
Photo by Arabella Bowen
Beautifully designed Airbnbs like Casa del Limonero are easy to book in Mérida.
By Arabella Bowen
Apr 2, 2018
Courtesy of Hacienda Sac Chic
Casa Sisal at Hacienda Sac Chich has a reflecting pool and sunken sitting room.
A design lover finds her dream city in the heart of Mexico.
I travel for design. My flight history is evidence: I first went to Marrakech for its riads, Palm Springs for its midcentury Alexander houses, and Pittsburgh for Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater. So when my husband and I were invited to a wedding in Mérida, Mexico, the Yucatán capital known for its Spanish colonial restorations and contemporary interiors, I was thrilled. The best way to get an up-close look at those buildings, I knew, would be the home-rental route: I could immerse myself in architectural variety and a private pool.
On Airbnb, I booked Casa del Limonero, a modern two-bedroom casita with minimalist lines accentuated by pops of color, massive glass accordion doors, and a courtyard with a plunge pool. More incredible design awaited in Mérida’s centro histórico. We fell hard for Coqui Coqui, a perfumery set in a sumptuous Belle Époque building (with a private suite for rent), and the new concept store Casa T’Ho, where the high-end accessories impressed us as much as the 19th-century mansion they occupied.Hacienda Sac Chich, a sisal factory turned rental property, where our friends got married, oozed even more character. We explored the five-acre grounds with mezcal in hand, wandering between buildings, until a villa caught my eye. It was reminiscent of Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye, near Paris, but with a sunken sitting space and an infinity pool that reflected on its surface the surrounding palm trees. The hacienda was the perfect mix of colonial and contemporary—Mérida in a nutshell.
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