I spent 3 nights at the Ritz Carlton Mexico City, but does the experience live up to the name?
In September 2024, my husband and I visited Mexico City for a work trip and stayed at the Ritz Carlton Mexico City. This modern hotel occupies 11 floors of a 58-story steel-and-glass tower overlooking the Bosque de Chapultepec.
Of course, the name “Ritz” immediately makes you think of glamorous surroundings and top-class service, so I was keen to see whether the luxury hotel experience here would match our expectations.
Read on to discover whether I would recommend a stay at the Ritz-Carlton Mexico City in 2025.
Arriving at the Ritz Carlton Mexico City
The Ritz-Carlton Mexico City overlooks the Bosque de Chapultepec from its prime location on the vibrant Paseo de la Reforma, Mexico City’s grandest boulevard. Although the steel and glass lacks the old-school opulent glamour of the Ritz London, this hotel offers a more modern luxury.
Whether you arrive by car rental, taxi, or using the hotel’s complimentary transportation from the nearby helipad, you’ll be greeted outside the building by one of the hotel porters. They’ll help you with your luggage and call an elevator for you.
The Ritz-Carlton Mexico is located on floors 37-47, so the first elevator will take you up to the hotel lobby. The hotel’s elevator system can be pretty confusing, and I even found myself in a set of offices at one point.
However, once you make it up to the lobby of the Ritz-Carlton, the check-in process at the front desk is very smooth and straightforward.
A Corner Room at the Ritz-Carlton Mexico City
The Ritz-Carlton Mexico City has 134 modern rooms and 19 luxurious suites. We stayed in a Corner Room, which is larger than the standard Deluxe Guest Rooms and also has better amenities, but isn’t as plush as the luxury suites and junior suites.
An entrance foyer led into the room which had interesting artworks on the walls. The large bedroom area had a king-sized bed and plenty of closet space. The bed is as luxurious as you’d expect in a modern luxury hotel, with high-thread-count cotton bed linen and plush pillows in a range of firmness levels.
The large marble-tiled bathroom was also well-equipped with a beautiful freestanding bathtub, a large walk-in shower, a double sink, and a separate water closet. The hotel provides luxurious Diptyque toiletries in the signature “Philosykos” scent, which I thought was a lovely touch.
Our corner room had a small desk area with a mini-bar, cable/satellite TV, and pay-per-view movies. There was also a small seating area next to the windows with a small table and two comfortable lounge chairs. This was a gorgeous place to sit and watch city life unfold on the streets 37+ floors beneath you.
Corner rooms enjoy some of the best views at the Ritz-Carlton Mexico City. The floor-to-ceiling windows in our room gave us panoramic views over the historic Chapultepec forest, while other corner rooms have views over downtown Mexico City. Most of the rooms have a private terrace with safety glass, and some rooms and suites offer club lounge access.
Overall, the room felt very well-appointed and luxurious; the decor was gorgeous, and the view over the heart of the city was fabulous. However, there’s no complimentary breakfast included in your room fee, and you have to pay a fee for WiFi unless you sign up to the Marriott Bonvoy membership scheme. I think most people would assume that luxury hotels provide their guests with complimentary breakfast and free high-speed WiFi these days.
But really, these are minor complaints that are outweighed by the excellent standard of the room and the hotel’s beautiful views of the entire capital.
Food at the Ritz-Carlton Mexico City
I had breakfast twice during our recent stay at the Ritz-Carlton Mexico City, and we ordered room service for one meal.
Breakfast is served in a restaurant on the same level as the lobby where you check in. It’s a large space with a small balcony where you can sit outside in nice weather. I sat outside for my first breakfast, and then I sat indoors on the second day.
The breakfast menu was a good mix of Mexican cuisine and standard American breakfast items, and they also served specialty coffees, teas, and so on. I had chilaquiles each morning because that’s one of my favorite breakfasts, and they were pretty good.
The service was pretty quick throughout our stay. When we were running late one morning, the kitchen put a rush on our food so that we could get moving quickly, which I appreciated. There were some other nice touches, like they will bring over a stand for your purse, rather than you having to put it down on the floor. The staff were pretty good at noticing things like that in general.
