16 rooms, a menu that highlights local products and one of the best spas in Latin America

The perfume. That is the first thing you feel and it catches your attention, it catches you, as soon as you cross the threshold of Azur Hotel & Spaa hotel hidden in a old building from the center of the city of Córdoba.

When the elevator leaves you in the lobby and reception, the outside world disappears and unfolds a place unimaginable from the narrow path.

The hotel was developed in a historic building from 1915 and is part of the city’s heritage. This means that all spaces, from the entrance to the terrace, mix the ancient structure and modern comfort in a unique and very attractive way.

Each space seems to hold a storysomething to tell. It only has 16 rooms, none of them the same (the Azur Suite is a must-see, with a private patio, a huge jacuzzi, a dressing room and work desks, etc.), and there are plenty of details to pay attention to.

For example, in each room there is a mate kit with grass that is a blend specially prepared for the hotel and brought from Oberá (Misiones). They have a pillow menu and organic bath products locally manufactured. At night, they leave you a scented bag next to your bed: “This bag contains organic lavender from our mountains. Place it inside your pillow and it will help you rest better“.

Other spaces to visit are the terrace -or rooftop- with a pool and a gym, and a restaurant that you will fall in love with. Everything that can be cooked at the hotel is made (including sauces and dressings, for example); and they prioritize the organic, putting local production in the foreground.

This being a km 0 restaurant -highest quality, locally sourced ingredients- is not a simple slogan. It is something that can be seen, felt and tasted clearly in Azure’s Pantrywhere the display on the table and the shelves that shape “the pantry” are a sample of the productive wealth of the province: the Córdoba peanuts, the honey from San Marcos Sierras, the salamis from Oncativo and Colonia Caroya, the olives from Cruz del Eje or the milk from Jersey cows from Los Cocos.

In the kitchen, Agostina Codes Saldívar works with local and traditional recipes in her own version, putting the province of Córdoba at the center of the scene. The valleys, the mountains, the streams are present in every bite (and, of course, in every sip of wine).

Whether for breakfast – the granola they prepare is crazy, as is the homemade yogurt to mention only a tiny part of what they offer -, lunch or dinner, every moment is the possibility of letting yourself be carried away by aromas, flavors and textures. .

Imagine if you also add a guided cheese and wine tasting. We were given products from the Santa Olalla farm and, following the explanations of José, the owner, we went from the softest cheese (a cream cheese) to the most intense ones, such as Persillé (their blue cheese), and the palate was a feast.

“Something sweet helps when the cheese is very intense,” José advises, and the honey comes in just to boost some flavors.

They say that all the travelers who arrived and left Córdoba did so through the San Jerónimo street -where the Azur hotel is located- that connected the train station with the main square.

This building was built in 1915 by the Crespo family as a family home and also as a commercial premises where their famous saddlery was installed. But there were many changes, people, ventures and uses before reaching the hotel we see today.

In 1930, in the hands of a drugstore, it had a laboratory in the basement and the famous restaurant also operated there. The parrot of Bolognawhere everyone came to order the famous provencal frogsin addition to being a meeting place for several characters who participated in the University Reform of 1918

In the mid-40s it functioned as annex of the Deán Funes school where Ernesto Che Guevara attended a year. As the current building maintains several historical materials and details, you can still see on several doors the badge with a number that identified each classroom (and which are now rooms).

In the 80s they coexisted boliche Africa Dance and a computer school run by nuns, while in the 90s it housed a Chinese restaurant and the Dancer Jerónimo Danceable: Mona Jiménez and Rodrigo Bueno were there.

The history of the hotel begins in 2003 with the acquisition of the building – it was in ruins – and after several years of construction it opened its doors to guests.

“We believe that a true experience is being consciously immersed in a place, a journey, a moment. And having knowledge of the vestiges of the house where Azur operates today is part of the real and authentic experience.“, reads in a book with the history of the place.

We went down to the basement wrapped in a fluffy robe, with mesh and flip flops. When the elevator door opens, we are surrounded by an atmosphere dominated by dim lights, candles, soft music, the sound of waterpleasant aromas, feeling of calm and relaxation.

We are in the famous Azure Bathsinaugurated at the end of 2020: the proposal turned out chosen in 2023 as the best spa experience in Latin America by the World Luxury Awards.

Like any circuit, there are several stageseach one with its characteristics and with waters with different effects, pressures and temperatures.

Each station has a start button and a timer that marks the moment when the stage must be finished and move on to the next proposal: we start through the pools that offer a first body cleansing.

After completing the circuit that includes a cold pool, rubbing with shaved ice, a wet sauna, showers whose jets vary in intensity and temperature, and other pools, the closing comes in a darkened room, with marble lounge chairs, a detox drink and some snacks

When you activate the lever, a work by the artist Santiago Viale and the architect Diego Nievas begins that produces reflections, lights and shadows in the calm environment.

A soft voice reminds us that the experience has come to an end. Body and soul, grateful.

Several airlines fly to Córdoba capital. He round trip ticket on the low cost JetSmart It costs from 75,518 pesos for the end of November, with a carry-on bag, leaving and returning to Aeroparque. If you want to travel with carry on and/or checked luggage in the hold, it costs 135,166 pesos.

The airline currently operates in Argentina with Airbus A320, which stand out for their fuel efficiency and advanced technology.

JetSmart has been recognized with the Skytrax to the best low cost airline in South America in 2021 and 2023.

They are alliance with American Airlines and the accumulation of miles in the AAdvantage program allows it to expand its route network and strengthens the value proposition for passengers.

Reports and reservations: www.jetsmart.com

Rates from 80,000 pesos per person in a double room. Reservations and reports: WhatsApp +54 351 3479119; on the web azurrealhotel.com