InterContinental Mexico City Presidente — Polanco Landmark Families Keep Coming Back To

There is a particular quality to hotels that have served a neighborhood for decades — they carry weight, recognition, a kind of earned confidence. The InterContinental Presidente Mexico City has it. Walk into the lobby and the space communicates clearly: wide, well-lit, warmly appointed without being ostentatious, staffed by people who have been answering the same questions about Chapultepec and Papalote for long enough to do it well. The 8.6/10 from over 2,800 Booking.com reviews comes from families who brought children and found everything worked, couples who chose Polanco for its safety and walkability, and business travelers who trust the IHG standard internationally. It is not a perfect hotel. But it is a reliably good one.

The rooms: a Superior Room starts around $210–290 per night (≈ MXN 3,500–4,900) — competitive for a genuine five-star in Polanco. Junior Suites run $320–430, with a separated lounge area that makes them considerably more comfortable for two people with luggage. The Family Suite Connecting at $480–650 is the option that generates the most repeat bookings: a connecting door between two rooms, children next door, parents with their own space but a ten-second walk away. Several reviews are specific about this — the connecting room configuration makes nights with younger children manageable in a way a single large room often doesn't. One honest note: Superior Rooms are on the small side. For a family trip, Junior Suite upward is the practical minimum.

The Outdoor Pool on the 4th floor is the hotel's most talked-about amenity — a genuine open-air pool facing Chapultepec Forest, the enormous urban green space that anchors western Mexico City. That view, green canopy stretching into the mid-distance, is rare for a Polanco hotel and guests consistently mention it. Children use the pool; adults sit poolside. The Meridiem restaurant inside the hotel covers breakfast and dinner with Mexican and international dishes. Concierge services are well-reviewed — staff who know the neighborhood, can make reservations at nearby Polanco restaurants, and give directions that actually work.

The hotel sits at Campos Elíseos 218, Polanco — what many visitors describe as the most European-feeling neighborhood in Mexico City. Safe, walkable, with serious restaurants and boutique shops on the surrounding streets. The Papalote Museo del Niño is a ten-minute walk — an interactive science and culture museum that genuinely engages children for a full day, widely regarded as the best of its kind in CDMX. The Museo Nacional de Antropología is a fifteen-minute walk. Bosque de Chapultepec — the forest itself — begins five minutes from the door. Centro Histórico and Zócalo require about 20 minutes by Uber.

A few things worth saying plainly: this is a hotel of several decades standing, and while a recent renovation has lifted the standard meaningfully, some areas and some room categories will feel less current than the JW Marriott Polanco or the Hyatt Regency a short distance away. Reviews are specific about this — the renovation helped, but it did not make the property feel brand-new. Superior Rooms are genuinely small relative to the price point. And Polanco is on the western side of Mexico City — great for the neighborhood itself, but not the right base if most of your time will be spent in the historic center.

The plain summary: InterContinental Presidente is the right choice if location in Polanco, reliable IHG service, and family-specific infrastructure — connecting rooms, a proper outdoor pool, Papalote within walking distance — are your priorities. The 2,800+ reviews at 8.6 say most families leave satisfied. It is not the newest property in the neighborhood, and it is not the cheapest five-star in Mexico City. But for families who want a base that genuinely handles the logistics of traveling with children in a safe, walkable part of this city, it is hard to argue with.