The town's most famous lodging embraces a growing series of converted colonial buildings, some dating to the 16th century and all marked only by discreet ceramic plaques. Expert management, a multilingual staff, exemplary service and fine food help support the genteel, formal ambience. Since Orient-Express took over in 2006, the hotel's stature and level of consistence has only improved.
Reception moves around according to where construction is going on, but it is always a sit-down affair by a desk. Bellmen stand at the ready to dispatch bags to whichever building guests are staying, with none of the buildings holding more than seven rooms. Guests therefore receive not just a room key, but a house key as well.
The menu at the recently revamped Andanza restaurant gives both kinds of guests what they want: one side contains standard Mexican and international dishes, while the other one dares adventurous diners to cut loose with ingredients
such as cuitlacoche (a corn fungus considered the "Mexican truffle"), aciote, mole and chocolate ravioli. The renovation actually made the courtyard with retractable roof less stuffy and more in line with its historical use as the home of the local archbishop. What was once the archbishop's bedroom is now an elegant bar. The wine cellar just below holds a good selection of bottles and is used sometimes for cozy Tequila tastings.
The separate Parque restaurant is about a 10-minute walk away, next to Juarez Park, and has regular live entertainment. (New guest rooms are in the works for this building as well.) Two blocks from Andanza is the hotel's own Sazon cooking school in an 18th-century building, with commissioned handmade pottery to buy for your own kitchen on the way out.
Additional amenities at the hotel include a meeting room for 80 people, guest laundry, room service, a library with Internet access, language classes, and 
excursions. The newly built Laja Spa opened in spring 2008. An enticing swimming pool in the Casa Limon building is surrounded by grass, but the six cushioned lounge chairs need some company.
Airy studios and suites feature distinctive design schemes encompassing beam ceilings, ochre-colored walls, sophisticated art, sofas, easy chairs, and twin or king beds. As in most Orient-Express hotels, the line between a standard and a suite is a fine one and even the three top-tier Colonial Bedroom Suites are still just one large room and a bath: the advantages of these are double the space, two hanging flat-screen TVs, larger baths with separate shower stalls, more toiletries, and terraces with a view and a private plunge-sized whirlpool. Although each room is different, the decor throughout is sophisticated and less regional than the other more colorful accommodations in town. Fresh-cut flowers, antiques, thick mattresses, fluffy robes, Molton Brown toiletries, and brass fittings in the baths are among the deluxe touches. Nightly turndown service is standard.
Rooms are too varied, with different individual charms, to recommend one section over another as some trade less space for a private terrace. Others have small baths but feature interesting hammered metal free-standing tubs or a fireplace in the main room. At inspection in spring 2008 the renovated Casa Limon offered the freshest accommodations, with suites built around a flower-filled courtyard and the pool. New rooms are going in next door, however, and more are on the way by the Parque restaurant a few blocks away. For the best view of the steeple and dome of the city's best-known landmark, book suites 416, 445 or 446.
After a flurry of improvements, upgrades and additions, Casa de Sierra Nevada is clearly the top address in the city, with much smaller Dos Casa being the only hotel able to offer a similar level of pampering.
