Spectacular View in Historic Center

Description from the owner

A Memorable Accommodation: Built in 2009, Casa Isabel is an open, airy, residence featuring an Artistic blend of Contemporary Design and traditional styling 4 minutes walk to Escuela Mexicana and 7 minutes to Plaza Jardin. The heart of our home is a spacious open concept living room and kitchen with Dramatic Arched Glass French Doors providing access to a Private, Romantic Balcony and Amazing Views.

This Unique home features a large Master Bedroom and Master Bathroom with a super king

size bed that can be separated into twins. A day bed in the main room upstairs converts into two separate single beds in addition there is a bat...hroom and shower room.

Rooftop washing machine. Broadband wireless Wi-Fi high speed internet access throughout plus iPod compatible stereo. The main upper level of the house as well as the rooftop terrace offer spectacular Views of Plaza Cervantes, The University of Guanajuato, numerous cathedrals, and much of the historic downtown area and Surrounding Mountains. Casa Isabel is situated close enough to the lively Plaza Jardin and El Centro to be convenient, yet high enough up and far enough away to be quiet and tranquil feeling - the perfect retreat after your days of exploring and sightseeing around the bustling downtown areas.

Whether sipping your morning coffee while watching the city below come to life, or hosting evening margaritas on the terrace with family or friends, your time on either terrace is certain to provide unforgettable memories. Architectural details include high, wooden beamed ceilings, rich Antique doors and windows, traditional Saltillo tile floors, decorative talavera ceramic tile, and bold, traditional wrought iron fixtures. Refined interior design work features traditional, antique Spanish furnishings artfully blended with great overhead lighting and modern appliances. The Kitchen is Fully Equipped with modern stove, oven, refrigerator, freezer, microwave, coffee maker, complete utensils, flatware, and colorful dinnerware for cooking at home or entertaining. Diverse Sculpture, lively Folk Art created by local Artists, and the owner's own Award Winning Contemporary Photography complete the surroundings.

More About Guanajuato: Having traveled extensively in Mexico, Guanajuato is our favorite city, and high on our list of favorite cities worldwide. It is very European with lots of pedestrian only streets, parks, outdoor cafes, festivals, a major university, a symphony orchestra (admission $5 U.S.!), great art museums, night clubs, restaurants, monuments, etc. Ideally situated in the central highlands, Guanajuato is two hours from beautiful Spanish colonial cities of Queretaro or Zacatecas, and approximately four hours by bus to either Mexico City or Guadalajara. Guanajuato is built in a bowl in the mountains with steep streets and labyrinthine, colorful alleyways lacing the hill sides. GTO has exquisite architecture and a venerable history having been the richest city in Mexico for more than two centuries. Exploring the narrow, rambling alleys, or callejones as they are known, you will discover myriad hidden views across the city with it's classic Spanish colonial churches and brightly painted neighborhoods. One really unique aspect of GTO is that the city has been tunneled to direct traffic below ground leaving much of the historic downtown open to pedestrians. The residents of GTO are exceptionally friendly and most evenings are a buzz of people milling around the parks and cafes with mariachis and troubadours providing the soundtrack.

Unique attractions include the infamous Museo de las Momias (Mummy Museum), The Diego Rivera House, The Don Quixote Museum and numerous abandoned and working silver mines. Festivals and fiestas are a regular occurrence including the Day of Flowers, Semana Santa, and the acclaimed International Cervantino Arts Festival in October.

What to Bring: Bring your laptop for high speed access, movie streaming, or free oversees Skype phone calls from anywhere throughout the house. Pictures of your dog or cat (sorry, no pets). Strictly no smoking allowed anywhere on the property. Please note altitude is 7,000 feet and the walk to the house is steep and not suitable for those who are not physically fit. The house is located in a working class, Mexican neighborhood as such there is great disparity in the quality of construction of surrounding homes. Anticpate on weekends and holidays that there will be much merrymaking with accompanying noise from party goers, ear plugs are in order.This is not unique to our neighborhood it is typical of Guanajuato.Read more

Additional Location Information

Please visit our website for a more complete description of the neighborhood, the house and photos. www.VistaMagicaVacationRentals.com.

Location Type City

Rental fees

Additional notes from owner

Oct 01-Oct 31 (1 week minimum) .. $475/week .. $1295/month Nov 01-Sep 30 (1 week minimum) .. $375/week .. $1195 /month Longer term discounts available on request. Parking available $15/week.Reservations secured by check or paypal- 50% total plus $100 security deposit and $40 cleaning fee. Balance due 14 days prior to arrival or in USD cash on arrival.Payments are non-refundable unless the property can be rebooked for same time. PLEASE VIST OUR WEBSITE www.vistamagicavacationrentals.com for more information. PLEASE EMAIL DO NOT CALL AS WE ARE OFTEN NOT REACHABLE BY PHONE-THANK YOU! Please check the online calendar prior to emailing, we keep it up to date.

