Mexico City

Mexico City feels like Paris and Los Angeles and New York all at once. We've been here several times and this month-long visit was our longest so far. Yes, parts of it are overrun with English-speaking hipsters, but don't let that discourage you, it's a beautiful, delicious, and welcoming place.

 

Before you go 📅

Luckily for you, Mexico City (aka CDMX or DF "day effay") pretty much has the same weather year-round – warm and pleasant with low humidity. Spring is slightly warmer and muggier than the rest of the year, but not unbearably so. In winter it can get a bit cold at night so bring a jacket. I've basically never seen an adult local wearing shorts here, so choose your own adventure on that front.

 

Check the national holidays list so you don't plan something when everything's closed. Also check to see if there's anything cool you might want to make sure you're in town for – we went to the Zona Maco and Material art shows and loved them.

Consider visiting your doctor and get on altitude sickness medicine (more info on that below). You have to start it before you travel. Even if you don't, nearly everyone needs ibuprofen to combat the initial headaches.

Bring sunscreen. Even on a mild day, the UV index is almost always at 10, so it's really easy to fool yourself into thinking you're not getting burned. Also, sunscreen is one of the few things that's quite expensive here. If you use flushable wipes at home, bring them with. The only ones I've ever seen here are the giant smelly ones for changing diapers. Do remember that this is one of those countries where you generally put your used TP into a trash can next to the toilet.

Book popular restaurants (Quintonil, Nicos, Lorea, Pujol) way in advance, some have weeks-long waits. Ditto Frida Kahlo museum (timed tickets link) and the Luis Barragán house (ticket link).

Where to stay 🏨

Parks and puppies in La Condesa!

Unless you are for-real fluent in Spanish ("taqueria Spanish" doesn't count as fluent!), just stay in La Condesa or Roma like everyone else. Avoid your hipster tendency to "not want to be around a bunch of white hipsters". The Roma and La Condesa neighborhoods are gorgeous, central, and have plenty of "real" Mexico interspersed with amazing organic coffee, vegan taquerias, sushi restaurants, and pilates studios. People in shops will attempt to understand your crummy Spanish and will happily work with you in Spanglish to help you get what you want. The language barrier gets much higher the further afield you travel. Do remember, though, that they don't speak Fahrenheit or feet or pounds here. So maybe spend 5 minutes learning a little "travel metric"?

Nearly everyone does AirBnB, but man with all of the walking you'll do here, I'd say look for a place with a bath tub to soak those tired legs. Unfortunately few hotels have tubs, and only one of the bathhouses (Sodome) has a proper hot tub. Apartments generally don't have air conditioning or central heat, though hosts will often stock a space heater in a closet in case the night gets too cold for you. 

Map 🗺

We had a big gaggle of friends visit during our month in CDMX and we all collaborated on a Google Map along with some locals. Take a look at it to get a sense of the neighborhoods and the layout of the town.

Getting here ✈️

Here's a complete list of all the direct flights to Mexico City's only airport (MEX). Nearby Toluca used to be a kind of second airport for CDMX, but most of the low cost carriers moved to MEX a few years back. 

Don't lose the little white immigration form you're given when you enter the country, there's a fine and a visit to the penalty desk at the airport if you do.

Getting Around 🚖 🚉

Uber is quite cheap (no Lyft here...), so most visitors just use that to get around. Traffic here is horrible, so make sure you check Google maps for estimated travel times. At rush hour it's literally faster to walk. (Sadly, those Amex Platinum Uber credits don't work here).

There are a several competing electric scooter and bikeshare systems as well. Transport-wise, it feels a lot like Washington DC in that you have to do a ton of walking despite the vast subway network (I was averaging 17km of walking per day). Riding one of these bikes might help you save your feet a bit.

The Metro is incredibly popular with locals, and at rush hour it rivals the crush loads that I experienced in Tokyo. We rode it all of the time, but in a month of riding, I never saw another non-Mexican on the subway. If you're going to brave it, this gal's tips are incredibly helpful.

Walking is quite pleasant, just know that Mexico City drivers are generally aggressive and pedestrian-hostile. The sidewalks here are complete crap, so put your phone down and keep your eyes up when walking.

The Altitude and Water 🌬🚰

Mexico City is high up – 2200 meters (7000+ feet). Everyone (fitness and age offer no immunity) is generally advised to avoid alcohol, exercise, and sleeping pills during your first 48 hours in town. Altitude sickness is real and you need to give your body some time to adjust to the lower oxygen levels. The first couple nights you'll likely wake up half a dozen times because your body needs oxygen. So don't plan on climbing Teotihuacan the day after you land.

