You wouldn’t mistake Monte Uzulu Boutique Hotel for a big all-inclusive resort. The buildings, by architects At-te and designers Taller Lu’um, are a contemporary version of traditional thatched-roof palapa structures, and the experience perfectly balances sensitivity to the locale and the environment with the demands of modern boutique hospitality.

There’s nothing on the Oaxacan coast — or anywhere else — quite like Casona Sforza, an 11-room luxury boutique hotel whose unmistakable arched volumes stand mere yards from the beach on the south end of Puerto Escondido. Architect Alberto Kalach designed these distinctive structures, which are placed to maximize their views, their privacy, and their exposure to the breeze.

The archetypal Oaxaca City luxury hotel is a colonial palace in the historic center, but everything about the Flavia Hotel is unconventional: its mountainside location on the edge of town, its monumental Brutalist construction, and, perhaps unexpected given its exterior silhouette, its exceedingly warm and livable interior spaces.

Puerto Escondido is a well-established destination — but it’s never seen anything like Hotel Terrestre. Then again, neither has anywhere else. Set between the mountains and the sea on the verdant coast just to the west of town, it’s a dramatic structure, a spaceship made of humble, locally sourced brick and concrete by architect Alberto Kalach.

Hotel Escondido is “barefoot luxe” at its apex, a sort of impossibly stylish version of beach-bum living, its sixteen bungalows smallish and spare but perfectly formed. The restaurant serves can’t-miss local seafood, the bar shows off the Habita talent for hospitality, and the pool lounge mixes modern design with the most primitive of elements, to the greatest possible effect.

The historical center of the city of Oaxaca is a wonder — a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a fantastic tapestry of every era from the 16th century to the present. Hotel Escondido Oaxaca is a blend of its own, a 19th-century house and an attached neo-Brutalist structure, combining to create a contemporary boutique hotel designed with an eye towards blurring the distinctions between old and new.

On the southern fringes of Puerto Escondido, along the Pacific coast of Oaxaca, Casa TO is an architectural statement: an austere beauty almost entirely composed of raw concrete, designed by architect Ludwig Godefroy with just a few economical gestures towards luxe comfort and Oaxacan tradition.

Pug Seal’s inventive, pocket-sized boutique B&Bs feel like perfect little secrets in the vastness of Mexico City — in the compact historical center of Oaxaca City, however, a 20-suite boutique hotel looms larger. Not to worry: Pug Seal Oaxaca is just as tranquil, just as residential in atmosphere as its cousins in the capital, designed as it is around a central courtyard decorated with colorful murals.

They call Zoa a “hotel secreto,” and it’s not much of an exaggeration; it’s set on a hillside above the coast, between the two beaches, and its elevation offers not just privacy but far-ranging views. With just five thatched-roof bungalows, it keeps its footprint small, as do its ecologically sensitive practices, from its onsite vegetable garden to its biodegradable bath products.

Casa Silencio finds itself in the rugged, mountainous mezcal-producing lands to the east of the capital city. What was previously just a working distillery owned by the El Silencio mezcal brand is now one of the most extraordinary hotels in all of Mexico, a spectacular compound of modern buildings constructed from rustic rammed earth, timber, and tile.