Radisson Gran Ancira Plaza Hotel Monterrey - Reviews - Monterrey

My first residence in Mexico, and the Americas for that matter, was Radisson Plaza Gran Hotel Ancira. Opening in 1912 and known as the most beautiful building of its time because of its French architectural style, it is still considered an artistic monument and part of Mexico's national heritage to this day. For me, it has one of the best hotel lobbies I have ever seen in Mexico--grand but not boisterous, spacious but always pleasantly teeming with life and all things beautiful.

The 263-room hotel is also home to Barandales Restaurant and Bar 1900, with a resident band playing Latin grooves and Mexican classics live nightly, and where I had my first taste of that toxic drink called mescal and the larva of some insect resting at the bottom of the bottle, apparently reserved for the guests of the hotel, especially those from the other side of the globe, or so the bartenders said.

On top of its exquisitely designed and furnished rooms, Radisson Ancira shares the prime location of Zona Rosa in downtown Monterrey with another gem of a hotel where I stayed the longest later in my Mexican stint, Fiesta Americana--close to the Macroplaza, Barrio Antiguo, the Sunday flea markets by Sta. Catarina River, and the general goings-on of the city.

I'd love to see this hotel again after 10 years of my last stay, and see if I can recapture my special past with Ancira.