Casa Silencio

Style

Pleasure by the measure

Setting

Xaagá’s peaceful pueblo

Nothing is too loud at boutique eco retreat Casa Silencio – and we don’t just mean its serene setting, where the agave-dotted plains of Xaagá roll towards the sierra. A quiet seduction awaits at this art-adorned stay of tactile industrial-chic interiors, featuring a garden-to-table restaurant, speakeasy bar and panoramic plunge pool. At its heart is a traditional mezcal distillery (a tour and tastings are included with your stay) – the perfect convivial foil to peaceful days lounging in the grounds, hiking in the hills or visiting the Mitla archaeological site.

Facilities

Rooms

Six one-bedroom suites.

Checkout

Noon; earliest check-in, 3pm. Guests arriving ahead of check-in from noon are welcome to have lunch.

More Details

Rates include breakfast, lunch, and dinner (drinks excluded), plus a tour of the distillery and mezcal tasting.

Also

Unfortunately this rural distillery stay is not suitable for guests with mobility issues.

Free Internet Access

Pool

On-Site Restaurant

At the Hotel

Mezcal distillery, gardens, outdoor fire pits, shop, and library. In rooms: free WiFi, Bose speaker, bathrobes and slippers, free bottled water, and L’Occitane bath products.

Our Favourite Rooms

Four of Casa Silencio’s six suites are on two levels and are distinguishable by their art rather than layout, although Sol has a mezzanine bedroom and loftier living room, with a bathroom that’s integrated into the hotel’s courtyard tower. Of the two single-storey suites, we love the romance of Tierra with its open-plan layout and antique bath tub; although smallest-of-the-bunch, Aire impresses with a glass-walled bedroom that has incredible vistas on three sides.

Poolside

All six suites open onto a courtyard in the grounds where you’ll find a raised-edge square plunge pool – ideal for refreshing dips rather than swimming – open from 8am until 7pm (heated and chlorinated).

Spa

Casa Silencio has teamed up with the spa at Hotel Casa Regina (a short drive away), where there’s a temazcal sweat lodge, and there’s no need to leave the grounds for an in-room massage treatment or yoga session (available with notice).

Packing Tips

Simply cut slub linens and hemp pieces to match the textural drama of your surroundings. On a practical note, you may want to channel Indiana Jones for hikes into the sierra, cave visits and archaeological tours.

Also

The hotel’s speakeasy bar, Rhino, is a tucked-away den, which you can book for a private candle-lit dinner (at extra cost).

Children

As you’d expect from a hotel with its own distillery, Casa Silencio is an adults-only stay.

Gallery

Food & Drink

Top Table

The valley views may suggest outdoor tables would be the finest, but the grandeur of the communal stone table indoors is irrefutable.

Dress Code

Dark colourways, raw textures and oversized jewellery to match the mood of Casa Silencio’s extraordinary architecture.

Hotel Restaurant

It’s a tough call to say which is more impressive at the Tasting Room – the food or the setting. The latter is a high-ceilinged space with superlative valley views that flows into tables alfresco. Indoors, it’s dominated by a banquet-worthy stone table hewn from the same basalt that the distillery’s milling wheel is made from. Copper stills stand either side of the entrance, but true to Casa Silencio’s aesthetic, these traditional vessels have been given an artistic makeover with decorative clay tiles. Their geometric shape matches not only the patterns on the polished concrete floor but also the Japanese-style joinery on the ornate wooden ceiling (which is self-supporting and entirely free of nails or screws). Chef Daniel Robles Sumano presides over garden-to-table cuisine, inspired by whatever’s in season, which means that options are updated regularly but may feature caprese salad made with Oaxacan ‘mozzarella’, grilled beef tlayuda, and smoked turkey mole. (The menu can be adapted with vegetarian or vegan options as required.) Desserts include a cardamom and coconut tapioca served with mezcal-laced pineapple flambé. A candle-lit private dinner for two at speakeasy bar Rhino in the grounds is available at extra cost. Breakfast is served in the Tasting Room and combines a buffet of fresh fruit, juices, coffee and pastries with cooked choices including memelitas, chilaquiles, avocado on toast, and eggs however you like them.

Hotel Bar

The bar-to-room ratio is strong at Casa Silencio: only six suites in total, served by a choice of two drinking holes. First up is the imaginatively titled La Barra, an extension of the tasting room that you’ll remember for its inverted-canoe lightshade above the counter, as well as an excellent selection of mezcals and cocktails – try the signature bell-pepper-infused Red Rooster. Across the grounds is a glass-walled speakeasy: Rhino is in a secluded spot that comes into its own after sunset, when its cosy lounge of two Chesterfield leather sofas is candle-lit and the music’s turned up (also available for private dinners).

Last Orders

Breakfast is served 7am until 11am; for lunch, it’s noon until 4pm, and dinner’s available 5pm till 10pm.

Room Service

There’s no room service at the hotel, but the restaurant is open most of the day for when you feel peckish.

Planes

Oaxaca is the nearest airport, an hour’s drive from Casa Silencio, and is served by international flights from the southern United States, or connections via Mexico City. The hotel can arrange private transfers from $250 for two people one-way.

Automobiles

There’s a free private carpark at the hotel, but this is a stay where you’re more likely to either stay put, set out on foot or take guided trips where the transport’s taken care of for you, so hiring wheels is not your best option.

Worth Getting Out of Bed For

Xaagá, a pueblo in Oaxaca province, is neighbours with Mitla (‘place of the dead’) – a millennia-old religious site of temple ruins and a central plaza with a grisly past – and staff at Casa Silencio are happy to arrange a tour of its mosaic-clad walls and gigantic stone pillars. Equally nearby, nature reserve Hierve el Agua takes its name from the cascade-like rock formations standing sentry amid its arid wilds. And you can take a guided hike to the mountain that’s visible from the hotel, where there are ancient cave paintings tucked into its geology. Back at the palenque, be guided by your appetite to sign up for mixology classes or a cookery workshop. Although you’ll want to schedule plenty of time to lounge and dip in the pool, you can slow the pace still further with an in-room massage or request a yoga session. And a tour of the distillery and mezcal tasting (featuring five El Silencio varieties) is included with your stay.

Earn or Redeem Points with World of Hyatt

This Mr & Mrs Smith hotel participates in the World of Hyatt loyalty program. As a member, you can earn and redeem points and enjoy exclusive benefits for qualifying nights. .