The neighborhood question
Where to stay in Querétaro: the historic center, on the square
Short answer: the Centro Histórico, and if you can, the square in the middle of it. We're at Andador Libertad No. 35, on the Plaza de Armas, in an 18th-century building whose front door opens onto the pedestrian walkway. Guests give us 9.2 for Location across 198 verified Booking reviews. What's below is what that means on foot.
The address
Pick the Centro Histórico, and here's what you're skipping
What you'd call downtown Querétaro is the Centro Histórico, a UNESCO World Heritage site and about twenty blocks of colonial streets you can cross on foot in twenty minutes. The Plaza de Armas is one of its main squares, and our door opens onto the Andador Libertad, one of the walkways running off it (an andador is a street with no cars on it). Most hotels in Querétaro's Centro Histórico are inside old buildings; ours is an 18th-century one on the square itself. The alternative is the chain hotels out by the industrial and aerospace parks, near Antea and the Tecnológico, 20 to 30 minutes from here. If you're in town on business with a rental car, that's the right call. If you came to walk a colonial center for three nights, you'd spend them in traffic. This is the address you give the taxi or the GPS.
Av. Prol. Luis Pasteur Sur 10, Centro Histórico, Querétaro, C.P. 76000. Entrada peatonal: Andador Libertad No. 35
On the Andador Libertad, the pedestrian walkway on the Plaza de Armas, in the historic center of Querétaro.
Gallery
This is the building, seen from the square
It's the pink cantera stone building under the portal, the one with the arches and the restaurant tables out on the sidewalk. If you're looking at the portal on the Plaza de Armas, you've found it.
On foot from the door
What's within a ten minute walk of the door
You're on the Plaza de Armas, so most of the historic center happens on foot from the front door. No rental car, no parking hunt, no cab to dinner.
- Plaza de Armas
- You're on it. The hotel opens onto the walkway of the square itself
- Templo de San Francisco
- About a 3 minute walk
- The Cathedral, Andador 5 de Mayo and the Teatro de la República
- On foot, in the same historic center
Since you're going to wonder about the walk back at night, here's what it actually is. The Andador is a pedestrian walkway, so the route from the restaurants to our door has no traffic on it. In the evening the square is lit and busy, and the restaurants under the portal, ours included, have their tables out on the sidewalk. Our front door is on that walkway, a few steps past those tables. And if you'd rather not go out at all, La Nación serves dinner inside the building.
Getting here
Getting to Querétaro, and where the car goes
Most US travelers arrive one of two ways: the bus from Mexico City, or a flight into Querétaro International (QRO). The historic center is pedestrian, so driving in has a catch, and it's better to know it before you're at the door than after.
- The bus from Mexico City
- This is the normal way to do it here, and it isn't the bus you're picturing. Mexico City to Querétaro takes about three hours on a first-class line, with assigned reclining seats and departures through the day from Terminal Norte. You buy the ticket the way you'd buy a flight. From the Querétaro bus terminal it's about 20 minutes by taxi to the square.
- Querétaro International (QRO)
- About half an hour east of the center by car or taxi, and small enough that you're through it quickly. A few US cities have direct flights, so check yours before you route through Mexico City.
- Driving in
- We have valet parking, $300 MXN a ticket (roughly US$16). The streets around the square are pedestrian, so you hand the car over at the door.
- If you land late
- Check-in is at 3:00 pm and check-out at noon. If your bus or flight puts you in earlier or later than that, tell us ahead and we'll sort it out.
The valet is run with a third party: $300 MXN a ticket (roughly US$16), and handing the car over takes a while. Leave yourself margin on the way in and on the way out, especially if you're leaving in a hurry. The dollar figures on this page are approximate, at about 18.5 pesos to the dollar, and you pay in pesos.
The location
Location is the thing guests score highest
On Booking, Location is our highest score: 9.2 out of 10, across 198 verified reviews. It's their number, not ours, and it's the one worth checking before you book a neighborhood you've never walked.
9.2 for Location across 198 verified Booking reviews
The hotel has a really convenient location, it's on one of the main squares, which puts a lot of things to visit within reach
Service, location and comfort
Finding the door
The door you come back to
You come in through No. 35 on the Andador Libertad, the door with the hotel crest, and the vaulted corridor drops you into the courtyard and La Nación's tables. Worth knowing, because plenty of guests use Querétaro as a base and leave for the day: San Miguel de Allende is about an hour away by car and a little longer by bus, and Bernal, the town under the monolith, is about an hour in the other direction. The aqueduct is across town, a short ride rather than a walk. You can do any of them and still be back at this door for dinner.
Book direct
You've picked the neighborhood. Now pick the dates.
Check availability for your dates at our direct rate. Book direct and you're dealing with the front desk that will actually check you in.
Book direct
Book direct, on the Plaza de Armas
Check availability opens the hotel's own booking. Book direct and breakfast for two comes with the room. Traveling as a group, or need something specific? Call or message us and someone who works here answers.