Mexico City, mi amor! Years ago, an ex-bf planned my first trip to Mexico City as a birthday surprise, and on top of it being one of the best presents I’ve ever gotten– it is also one of my favorite cities I’ve been to! Lots of activities to do (museums, shopping, food, night life) that are unique to Mexico City’s culture, but most importantly it's not touristy at all!
And since then, my love for CDMX continues to grow, and I have gone to visit it for work as well. On top of the list below, my friend Dani who works in Policy @ UberEats wrote this amazing list of recs that I had to share as well: click here.
ITINERARY
May 2017 - 4 Days @ Le Meridien in CDMX
One of the best hotels I have stayed at. Whole suite + separate living room!
January 2019 - 2 weeks for a work trip @ Le Meridien in CDMX
Update Jan 2019: Few SPG points later, still stand by this, and still think Le Meridien is the place to book when you’re staying here! You get so much value for staying in a hotel here.
HIGHLIGHTS
Shopping at Ciudadela Market. If you’re looking for authentic souvenirs to bring back home, this is the place to go. Open square in the middle of the section where little kids will play soccer and hang out. Certain things to keep an eye out for: Woven blankets (re: Coachella price $35, Mexico: <$10), glass jewelry boxes
Watching a Luche Libre Fight. Located at Arena Mexico, you can pay $30 (for front row seats which in my opinion is worth every penny) and have the time of your life.
Pro tips: buy tickets at front kiosk (instead of ticket master for a better deal) and leave your camera at home, they will make you check it in.
Visiting Frida Kahlo's house at La Casa de Azul. A beautiful museum that was transformed from her family home.
Pro tips: buy tickets online to avoid waiting 30+ min in line and read up on Frida Kahlo’s torrid past ahead of time because the museum doesn’t cover that.
Admiring Diego Rivera’s murals. If you’re a fan of Frida Kahlo, make sure to stop by Diego Rivera’s Mural Museum. On Sundays it’s free and open to the public for community events (when I went it was an elementary school piano recital!)
Floating down the Gardens of Xochimilco. You come to the canals and however big your party is (whether it be 2 or 20 people) you have the whole boat to yourself and can choose a tour for 1 or 2 hours. It is so much fun because people will bring drinks on board and for big enough parties they will even have a mariachi band play live music. As you’re floating down the river (drinking beer hehe) you truly get to experience the “floating gardens”. People in smaller boats will be selling tacos, el lote, trinkets, more beer, etc.
Pro tips: Don't get suckered into overpaying. Tell them your friend came here 2 months ago and was offered half the price. Also, plan for an extra 2 hours in this area to check out the pink chapel and open air flea market.
Taking Ubers. I always say Uber had made traveling 10x easier especially (and this isn't just because I work at Uber!) but CDMX Uber has nailed it down. All Ubers come in less than 2 minutes and are so cheap-- we took a 30 minute Uber for $4.
Update: came back two years later and still impressed with Uber except now we’ve expanded!
UberEats is bomb. Great selection, I paid $4 for tacos at 4am. #yes
Exploring the city on Electric Scooters! Lime (Uber partnered) and Grin (Rappi) are scattered throughout the city. It’s an amazing way to get around the city and highly recommend you download both before! I personally like using Lime more because the scooter feels more stable, and less glitchy app but both are an easy way to get around. Just make sure you stay on the bike line otherwise cars get mad at you and watch out for potholes!
Pro tip: Take a Lime and scooter through Av. Constituyentes & Autopista Urbana Nte. It’ll take you through Chapultec park where you can see ponds, museums and beautiful architecture.
Wandering around Chapultepek Park. Honestly, block off at least half a day here. There are small vendors, the Anthropology Museum & Chapultepec Castle (read below), lakes, and just a great place to relax and sunbathe.
Waking up at 4am to catch the sunrise at Teotihuacan. It links the Temple of Quetzalcoatl, the Pyramid of the Moon and the Pyramid of the Sun, and it truly a beautiful site to see.
Pro tip: wake up early to avoid crowds and the heat! After all.. it is called the Pyramid of the Sun for a reason.
Exploring Chapultepec Castle. It’s an 18th-century palace, known for its impressive gardens, which used to house the home of the Mexican President (including Maximilian). Easy to spend at least an hour on the balcony, the view is incredible.
Spending the afternoon at Museums galore! There are so many wonderful museums to see.
