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You can find plenty of convention hotels, big chains, and sizable luxury hotels in Mexico City, but the capital also has many intimate bed and breakfast inns that give you a stronger sense of place, like Ignacia Guest House in Roma.
The neighborhood of Roma goes beyond the Oscar-winning period piece. It’s a lively part of Mexico’s capital that hasn’t gotten as gentrified as Condesa yet, but is full of fun bars, interesting restaurants, and shops. If you’re headed there and want a local’s guidance, pick up a bilungual Roma guidebook from our contributor Lydia Carey.
Ignacia Guest House is housed in a 1913 mansion that survived several earthquakes intact, plus a modern annex connected by an enclosed bridge above the courtyard—with floorboards from a bowling alley. The original building has a lot of original architectural details in place, but with comfortable contemporary furniture throughout.
The guesthouse is named after Ignacia the housekeeper, who served the family who lived here for her entire adult life. It opened in 2017 under new owners as an intimate 5-room hotel. With a lovely courtyard, living room, and library where breakfast is served, it’s a comfortable refuge from the bustle of the city and is surprisingly quiet inside.
There aren’t a lot of facilities in this converted mansion, but they roll out the welcome for you. There’s a daily happy hour for guests from 5:00 to 7:00, with a signature cocktail served. It was mango season when we arrived so ours used fresh mango as a base for the mezcal drink and had lemon infused in the ice cubes. After that there’s an honor bar and you don’t have to walk very far to find a place to go out at night.
If you have any dietary restrictions, the chef will work around them for the included breakfast. But expect fresh-baked breads, fresh-squeezed juice, good coffee, and rotating made-from-scratch Mexican breakfast items like chilaquiles or molletes. Don’t miss the homemade marmalade made from oranges off a tree in the courtyard. If you aren’t feeling social, you can ask to have breakfast delivered to your room instead.
The library here has a great selection of books on the country and Mexico City, including photography books and cookbooks. Wi-Fi works throughout the property, so you can fire up your laptop in the courtyard or one of the two interior rooms.
There are five guest rooms with hardwood floors distributed between the two buildings, each with its own personality and size. All feel luxurious, with plenty of natural light, quality furniture, and comfortable beds with a variety of pillows. There’s no disposable plastic, which is a nice change from the chain hotels, including drinking water in Casa del Agua glass bottles. Loredana toiletries are in large refillable bottles. Other amenities include Nespresso coffee machines, Bose Bluetooth speakers, electronic safes, and RokuTV sets with Netflix installed. 
The lowest-priced room Rosa starts at $248 but has a large marble bathroom and a private terrace. Three standard suites are roughly the same size and go for $306 to $326. Two of these open to the garden. The splurge choice is at the top of the main building: Negra. This suite has a separate sitting area, lots of storage space, and a furnished balcony overlooking the garden reached by French doors beside the bed. The bath has his-and-hers sinks on the black marble vanity.
Service at Ignacia Guest House is warm, bilingual, and attentive. The hosts know the neighborhood well and will give suggestions for true local places to eat and drink. They go out of their way to make you feel at home.
See more information on specific rooms at the official website and book there or at Expedia online.
See other hotels in Roma Mexico City.
Review and photos by editor Tim Leffel, who was hosted at Ignacia in Roma for purposes of review.
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