What Past Guests Are Saying

Overall Rating

• Lenny W
  Mazatlan, Mexico

  Extremley noisy

  Left on 10/28/2012 for a stay in September 2012
  
  

  We stayed at Casa Isabel Sept 17 to Sept 30, 2012. We retired from the us and live full time in Old Mazatlan, MX. So we know a bit about Mexico. There are many glowing reviews of this property and GTO so I am going to review the house and it's location and not mention the fantastic city.
  
  If there had been some candid reviews on line it is doubtful we would have stayed. Many unresolved maintenance issues and other problems were mentioned in the visitors comment book at the property but not mentioned in the on line reviews. Here are some of the items and some additions from me. Noise, no good reading light. Flies. No hand rails. Dryer does not dry. The heater in the great room would not light. The stylish Mexican leather chairs and wrought iron bar stools are anything but comfortable. Other problems too numerous to mention in the space allowed here.
  
  This property is extremely noisy, even for Mexico. Roof dogs (one ten feet away) barking and vendors hawking their wares just outside of the bedroom windows at all hours are to be expected in many Mexican neighborhoods and this is no exception. But the worst noise is the Event Center directly below the house which had “events” about half of the nights we were there. An event in Mexico means loud music and loud pa systems, late at night. So loud that we had to raise our voices to speak to each other in the house even with the loose fitting doors closed! Being at this house was like being inside of an amplified megaphone due to the valley and all the hard concrete surfaces. You hear most of what is going on in the town center below you. One Mexican local told us “GTO is a small city with big noise”.
  
  I would not recommend walking back up the mountain after dark as even during the day we encountered groups of drinking and drunken men some of which were quite bold. I would not want to deal with them at night!
  
  Toilet paper must not be flushed but put in a container in the bathroom and that has to be carried down the side of the mountain to a collection center. No, this is not the way it is everywhere in Mexico and certainly not at my or my neighbors houses. The TP situation was not a surprise to us but many of my Gringo friends from the us would have been totally grossed out and out of common courtesy it should be mentioned in the listing especially as most of the renters seem to be Gringos.
  
  Our stay here was a waste of time and money. Not fun unless you are into sleep deprivation!

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  Would you recommend this vacation rental to a friend? No

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  Response from Vista Magica Vacation Rentals - 12/09/2012

  

  Vista Magica Vacation Rentals

  Owner

  Review Response
  
  Thanks for your input Lenny, we are sorry you felt your stay was a waste of time and money, we understand how precious both are.
  You are right about some of the maintenance issues like the heater and the dryer, Dan has spent the last week at the house to repair those and to add some additional upgrades.  
  Yes, Guanajuato is a noisy city and we try to be upfront about that on our website, but it is definitely not limited to Casa  Isabel.  We ourselves have stayed in several locations closer to El Centro and found all locations further down to be more like staying in an echo chamber with the sound of buses, roof dogs, night clubs, and frequent parties bouncing off all the hard, stone walls. The Salon de Eventos is definitely an issue, but it affects this entire quadrant of the city and is something we wish we had control over.   Our experience is that they only host functions there one or two nights a week at the most. And again, many other areas of the city have loud nightclubs, frequent parties, or other similar noise issues to contend with.  It appears  you were there around the week of Independence Day celebrations which would account for the increased noise and we apologize for that.  You may have noticed on our website that we recommend guests bring ear plugs, however, in the future  we will attempt to keep ear plugs on hand for guests that may have forgotten them.
  We absolutely agree with you regarding walking after dark anywhere in Guanajuato and we recommend on our website and in our guest book to have a taxi bring you to the bottom of the stairs.  We have also provided the name and contact info for a gentleman who is willing to act as an escort should guests desire to walk.
  We can appreciate that putting toilet paper in the trash may not be something you are used to.  Guanajuato is a very old city with antiquated septic  systems which cannot handle the disposing of paper like systems in the US or Canada.  We have not put this in our listing as it is common practice not only in Guanajuato, but throughout Mexico.  We have not had any other guests bring this up as an issue.  We regret that you were under the impression that you had to take out the trash.  We have a large trash can on the roof terrace at your disposal which is emptied by the cleaning staff.  We apologize that you were not made aware of this, our manager will make sure future guests know where the trash can is located.
  We have had many happy visitors stay at our house and none of them has complained about the lighting or the furnishings.  We have a light on both night stands next to the bed and an overhead  light with four bulbs and a fan.  Upstairs we have a lamp next to the day bed, an overhead with four bulbs and a fan in addition to the track lighting.
  Finally, We are sorry that you did not communicate your frustrations to our manager James Pyle.  We employ him to be available to our guests for exactly these issues.  We have no intention of misleading anyone and hope that this has clarified things.
  

