Camino Real Polanco Mexico City, Mexico City

I have been there for a week for Business. I had to change my room three times in order to receive a clean and renewed room. They have placed me in a old, not remodeled room of which I would have never paid 200 US $ per night at all! i would give that room at max, 50 $. Every little extra amenity is to be paid for. Internet is 17 $ and does not work. The front desk were not helpful at all with my payment. Never do wire transfer. It will take 2 weeks to get there and they will put a hold on your credit cards! If you can choose, pick Hilton or Sheraton in Reforma area. Much better!

The Camino Real Polanco was a good choice to access by foot Chapultepec Park with our 5 and 7-year-old children. The hotel was built in 1968, with an architectural style that gives you the impression that everything is very spacious; it is almost like visiting a great museum or something like that. The room, the hallways, the restaurants, the courtyards... everything gave us a feeling of openness and simplicity. Our room was a double-bed with lots of space, beautiful furniture and a very nice and big balcony facing one of the beautiful courtyards with a pool (our room was at “La Palma” section of the hotel). The bathroom was very spacious and beautiful. There was no bathtub, but the shower was very roomy. We only wished the showerhead had more flexibility for setting your desired output of water. In terms of service, we could just notice one thing: the hotel staff thrived to offer you a friendly useful service immediately. They answered all of our questions, attended our requests and gave us useful information in an efficient quick manner. The hotel also changed towels and cleaned up the bathroom and beds as soon as we would leave our room in the morning and again in the evening, after we had taken a shower and gone down for dinner. We had late dinner a couple of nights at one of their restaurants, called La Huerta. The food was excellent, but be aware that they are more expensive that some of the restaurants you can find nearby. For us was just a matter of convenience, after a long day exploring Chapultepec Park. The hotel was full of activity during the day and night, so be aware that you may hear in the middle of the night young people arriving at their rooms and being just a bit noisy in the hallways. At one point I had to get up to ask a couple of young women who were chatting pretty loudly in the hallway to quite down, and they politely apologized and moved inside one of the rooms. They did not wake up my children or my husband, though, so I guess everyone is different, but just in case you think you may be sensitive to noise, I think a couple of earplugs will do the job. The area surrounding the restaurant seemed to be safe for strolling at night. There was plenty of activity going on, but the scale of the street and the amount of traffic made us a bit nervous when crossing intersections with two young children at night. During the day we accessed Chapultepec Park via the pedestrian pathway the goes underneath the street Paseo de la Reforma, so we felt pretty safe with the children and traffic. If you like the Sanborn’s restaurants, there is one nearby the hotel. Just ask the concierge for a map and directions. They have plenty of useful maps and good tips for exploring the city.

I have stayed in the Camino Real hotels many times. This one was the worst. On a good day, these hotels are ok but they are a national (Mexican) hotel chain and like the Fiesta Americana chain, they never needed to be very good to be the best there was. That is no longer the case. To the east there is the Sheraton Maria Isabela which is much better and to the west is the JW Marriott (the only Marriott property in Mexico City) which is the best of the three and very well located if your business in actually in Polanco. At the Camino Real, you will see that they have a gym but when you actually go to use it, you will notice that most of the machines don’t work and never have since they don’t have any plugs to plug in! This is very classic Camino Real: Image takes priority over content. Cleanliness is tolerable but far from the high end that this hotel considers itself to be. They have internet but you’ll have to pay and then it won’t work. I guarantee it! I stayed for a week, and for one reason or another, I actually had 3 different rooms to get one that didn’t smell too bad and had most of the things working order. In all of them, the internet box was torn up by someone who was obviously very frustrated. I only ate in the restaurant once and it was the breakfast buffet. There were a few duds but plenty of good things to eat. Security was pretty tight and one of the attendants told me there had been some problems. (many guards could be seen and one stood next to our table) As for location, it’s quite good if you are going to Paseo de la Reforma. It’s also close to Chapultepec and far from the Zocalo and the Zona Rosa. (see below) The hotel is called Camino Real Polanco but I don’t think they are actually in Polanco. I based this conclusion on the Guia Roji map. Polanco is about 1 block away so you could think of it as being on the far eastern limit of Polanco or as the map shows, in Anzurez. Like most of Mexico City, it isn’t very close to the airport and the ride will take about 1 hour depending on traffic. (there is another Camino Real at the airport) A few other details: The zona rosa was once a happening spot at night but now it’s dirty and really very nasty. You would do much better looking for some night life in Polanco. There are many places on President Mazarik. Another nice area at night is near the World Trace Center (Insurgentes Sur). The best nightlife is in La Condesa or La Roma. (they are next to each other) Regarding taxis: I’ve discussed this before but here I only want to say that the taxi fare from the airport (MEX) to the hotel is about $160pesos and you pay inside the airport. You should only use the official airport taxis and the fare is comparable with what a metered taxi would charge. The charges depend on the zone, and hotel is in zone 5. Finally, if your business is in Santa Fe, the morning traffic will kill you. Santa Fe has many very good hotels (try the Sheraton) and you would be much better off staying there. I can't over stress this point. Stay in Sante Fe and you'll have time to pick up your Krispy-Kreem dognut (they're right next to the Starbucks. Sorry, I haven't seen one in the city) in the morning and still get to your meeting on time.

