One of the most charming hacienda hotels is the Hacienda de Cortés, the Cuernavaca home of Cortés during his stay in Mexico. Located outside Cuernavaca in Atlacomulco, this all-suite hotel, also one of the smallest, has enough flowers, fountains and history to overwhelm almost anyone.

Known as the Hacienda de San Antonio Atlacomulco, it was built by Cortés in the 16th Century, who left it to his son, Don Martin. He made it into the most important sugar plantation in New Spain. It, too, became a gathering place for colonials, who loved to wander about its gardens, filled with somersaulting waterfalls and fountains. Later on, Emperor Maxmillian delighted in visiting the hacienda to take advantage of the fine weather around Cuernavaca.

 

Eventually, the estate fell to the Cortés heirs, the Dukes of Monteleone, who gave new life to the lands. Unfortunately, their success was cut short with the advent of the Mexican Revolution. Today, the heirs to the title of Monteleone are buried beyond the gates. The hacienda sat in abandoned ruin until 1973, when Dr. Mario Gonzalez Ulloa transformed it into this charming hotel.

Dining at Hacienda del Cortés is a romantic experience. Here, amid the huge arches of the former sugar refinery with the sound of an enclosed stream that used to turn the mill wheel, waiters serve gourmet dishes to the accompaniment of a of a strumming guitar and candles flickering in the evening breeze.

 

It is a very nice place to visit, to stay, or just to have a drink or lunch.