I was a little concerned before booking about the negative reviews of this hotel, but those reviewers must have had unrealistic expectations of a three-star city center budget hotel (or very different experiences). The Provincia Express was clean, very comfortable and perfectly located - plus it's a kick to walk through the amazing tiled hallways every time you come and go.

I had an interior matrimonial room on the second floor. Very comfortable bed and sheets, good hot water in the small bathroom, not much overall square footage but the very high ceilings made up for it. The door and window (pretty painted stained glass) opened out to the hallway. It was a little loud the few times when people were coming and going (suitcases rolling on tiles!) or talking in the hallways, but mostly quiet and well shielded from the street noise and fumes. The rooms facing the street looked gorgeous but very loud and polluted since the hotel is on a main street. Wifi worked well and staff were very nice.

Breakfasts were mini versions of hot Mexican meals - a few tortillas with cheese and sauce; potato chunks in sauce. Plus so-so coffee and juice. I actually found them yummy and convenient since most restaurant breakfasts are so big I'm not hungry for lunch. But there's a good coffee bar next door and so much delicious street food out there! Check out Yo Soy Poblano for a fun, inexpensive street food tour for English speakers.

The hotel is an old building restorated some years ago in a Moorish-type of decoration which is nice to watch... it is very centric and clean, the problem is when you expect some features which may be normal but perhaps not for a budget hotel near the Zócalo... first thing is that many of the rooms (I believe all in the second floor) have no windows (or ventilation or external light) which might be claustrophobic for some... then our room had only one bedside table so we had to put most of our things in a little table where an old TV was sitting... the shower curtains were a bit too short and the water spilled around, and there was no mat to stand on when coming out of the shower... the breakfast is included but a bit too basic... on the other side you have free parking which is valuable as you can get to most of the sights by foot... so if you can live with these minor (except for the lack of external light !!!) issues this is a decent place to stay when visiting Puebla.

I stayed here for three nights and thought it was a beautiful building - quite basic accommodation and in need of a lick of paint, but the hallways etc are gorgously tiled and the staff very friendly and helpful. Also, excellent location. It was a little noisy while I was there but that was partly because it was almost Independence Day and there were concerts in the nearby zocalo.