door because there is no way the water from the showerhead is going to get all the way to the floor outside the shower area. Maid service was prompt and did an excellent job. We knew everyone in the hotel and not one person had an instance of anything being stolen or disappearing from their room. The maids didn't even take the few dollars in change that I intentionally left out for them. Never did I use or feel the need to use the safe that was provided. I felt perfectly comfortable here leaving items such as my wallet, cell phone and Ipod lying out.
The food at the hotel was some of the best I had in Merida. Not traditional Mexican food however, much more heavy on the Italian and American side. The garlic and butter marinated mushrooms were out of this world. I had a pepperoni, olive and basil pizza that was delicious. I also tried the fettucine with mushrooms and cream sauce which was very good as well. I've never been a fan so I didn't try and but I heard from everyone else that the guacamole was really really good. They have a small dining area in front of the hotel with about a half dozen tables and it usually seemed to be fairly busy. If you are staying at the hotel a simple breakfast of toast with butter and jam, coffee and orange juice is included every morning. If you want to add eggs or an omelette it is like $2.
The pool area at the hotel is simple but very quiet and relaxing. The pool is quite warm and has a little maybe five foot wide ledge at one end that is only a few inches deep where toddlers can take a dip. There are about half a dozen padded lawn chairs and a couple of hammocks under a covered area. There is some grassy landscaping in between the pool and hotel building with a couple of fountains. There is a sterio system out by the pool if you want to bring CD's and a masseuse came by a couple of the days we were there to offer fairly cheap poolside massages. If you didn't want a massage right then you could schedule one with him and he was willing to come back any time of the day or night that you wanted.
The lobby and restuarant staff were very friendly and helpful. They would bring anything you ordered at the bar of the restaurant out to the pool for you when it was ready. You always had the option of paying or just charging it to your bill. I went to the store to buy water and booze the first day and when I showed up at the hotel with my grocery bags in the rain in a taxi no less than 3!! employees of the hotel came running out the front door, insisted I not carry any of the bags myself and hurried them all to my room for me. While I gave them a tip you are never under the impression here that they are helping you because they expect money. We all felt like they had pride in their jobs and genuinely wanted to make the stay pleasant. A member of the staff also offered to go to the store for my brother's wife to pick up milk for their baby so they wouldn't have to go looking for it. He ran to the store and came back with milk for them in less than 10 minutes.
All in all this hotel was very nice by Merida standards. Don't expect the Four Seasons but it was more then adequate with a very genuine and kind staff. For $115-$165 a night it is a pretty good bargain as well. Highly recommended.
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