Otro Oaxaca is a hotel embracing its Mexican region’s traditional textures

The launch of Otro Oaxaca invites savvy travellers to zoom into its particular Mexican locale. There are any number of reasons to visit Oaxaca, not least its fabulous cuisine, traditional pottery and hand-woven fabrics, its haul of extant Spanish colonial manses, and the pre-Columbian architectural sites at nearby Monte Albán and Mitla. But for restless and inquisitive travellers, the debut of Grupo Habita’s latest property there is proof enough that this southern Mexican city is a bona fide hot-ticket destination. 

Otro Oaxaca: a sensitive hotel experience in a hot-ticket Mexican destination

Set on the edge of the pedestrianised plaza of the 16th-century Santo Domingo de Guzmán, the high red terracotta walls of the 16-room Otro Oaxaca give little hint of what lies beyond – which is an intriguing sequence of interlocking pavilions, shadowed corridors, narrow Jenga-like staircases, and courtyards and terraces that local architects RootStudio have clad with brick, limestone, raw concrete and reclaimed wood to reflect the textured mood of traditional Oaxacan design.

The interiors – a joint effort by Grupo Habita’s own Carlos Couturier and RootStudio’s lead architect João Boto Caeiro – are almost primal, yet unexpectedly sophisticated in their use of earthy tones and rugged textures courtesy of local artisans and handcrafted materials. Think green limestone floors, woven linen and quilts in the guest rooms with their capacious king-sized beds, thick rust-red leather drapes, rough-hewn timber planks, and high ribbed ceiling vaults.

As dramatic as the public spaces and guest rooms are, the real showstopper is the underground spa, whose 20ft-wide circular heated plunge pool, inspired by the region’s spiritual cenotes (limestone sinkholes), is capped by a soaring bricked dome with an oculus that opens to the sky above.

Given the small number of rooms, it’s no accident that guests find themselves gently lured out into the public spaces, perhaps to patios framed by little garden plots of wild grasses, or the high-ceilinged Bunker on the ground floor where low-slung sofas and seats and desks create a perfect bolthole for meetings or a quiet reading nook.

A small 9m pool sits on a raised platform on the rooftop, though it’s clear that you’re really there to soak in the view of the Santa Domingo de Guzmán across the parapet whilst sipping mescal cocktails, rather than indulge in any serious laps.

The pool overlooks the communal dining table to which house chef Saúl Carranza sends out locally sourced produce that are seared on an open grill.

‘Everything about Otro Oaxaca is 100 per cent local – the team, the materials, the entire production,’ says Boto Cairo. ‘It’s meant to be a place that travellers and locals can enjoy equally.’

Suffice it to say that we’re smitten.

otrooaxaca.com