Everyone loves a room with some history, and as soon as you enter this suite on the second floor, you can tell it has a story to tell.

The Casa del Balam was once the home of the Barbachano family, who were instrumental in bringing tourism to Mexico and are still at the forefront of the industry. When the family were in residence, this suite was the main bedroom.

The accommodation consists of an extremely large bedroom with beautiful dark wooden furniture, a dressing area and an oversized bathroom.

Much of the original furnishing has been retained, including the heavy wooden wardrobes and the enormous semi circular headboard on the king size bed.

The bathroom is half tiled in cream, and includes a shower, tub, washbasin and toilet. Again, much of the original decor remains, and it's about the size of the bedroom in a modern hotel.

The room has a large private balcony with outdoor furniture overlooks the swimming pool at the rear of the hotel, away from the streets.

It's highly unusual to find this amount of outdoor space in a city guest room and we reckon this alone is well worth the small supplement for the suite. When Mérida gets hot and sweaty, this is a great place to spend your siesta.