I made a pre-paid reservation on Orbitz, and it was quite a deal compared to the Camino Real's normal rates. We arrived early in the morning and it was raining pretty badly, and the staff were very helpful in allowing us check in early (at 7:00 am). While we were waiting for our room to be cleaned we noticed that security was really heavy...and about 15 minutes later we realized why when President Vicente Fox arrived with his large entourage (we were told that he periodically will hold press conferences there). The architecture in this hotel is amazing, and has a very modern yet elegant feel to it. The rooms are large and I cannot talk enough about how comfortable their beds are! Service was good and everyone we talked to was bilingual. The location was fantastic being so close to Chapultapec Park...and the neighborhood is very safe. I was having problems with my back while I was there, and the hotel recommended a good (and quite affordable) English-speaking chiropractor who was amazing. The Camino Real is my new choice for hotels when in Mexico.

I just returned from a business trip to Mexico City where I stayed at the Camino Real Mexico. The hotel is beatiful and very artistic. The service is perfect and the staff at the front desk all spoke good English. This hotel is very busy, so if you're looking for a place to get away from it all, this might not be the place. The rooms are awesome. King size beds. desk. three phones (there's one in the bathroom) mini bar. Balcony with a chair. Huge marble bathroom (no tub, but the shower is very nice) Overall my rooms was very relaxing and comfortable. BEWARE of the room safe. Twice i had to call the staff up to open it bcuz it just turned off (it runs on batteries) But they did show up ASAP when i called. If you don't like city noise, get a room in the courtyard. My room overlooked a road and it was noisy sometimes (esp. when a car alarm went off @ 6am and stayed on for 30 min.) My one major complaint is that they put the lockdown on the courtyard and pool at 7pm. This is just stupid. The courtyard is really cool but i never really got to enjoy it because by time i got back to the hotel it was locked up. The pool is lame considering the artistic vision put into the rest of the hotel. There are seven resturants in they hotel, all of which have excellent service and food. La Huerta has a kick tail breakfast buffet but expect to pay around $20 US/person for it!!!! And that goes with all the resturants there. They are all pretty expensive considering I ate just as well or better outside the hotel for much less. Tip: Go out the back entrance, cross the street and go left. At the corner is a small resturant that serves breakfast, lunch, & dinner. It's clean, good, and cheap. The location of the hotel is both good and bad. Good in the sense that it's right next to Mexico City's "Central Park" Bosque de Chapultepec which is loaded with Museums, a huge castle, trees and greens spaces among other things. Bad in the sense that it's not right near anything else. You'll need to either take a taxi ($$$) or a very long walk to see anything else of value. Overall, i'd stay here again in a heartbeat. I don't think I'd take my family here for vacation though. It's a very upscale, trendy hotel. But the service is great and the rooms are awesome.

Fantastic hotel! I cannot recommend enough that people stay here while in Mexico. Yes, there are more modern hotels in the neighborhood but this one still holds its own after all these decades. The modern architecture is phenomenal and the food out of this world. (the Mexican breakfast buffet is one of my favorite meals while in Mexico) The gym could use some work but the rest is fantastic.

When we checked in, the hotel did not immediately honor the type of reservation that we made. It took a certain amount of discussion and room changes until we finally received what we expected.

The best hotel ever! It's beautiful, chic and the staff is just amazing. You shouldn't miss the 'Gourmet Centre' located inside Camino Real, where you can taste woderful delights: begin by having breakfast at one of the Caf�s, lunch at Bice Bistro (yeah, the same as NY), and have an extraordinary dinner at Le Cirque (another NYorker!), not to forget the marvelous Centro Castellano (Spanish Cuisine). The service is just amazing and you won't have a chance to regret your stay at Camino Real. Without a doubt, the best hotel in town, while in Mexico City.