An oxygen session at the spa can take the edge off altitude sickness

Some other things to consider:

• go to Guadalajara or Oaxaca for a few days before coming here, both are around 1500m in elevation, so that could help you ease your way into Mexico City
• go on Diamox a few days before your travel (make sure your doctor explains its side-effects)
• several of the spas here offer oxygen therapy and I found it helped with the headaches

The water here is actually treated to US standards, but the plumbing system (and the earthquakes that disturb it) means that it can potentially be contaminated en route to you. The law requires restaurants (but not food stalls) to all have on-site filtration equipment. If that isn't enough to inspire confidence, you should probably know how to say una botella de agua, por favor. Also, ask your host or concierge if your building/hotel has a central purification system.

I've yet to encounter a waiter who understood the English phrase "are your ice cubes made with filtered water?" so unless you want to navigate that conversation in Spanish, just stick to beers in places that look questionable. Honestly, most businesses have their ice delivered in bags and all of the bagged ice is filtered at the factory. 

Food 🌮

Obviously this is a topic I obsess over, but here's an executive summary:

Pujol is amazing, but once you've eaten at a few other places in CDMX you realize that it's very much a New York restaurant that happens to be in Mexico. Prices are nearly double anything comparable in CDMX and the service and experience don't really feel Mexican at all. They seem hamstrung by the Chefs Table episode and can't veer too far from the menu depicted in the show. Instead, I'd eat Enrique Olvera's tamales and atole for breakfast at Molino El Pujol, and then eat lunch at one of his Eno restaurants instead. Both are fantastic, you'll still get to eat his amazing food and his amazing corn, and you'll save yourself enough money to fly to Oaxaca and eat mole in its hometown.

Decent Al Pastor is everywhere, but Orinoco and Pocho are the best (fight me if you disagree). Don't forget to stop off at the 7-11 for a purse flask of mezcal or tequila to stealthily pour into Orinoco's delicious jamaica agua fresca!

If you've eaten (and hated) conchas or pan dulce in the US (like me), get one from Rosetta, or better yet, the cream-filled one from Pasteleria Suiza and it will convert you.

Contramar's whole scene is a bit off-putting at first but it's so delicious and the service is perfect. Don't miss it. 

The La Güera Tortas de Chilaquiles cart is one of the best breakfasts I've ever eaten – it's a scooped-out torta filled with chicken milanesa, a wad of chilaquiles, and a big squirt of crema.

Many regional cuisines are available in Mexico City, so you can try Jalisco's birria (pictured), Oaxaca's mole, and Ensanada's fish tacos without leaving town. There's also great Japanese, Korean, French... just like you'd see in any world city of this size.

Again, our map has a ton of restaurants and sights on it, all with personal descriptions. My Instagram is entirely restaurants and markets, so scroll back to Feb 2019 and you'll see lots to choose from.

Lunch here is 1:30-3:30, and many places don't even open until 1:30. There isn't a Spanish-style siesta.

  

Sights 📸

Even after a month, we still didn't finish off our "must-see" list. For example, we never managed to make it out to the Teotihuacan site. Here's a few of our favorite things.

Museo Nacional de Antropología (anthropology museum) is incredible – an absolute must-see. It's in a beautiful park, so you can have a nice walk before or after, and the restaurant in the nearby Museo Tamayo is fantastic.

Palacio National is huge and full of national treasures and Diego Rivera murals. It's right on the Zocalo square, so maybe have lunch at the Gran Hotel before or after. Enter from the Mondea street entrance if the main one is closed. You must bring a passport or a drivers license to enter.

The Gran Hotel has a breathtaking lobby and a tasty restaurant overlooking the main Zocalo square. Stop in here to rest your feet and rehydrate with a hibiscus margarita with mezcal.

Castillo de Chapultepec (Chapultepec castle) is in the park on the top of a hill. It's absolutely worth the walk up. Make sure you buy a ticket at the bottom of the hill because the ticket vending window up at the top might not be open.

 

Frida Kahlo museum. It's a bit of a hike from the Coyoacán Metro station, but still totally do-able on foot. Definitely leave time to eat the amazing tostadas in the Coyoacán market and enjoy the beautiful town center while you're here. (Timed-entry tickets are strongly advised).