• Diane S.
  Santa Fe, NM

  This is a fabulous well-maintained home.

  Left on 08/11/2012 for a stay in July 2012
  
  

  Holly and property manager, James, provided all you could possibly need. The house is spacious and comfortable with the best views of beautiful Guanajuato. Be forewarned that the climb is long and steep. I would not recommend hauling suitcases up this hill but rather take a taxi and make sure the driver knows exactly where this is. Most taxi drvers will not recognize the name "Casa Isabel" so be sure to have the exact address & directions in Spanish. It is not easy to find!

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  Would you recommend this vacation rental to a friend? Yes

  Recommended for: Romantic, Families, Rugged

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• jmnich
  57049

  When can I return???

  Left on 04/01/2012 for a stay in March 2012
  
  

  I almost hesitate to endorse this place too enthusiastically -- for fear that it will become so popular and I won't be able to book it again. Casa Isabel is great! Equipped with everything you need, providing the most amazing views, comfortable & safe, and very important: centrally located to the attractions...
  Be aware that it is a climb to get there, so it would not appeal to every traveler.
  One other thing I would mention is that the owners should send each renter a written description (in Spanish, of course) of how the taxi driver needs to get to the drop off point. Renter -- Print this out and take it with you. You will meet the property manager at the drop off.

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  Would you recommend this vacation rental to a friend? Yes

  Recommended for: Friends, Families w children

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• RPFinn
  Boulder

  The Best of Guanajuato

  Left on 09/01/2010 for a stay in July 2010
  
  

  We had a wonderful time at Casa Isabel in GTO! The location is spectacular, a short walk to the heart of the city and the best restaurants, bars and coffee shop (Cafe Tal). The house is spectacular; amazing, authentic decorations and furnishings with all the comforts we'd wished for. The balcony is to die for. We found ourselves heading in early many nights to enjoy the view and a private drink from the best spot in town. You simply can't beat this rental. Good luck trying to drag yourself away...

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• R&C
  Austin, Texas

  Casa Isabel, Guanajuato, Mexico

  Left on 08/30/2010 for a stay in August 2010
  
  

  Casa Isabel is attractively decorated, well equipped, everything (hot water, plumbing, appliances, wi-fi, and so on) worked as advertised, and the view is magnificent. Very comfortable king-sized bed downstairs. The seating in the spacious and attractive upstairs room and long narrow balcony could be improved. The daybed is uncomfortable to use as a couch as it has only two small pillows. The other seating, apart from the chairs of the beautiful rough wood kitchen table consists of 2 Equipale leather chairs and a small coffee table. The balcony, with a fairly high wall, is furnished only with a small mosaic-topped bistro table/chairs and 2 tall, uncomfortable bar chairs.
  Casa Isabel is located in a Mexican neighborhood on the side of a hill overlooking the town. It is subject to typical neighborhood noise such as barking rooftop dogs at all hours, and loud music at times (three times until the wee hours, in our experience). Street noise in the town below is much less of an issue.
  The web site accurately states that guests must be physically fit. There is no vehicle access to the property. Casa Isabel sits at an elevation of about 6800 feet on Ladera de Tecolote (actually a wide sidewalk), reached either from the road above (Panoramica), requiring a steep descent of approximately 140 steps down a staircase from the top of Callejon Espinazo, or else up a picturesque but very steep cobblestone pedestrian walkway (Calzada de Tecolote) from the road below in El Centro. Ladera de Tecolote itself has about 55 steps to negotiate if approaching from below, and maybe 30 or so if coming from above.
  We found lots of small stores nearby to buy staples, rotisserie chicken, bread and pastries, and the like for those occasions when we weren't eating in town.Enjoy!

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• Caroline
  Charlotte, NC

  Breathtaking View

  Left on 08/23/2010 for a stay in July 2010
  
  

  Our 3 night stay in Guanajuato wouldn't have been the same without the comfort, convenience and incredible views at Casa Isabel. This was a charming, cozy apartment overlooking the spectacular city of Guanajuato, an ideal home away from home for a couple. The bed was incredibly comfortable, the sunrise and sunsets were worth the hike to the top of the mountain each day and the highlights of shopping, restaurants and cultural attractions were all within a short walk. Casa Isabel makes Gunajuato's beauty magical from the rooftop terrace and we would stay there on a future trip.

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  Would you recommend this vacation rental to a friend? Yes

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