What to Expect in a Cheap Mexican Hotel

With the dollar dropping in value around the world under the current U.S. administration, your greenbacks don’t go nearly as far in Mexico as they did in 2024. Back then, you got 20 to the dollar; now it’s 17. The country is still a great value, though, and you’ll have plenty of options when looking for a cheap Mexican hotel.

I know a thing or two about this subject: I’m based in central Mexico, and I travel around the country quite a bit. I think I’ve been to two-thirds of the Mexican states at this point and have booked cheap hotels at some point in most of them, from Quintana Roo to Queretaro to Baja Sur. So here’s a look at what to expect.

The Price Range of Cheap Mexican Hotels

The word “cheap” can change in relation to your budget and income, which is true if we use the nicer word “inexpensive” too. Let’s say, though, that it’s a hotel room with a private bathroom, hot water, Wi-Fi, and somebody to check you in. Occasionally, you may find a 3-star deal, but assume this will be a 2-star or below place, an inexpensive bed-and-breakfast, or guesthouse. If you’re on a budget tour of Mexico like the ones I run sometimes, or with a company like G Adventures, these are the kinds of places you’ll be sleeping.

If we go by that definition, I’ve gotten a room as low as the equivalent of $17 (by the bus station in Leon), and I’ve paid as much as $68 for what I’d consider to be a budget hotel. Usually, when you are spending more than that, you’ll get up to the 3-star level. So in most parts of Mexico, you can find an inexpensive hotel room somewhere between $25 and $65. Naturally, if there’s a festival going on or it’s near a holiday period, prices can spike.

You’ll have an easier time finding a cheap Mexican hotel that you like if you’re away from a beach. The closer you get to the ocean, the harder it is to find a reasonably priced hotel. Sometimes you only have to go a few blocks back, though, in a city like Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, or where this photo above is from – Playa del Carmen. I paid less than $40 for that place with a pool, and they threw in access to a beach club.

This is not common, though. Usually, in the sub-$70 range, you’re not going to have a whole range of public facilities, and a pool is going to be more common in sea-level places than in the highlands. If they have a gym, it’ll be small, with old equipment. A bar is more likely, but hours and selection will both be limited.

Most of the time, you’ll end up with some kind of lounging around area and a breakfast restaurant if that’s included. Sometimes that breakfast area can be quite nice though, especially if it’s on a roof deck like my one was in Puebla recently:

Rooms in These Budget Hotels

Sometimes these rooms are best described as “minimalist,” like the 8 run by Hoteles MX that are now branded as Trademark by Wyndham. No fridge, open closet, not much storage space, and no luggage rack. But hey, in the one where my group stayed, we got a good hot shower, a terrace lounge area, an elevator, and breakfast included. All for $60 per night, including breakfast.

One chain that is all over Mexico got folded into the Marriott chain, so you may earn a smattering of points if you stay with City Express. This is the closest thing you have to a roadside motel chain in the country, though some of them are in prime city locations as well. I stayed in one in Chetumal, near the Belize border, that we got for $60 per night. Now it’s a shade above $70 just because of the dollar’s drop. There’s a similar brand called One.

Otherwise, you’ll probably be in an independent hotel that’s a family business, not part of a chain. This can be a good thing at times, with more personality and care, but it does remove some of the predictability. You need to pay close attention to the photos and reviews to see what you will really get. More often than not, the mattress will be firm, the TV channels will all be in Spanish, and there won’t be double-paned glass windows to keep out the noise. This being Mexico, there will be noise. Bring earplugs or a speaker that can play white noise if you’re sensitive to that.

Often these hotels only have a few rooms with outside windows, and the rest of them will face a courtyard. This can make them on the dark side, and depending on the layout, it may mean you have to keep the curtain closed to keep people from seeing in.

The plumbing and bathroom layout may make sense; it may not. I stayed at a bargain hotel recently in Puebla, where the water was spraying both down (from the showerhead) and up (from the pipe it was attached to). The one I stayed at in Mexico City had one of those European-style bathrooms: a shower setup where the floor is going to get wet for sure and a toilet that requires four flushings to empty out.

The room may or may not have a working safe, and the hangers will often be those annoying anti-theft ones. Toiletries may be provided, but they will be low-quality soap and shampoo, maybe in a little packet.

For some reason that I haven’t figured out, towels are twice as expensive in Mexico as they are in the USA, so the ones in your bathroom may have seen better days and will be thin even if they’re new.

Locations Can Be Prime

Since Mexico is not as car-dependent as the USA, you don’t have to stay in a motel by the interstate to get the best rate. Often, the cheapest hotels are right in the city center, which is great if you’re a traveler looking to do some sightseeing. My cheap hotels in cities like Guadalajara, Puebla, and Zacatecas have been just a few blocks away from the main square (zocalo). Mexico City has a good metro system, and Uber is a bargain, so you have lots of options to get elsewhere from most locations.

As I mentioned earlier, the beach areas can be challenging, but less so where there’s a real city and not just a hotel zone. Even in Cancun, though, if you stay in the city itself instead of right on the beach, you have 43 hotels to choose from for $27 to $60 in the March high season. After that, you get into 3-star territory and up. There’s one with a pool for $36, another for $42. Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, Huatulco, and Zihuatanejo are cities where there are lots of low-priced options a few blocks back from the water.

Remember that there’s a big domestic tourism market in Mexico, with millions of people on the move each week. And seemingly a third of the population around Easter. That keeps a lid on prices at budget hotels since they must be affordable to an average middle-class family or couple. Most of your fellow guests will be from within the country at these places, so the selection is usually good.

Bargain Hotel Examples

We tend to review nicer places with a story here on Hotel Scoop, so you won’t find a lot of individual reviews of inexpensive places to stay. Now and then we’ll cover one though, like this Be Wow Queretaro, I’ve stayed in Hotel Chablis in Palenque. Both have standards starting around $70, including breakfast and a pool.

Here are a few samplings I pulled from Booking.com, though, for dates in March, just to give you an idea of what you’ve got to choose from. Prices below include taxes and fees.

12 hotels in Zihuatanejo under $70 per night double

73 in Guadalajara from $22 to $60

53 in Puebla from $17 to $60

51 in Merida, from $31 to $61, more than half have a pool

14 in Huatulco from $37 to $77

29 in Mazatlan for under $70

One last option that is well-known by locals but not so much by tourists: the “no-tell motel,” also known as a love hotel. These are often rented by couples trying to get away from parents’ prying eyes and ears, since many live in family homes even after getting married. But if you’re traveling across parts of Mexico by car, they’re often the cheapest places around to just get some sleep and move on.