I also found that they did very well with allergy support. Our group had various dietary restrictions, and the staff were very knowledgeable about what food would be suitable and safe to eat. That was a very impressive aspect of our stay.
For example, when we ordered room service, they called back and explained that there’d be a slight delay because they were going to use different equipment for my husband’s gluten-free meal to avoid cross-contamination.
I was impressed that they paid such close attention to our individual needs and communicated the delay to us so well. The food took longer than I would ideally have liked, but it was tasty when it arrived.
Other dining options we didn’t have a chance to explore include the casual restaurant Samos Sabores Míos. The fine dining menu in the Samos restaurant features Mexican cuisine from different areas of the country, and this might have given me the more authentically Mexican experience that I felt was missing.
You can also dine at the more formal Ritz-Carlton Club or enjoy signature cocktails and light snacks in the elegant setting of the new Sky Bar on the 38th floor.
Our meals were good overall, but the food didn’t feel authentically “Mexico City”. The menu was a bit characterless, and it felt as if you could be eating in any of the 115 Ritz-Carlton Hotels around the world. However, the food was tasty and the allergy support aspect was excellent.
Facilities at the Ritz-Carlton Mexico City
Hotel guests at the Ritz-Carlton Mexico City can take advantage of amenities including a club lounge which offers complimentary soft drinks and hors d’oeuvres, plus an honor bar. There’s also a swimming pool with a steam room and sauna, a fitness center, and a business center with meeting spaces.
The Ritz-Carlton spa offers treatments inspired by natural botanicals and the spiritual traditions of Mexico City. Ritz-Carlton Meaningful Wellness Journeys nurture your body and mind, while visitors in a hurry can book Timeless Capsule express treatments or take a dip in the tranquil indoor pool.
Service at the Ritz-Carlton Mexico City
We had consistently good service from the entire staff at the Ritz-Carlton Mexico City, from the bellman who helped us with the elevators to the restaurant and housekeeping staff.
The attentive staff were always quick to anticipate our needs and often went that little step further. For example, housekeeping even folded our dirty laundry in the closet.
I would definitely say that we received five-star service, which is clearly a point that the Ritz-Carlton Mexico City staff pride themselves on. I have no complaints in this area at all.
A Downside to staying at the Ritz-Carlton Mexico City
Although most aspects of our stay were excellent, a couple of aspects weren’t so good.
I thought the hotel’s location was a downside to staying at the Ritz-Carlton Mexico City. Obviously, you’re very close to the green heart of Mexico City, and if you request a room with park views, you’ll have stunning views of Chapultepec Park.
The park has a few cultural attractions within walking distance, such as the National Museum of Anthropology and the Museo de Arte Moderno. You’re also reasonably close to the Reforma 222 shopping mall, but the hotel’s location generally wasn’t very desirable.
The area around the hotel is more of a business district, so it’s not a very convenient location for walking around. If you want to do more touristy activities like sightseeing or shopping in Mexico City, the best hotel to book might be one closer to the designer stores of the Polanco neighborhood or the cool restaurants in the La Roma or La Condesa districts.
Even when we decided to take an Uber and go sightseeing, the driver spent a lot of time negotiating the one-way streets around the hotel. Combined with the Mexico city traffic, this ate up a lot of the precious free time in our short break.
The other thing to consider is that although the service is excellent, the hotel doesn’t feel like it has much soul. It’s a pretty generic, high-quality hotel that doesn’t have any of the specific charm or personality of the local area. That’s fine if it’s what you are looking for, but it’s worth bearing in mind when booking a hotel in Mexico City.
Should you stay at the Ritz-Carlton Mexico City?
We enjoyed our stay at the Ritz-Carlton Mexico City. It’s a five-star hotel offering consistently high-quality service and luxurious amenities. The food and facilities are excellent, and I was particularly impressed by the allergy support.
It’s true that the hotel sometimes felt a little soul-less, and I would have liked to see more influence from Mexican traditions in the menu choices and hotel rooms.
But if you’re looking for comfortable luxury, attentive service, and a central location, the Ritz-Carlton Mexico City is a solid choice.
Check out these articles if you want to know where to shop in Mexico City or some of the best restaurants we’ve been to on our trip.