 

If you aren't able to make it down to Coyoacan, do visit at least one proper Mexican mercado if you've never been to one – I love the chaos and the variety and the smells... If you're brave and speak Spanish, the walk from the Flower market to the Merced market to the Sonora market is unbelievable. (NOTE: unless you're with a CDMX local, I would avoid the Tepito market). The San Juan and the Hidalgo markets are both fun and manageable.

Going to a Luchador match was crazy good fun. We walked over to Garibaldi Plaza afterward to drink in a mariachi bar. If you're not comfortable buying your own tickets, there are tour groups that will organize it all for you.

The Biblioteca Vasconcelos is an architectural masterpiece – six stories of bookshelves are suspended from the ceiling. It's near the Buenavista train station/mall and the Torre Insignia.

The party boats at Xochimilco are a blast if you have a group of friends to go out and day-drink with.

The transit museum details the history of Mexico City's relatively-new Metro. There's some great stories about the planning and information design as well as the construction itself. There's a cute gift shop, too. (located inside the Mixcoac metro station)

Palacio de Correos de México (postal museum) is beautiful. Take the gilded elevator up to the second floor and check out the cool memorabilia and murals made from canceled stamps! The Torre Latinoamericana is right nearby.

Torre Latinoamericana is a 1950's modernist skyscraper that has a great view of the city and of the nearby Belles Artes and Alameda Central.



Basílica de Santa María de Guadalupe is in the north of the city and combines 60's modernism with classical Spanish architecture. The older church is listing pretty hard after the 2017 quake, sadly. Walk up the stairs to the main building and enjoy a sweeping view of the entire city (smog-permitting).

 

Nightlife 💃

We mostly hung out at Nicho's bear bar. We also went to Boy Bar and, well, I didn't feel old before I went in, but I definitely felt old after. It has nice patios, though. Not all of the gay bars are in the Zona Rosa (the nickname for the area just north of the Insurgentes metro station), La Purisma and a couple of others are over near Bellas Artes. My younger and hipper friends LOVED this party, and this one. Also, here's an online guide about gay bars from Timeout.

 

Some helpful Spanish 🇲🇽

I speak very little Spanish. Here's a few helpful things I heard here in CDMX that I found helpful:

• Con permiso is super useful – it's what people here say when they want you to get out of their way. You'll need this if you take the metro (or the metrobus) and are attempting to get off the train with lots of people in front of you...
• Jitomate is tomato. Tomatoes originated in Mexico, so they can call them whatever they want.
• Trompo is Mexico City slang for Al Pastor – the tacos where the meat is shaved fresh from a spit like a middle eastern Gyro.
• Micheladas differ from region to region in Mexico, but in CDMX it's beer with lime juice and salt. Some places will also add ice cubes and/or a chamoy rim. A Cubana or Michelada preparada is one with chili and Maggi and tomato juice or clamato.
• Chilango/a is slang for a person or thing from Mexico City. It can be provocative so don't say it unless you know what you're doing.  
• a la Gringa if you see this on a menu, yep, they're calling you out. It usually means "on a white flour tortilla with lots of cheese" just how Americans (and Canadians) like it.

 

Random Tips ✅

Having a little packet of moist towelettes in your bag comes in really handy for eating street food. Like Japan, there are no trash cans anywhere except at convenience stores and Starbucks. Also like Japan, many public toilets don't have toilet paper in the stalls, so make sure you get some from the bathroom attendant before do your business. Or carry a few portable wipes with you.

Corner stores are like the old Lower East Side bodegas here in Manhattan – after about 10 pm you have to go up to the door and order thru a little window and the shopkeeper goes and gets what you want. You're usually looking for un litro or medio litro for beverages.

A Spanish architect friend recommended this killer iPhone app for Mexico City architecture. It might make your walking around town even more interesting. (the app is bilingual)

GET A PAPER RECEIPT FOR ALL ATM USAGE. I got two counterfeit 500s from an ATM and only first noticed a couple days later when the cab driver wouldn't take my money. If you have a paper receipt you have 5 days to go back to the bank and get the money exchanged. There's a brand-new BLUE 500 note that's supposed to combat counterfeiting (see pic). Also, exchange rates aside, handing someone a 500 note is basically like handing a US$100 bill to someone in America. No shop will take that for an 11 peso bottle of water or a 19 peso taco.

 

Links 🌍 

What we did in Oaxaca
My Tokyo food guide

My Japan guide

My New York City food guide
What we did in Taipei



(last updated March 2019)