Museo Nacional de Antropología: the largest and most visited museum in Mexico City. Wonderful blend of indoor and outdoor exhibits. Recommend visiting here before Pyramid of the Suns and coming before 11am otherwise it gets very crowded.
Palacio de Bellas Artes: Impressive both inside and out. Download Google Translate app, because all of their captions are in Spanish and you can take a picture of the caption and translate while you’re in the museum.
Spending the day at Cafe El Pendulo. Half cafe, half restaurant this is an amazing place to spend time catching up with friends, grabbing a quick bite to eat, or getting work done (like me! Office was closed and still needed to grind it out). There’s a few scattered throughout the city but my favorite one is in Roma Norte (it’s a big larger and had wider selection of fun trinkets to buy).
Authentic Mexican food. I love Mexican food, so coming here is like food heaven.
Tacos: grab at any food stand, particularly loved Taqueria Los Cocuyos -- be risky and try their cow eyeball! Popular meats are al pastor (spicy pork) and my personal favorite is cabeza (cow head, really fatty if you’re into that sort of thing).
El Lote: corn with butter, mayonnaise, and cotija cheese-- always ask for charred not boiled!
Churros: You gotta go to El Moro– best churros I’ve ever had and made fresh, don't forget the chocolate dipping sauce. So I’ve been to both El Moro’s and the one on Calle Río Lerma just TASTES fresher. If they have their red velvet churro available, definitely get one to try. It’s heavenly.
Pozole: Mexican stew from La Casa de Tono, perfect to have just as you start to feel the food poisoning coming on…
Margaritas and beer: Because, #whynot?!
Going to muy cheto restaurants. There’s a bunch of restaurants that are simply delicious and attract a more “tourist'“ or “posh” crowd. I visited a few while I was here, and it was honestly a great experience. (But warning: they deviate from the normal cheap / $5 meal in Mexico. Recommend mixing these restaurants in with a few ).
Lardo: Claimed as one of the “best brunches” in the city. Chef Elena Reygadas was named Latin America’s Best Female Chef in 2014, and then she went on to open this Italian (kind of Latin) restaurant. They have amazing bread, ask for their bread tray and they’ll come out bringing an assortment of bread for you to choose from.
Contramar. Known for their seafood, get the famous tuna tostada. (It lived up to the hype).
Aqua y Sal Cebicheria. Another great seafood spot, loved their ceviche platter.
Blanco Colima: Really cute restaurant with amazing atmosphere.
Four Seasons: Even if you stop by for a drink or a walk around their gardens, it is absolutely beautiful. Yvonne and I went to catch up while she was on Expedition in CDMX and it was an awesome location to spend an hour.
Shopping at Mango for a discount. Alright don’t judge me, but Mango is one of my favorite brands. While shopping in Mexico City, noticed that their items (especially in sale section) are significantly cheaper. I got two pairs of shoes, two skirts, 1 dress, 1 jacket and 2 tops for less than $200. I don’t know if it’s because Mango is a Spanish brand or what, but I came away very happy.
lowlights
Getting ripped off ordering tacos. Beware! Some taco orders come with 3-5 same tacos already… so when you order 3 orders of cabeza you could actually be ending up with 15 tacos. A sad way to over order… and over pay for what you wanted.
Getting food poisoning. It happened 2 weeks before Daniel and I were suppose to run a half marathon... #life but no regrets because the tacos I ate were fabulous. Came back for two weeks for work and also got food poisoning the last day. LOL
Hiking up Pyramid of the Sun in a skirt. Didn't think this one through, and pretty sure I flashed the world.
Air pollution. As you’ll come to realize, air pollution is a major concern in Mexico City. There’s always a level of smog and a quick google search shows that air pollution is definitely a “take care” aspect. I didn’t notice this during my first trip (sub 4 days) but during my second trip my eyes got super dry, I would get bloody noses, and feel really congested. I think you start noticing around the 5~ day mark.
Really really great service. When I first read reviews on TripAdvisor at what I deemed a muy cheto restaurant, I was like “#k, first world problem”. But it’s actually a thing! The service is SO GOOD they change the plate constantly and there was a point where I barely had time to digest and they would clear out my setting. Not a big deal, but worth point out.
Spending Chinese New Year in CDMX. Because you have to eat dumplings on CNY and even one of the best Asian restaurants I could find, did not live up well to what I would consider #decent Chinese food in the states. #sad.
