• 1. Where to Stay
• 2. Where to Eat
• 3. What to Do
• 4. Insider’s Tip
• 5. An Oddball Day

Find serenity on the patio at the Red House, left, or lounge in your CONDESAdf suite, with its walnut paneling and retro furnishings, right.   (Photo: Courtesy of the Red Tree House; Courtesy of CONDESAdf)

Ask for a balcony suite at the CONDESAdf (from $190), the 40-room India Mahdavi–designed hotel overlooking Parque España. Sooth your hangover on the rooftop terrace on Sunday afternoons with a D.J. set of down-tempo Latin lounge music.

Be discreet at Habita (from $250), a boutique hotel hidden behind a frosted-glass box façade on Mexico City’s most luxurious avenue, Avenida Presidente Masaryk. The third floor’s minimalist suites are the quietest, but find action upstairs at the rooftop bar.

Feel like you're visiting friends at the eight-room Red Tree House (from $50), the affordable California colonial B&B run by an American set designer and his partner. Rooms in the newly added garden house overlook the patio, and the owners host frequent wine parties for their guests.

Published on Dec 3, 2009 as a web exclusive.