The Casa Vieja in Mexico City is a small, exclusive and highly individual boutique hotel, located in a quiet street near Chapultepec Park, about 30 minutes drive from the airport. It was formerly a private residence, and has been completely remodelled, housing about a dozen rooms and suites on three floors. Each of these is named after (and decorated in the style of) a Mexican famous for his or her contribution to the world of the arts - Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, David Siqueros, and so on

Location

The map opposite shows Greater Mexico City, 2240 metres above sea level. Casa Vieja is located in the fashionable residential suburb of Polanco, near Chapultepec Park and the Anthropological Museum. It's about 40 minutes' drive from the airport, and the zocalo, or central square, is a taxi ride away ('though the streets that surround the zocalo are often grid-locked).

Things to do

Within easy reach of Casa Vieja by taxi (in Chapultepec Park) is one of the most renowned museums in the world – the Mexican Museum of Anthropology. Each of Mexico's many pre-hispanic cultures is represented here - a Maya gallery, a Mistec gallery, an Olmec gallery. This is one of those museum whose collection is so vast that it is not humanly possible to see and assimilate everything in a single day.

To the north of Mexico City - an hour's drive (traffic permitting) - is the huge archaeological site of Teotihuacan, with the temple of the plumed serpent Quetzalcoatl, and the pyramid of the Sun and Moon. You really need three hours to do this site justice - and there are plenty of kiosks selling bright blankets and obsidian souvenirs.