My most recent trip to Villa Santa Monica was even more splendid than my last one four years ago. I can't think of anywhere else I would rather stay in San Miquel. There are other hotels that offer more ammenities yet the very real hominess of the staff, lifestyle and ambience that one encounters at Villa Santa Monica cannot be duplicated. One actually feels at home in their very own elegantly restored 16th Century hacienda in the most beautiful corner of this tranquil city.
The staff is very attentive. Lulu and Diego, the managers, are both incredibly helpful and accomodating. There was nothing that I wanted for that wasn't taken care of.
I cannot wait to go back!

...and completely perfect for our happy quartet of travelers. The hotel itself is serenely beautiful, the staff incredibly attentive and kind, and managers Lulu and Diego graciously welcoming and helpful. Villa Santa Monica is a place I would be delighted to return to. And while I suppose someone might be able to show up anywhere and have a bad experience,
to my mind it would take an extraordinary amount of effort to have a bad time here. Many thanks to the staff for the many delights of our week's stay.

My husband and I were married at the Antigua Villa Santa Monica in April. Having grown up in San Miguel I have always dreamed of having my wedding in this magical town. I am so happy with our choice to have our ceremony and reception at the Villa Santa Monica. Lulu, the general manager was extremely helpful through everything. She recommended some great vendors and was with us every step along the way thought the whole process. I lived in San Miguel for 17 years and my mother and a lot of my friends still live there so I had access to all sorts of information, locations and vendors, but we chose the Villa Santa Monica and it really was perfect!

We had a four day celebration in a few different locations - Thursday night Welcome Reception at Villa Rivera , Friday Rehearsal Dinner at Hacienda Landetta, and the wedding ceremony and reception followed by a Sunday Brunch at the Villa Santa Monica. The hotel staff was very friendly and professional and they really helped us through the whole weekend.

To have a wedding at the hotel, they require you to rent all 14 rooms for two days and to use their catering and bar service- I am so glad we did. Our families and a few close friends stayed with us at the hotel, and the food and drink were great! They have several menu options, we ended up choosing a beautiful mixed salad with avocado dressing, a cream poblano chile soup and chiles en nogagda ( stuffed poblano peppers in a walnut cream sauce).

I have also stopped dreaming about the unbelievable brunch spread we had on Sunday. I believe they do this every Sunday, but we had it closed to just our guests, and I never could have imagined this spread- they had a beautiful fresh fruit and juice, every imaginable hot item possible- from pancakes to chilaqulies, and they also had a fresh “made to order” sope and quesadilla bar with more fresh filling choices than I have ever seen!

This hotel provided an amazing backdrop for our dream day. We had an afternoon poolside ceremony and cocktail hour. Followed by dinner around the fountain in the courtyard and dancing in the main lobby/restaurant area. – Everything was perfect! We had 90 guests but it would have been great for 30- 150, it’s a very versatile place.

I would very much recommend the Villa Santa Monica to anyone looking to have a party or wedding in San Miguel. I have posted some photos so you can see for yourself the perfect backdrop to a perfect day!

If anyone is looking to get married in San Miguel I have an unbelievable list of vendors – some I many through the hotel and some I found on my own- I was happy with every single one hard to believe I know- but I put a lot of time and work into this wedding!

The hotel works a lot with a florist named Lupita who was great, and we also had them book our fireworks which were unbelievable!

As I mentioned, the hotel did A LOT, but here are a list of some of the other vendors we used!


Wedding planner: Zambra Events
Amazing Florist: Lupita from the Mercado
Amazing Wedding Cake: Casita Feliz
Ceremony Music: Jack and Frances
Reception Music: Mannix

Today is my final day staying in Antigua Villa Santa Monica and I wanted to suggest that future San Miguel de Allende visitors look elsewhere – this hotel is not worth your time.

I booked at AVSM for a last-minute trip to San Miguel. It was one of the only hotels that had rooms and it seemed, based on the reviews on this website, to be a good choice. It was, however, $260/nt + 17% tax, compared to about $150/nt for most of the other B&Bs in town. We thought we were making a good choice.

The hotel is located behind Benito Juarez park. The park is nice for a stroll and the neighborhood considered one of San Miguel’s most prosperous. But be mindful that the hotel is not in town, and that the advertised 5-minute walk to the center is actually a 10-minute walk (which didn't bother me personally).

The hotel is located in an 16th Century monastery and is beautifully restored. Our room included a working fireplace (though unfortunately no exhaust, so we woke up coughing after the fire burned at night) and tasteful furnishing. We enjoyed the room and its décor. Credit where credit is due.

Our enjoyment ended there. The hotel is not professionally managed and offers poor value for its price.

My hunch that the service was awful began after I made the reservation but before I arrived. I had emailed the hotel requesting driving directions three times but never once received a response. (Interestingly, when I had emailed requesting a reservation, the service was prompt.) So we were left driving through San Miguel de Allende’s dark and narrow alleys trying to locate the hotel based on the map on the hotel’s website.

There were two individuals who appeared to be in charge, a daytime and nighttime receptionist. We didn't encounter any of the friendliness or eagerness to please that we have encountered staying in hotels in many Mexican cities or towns over the years – our requests were met with looks of annoyance rather than a desire to assist.

My biggest concern was with the hotel’s noisiness. The rooms are built around a beautiful courtyard, but the staff makes no effort to be quiet when in that space. During the day, they played loud Mexican talk radio, obviously disrupting what would be a peaceful At night, I was awoken two consecutive nights by very loud conversation between the receptionist and another staff member. I asked them to quiet down, which they did, but the noise did continue the following night. Even worse: One night at around 3 am, we were awoken by someone (I later learned a locked-out staff member) banging at the front door to the hotel and vigorously shaking its gate. The shaking and banging continued for 30 minutes. When I mentioned this in the morning a staff member, he suggested that I was exaggerating and did not even apologize.

Nor could we sleep during the early morning hours. The rooms are clustered around a courtyard; the courtyard is set up with tables for a restaurant. The hotel staff makes no attempt to be quiet during the early morning hours when setting up the restaurant. Indeed, staff would shout across the courtyard to one another.

While we were at the hotel, the gratis breakfast consisted only of coffee, juice, and a roll. Breakfast was supposed to begin at 8:00, and every morning no one was available until nearly 9:00. While eating, staff would mop the floors and tend to chores around the tables. One morning, a housekeeper also cleaned out the inside of a bird cage, sweeping the droppings on to the floor about 5 feet away from me while I ate. Another demonstration of how unprofessional the hotel was – it was not clear why this needed to be done during breakfast hours (or in the restaurant at all, for that matter). And again, it looked like no one was in charge whatsoever.

The hotel has wireless internet, but it cut off and on throughout the day. When I sought to access it in the morning, I was told that I’d need to wait for the receptionist to arrive because no one else knew how to set it up.

Overall: If service does not matter to you and you are concerned only with physical atmospherics, this might be a good place to look. But if you, as we do, expect that a hotel that is one of the priciest in the city would have the service to match it, or if you would like to get a good nights rest, I’d look elsewhere. Incidentally, the best hidewaways award of which the hotel boasts on its website is from 1983. I am sure the hotel was quite lovely back then – but the absence of decent management makes that award wholly undeserved today.