Mexico City Travel Guide
Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico city
Mexico City is a charming place and it must be visited at least once in a lifetime.
Before visiting the city, my husband and I had no expectations whatsoever and we did little research and traveled without an itinerary. Big cities usually overwhelm me but Mexico City is different. Unlike other cities, it has a laid-back vibe and many green parks giving you a relaxing enjoyable feeling. Besides its natural charm, it is an important destination for art lovers; it has many respected museums such as Frida Kahlo Museum and Anthropology National Museum (Bonus: museum tickets are very affordable) and beautiful colonial-style buildings with vibrant colors. Ruins from the Aztec ancient civilizations can be found around the city giving you a glimpse of the past of this city. Not to mention the lovely people, the food, fresh juices, and coffee.
In short, this city has something for everyone and it will change your perspective about Mexico. My trip to Mexico City was eye-opening. It showed me that Mexico is not what the media depict (which I was not buying to start with). Yes, there is a crime (I don’t want to downplay this) and this is unfortunate but not all Mexico is not safe. In fact, I felt safer in Mexico City than being in big cities at night in the US.
Without further ado, I want to kick off the Mexico series with an introduction to this charming city and some answers to any visitor questions:
What is unique about Mexico City?
For our first trip to Mexico, we decided to go to Mexico City. We were looking for an introduction to Mexico and its culture. Capital cities usually give a real idea about the culture, the country, and the daily lives of the locals. Mexico City has so much history that I honestly had no idea about before visiting (don’t judge me lol).
Mexico Map and Mexico City location
I don’t want to bore you with history but it is important to talk about the history of the city which makes it even more interesting. People usually refer to two eras when they talk about Mexico City history: Pre- Hispanic and colonial eras.
Pre- Hispanic era: Mexico City's history goes back to 100 to 900 CE. Before it was built, the area was inhabited by the indigenous groups related to Toltecs. After that, the Aztecs inhabited the area and built Mexico City over Lake Texcoco by literally filling the lake with soil (crazy right?) It believes that Tenochtitlán (Aztecs’ city) was founded in 1325 A.D and lasted till 1521.
Colonial-era: In 1519, The Spanish invaded Mexico. Tenochtitlán was officially taken by the Spanish in 1520. In 1521, they built Mexico City on the ruins of the Aztec city and Mexico City was founded.
this is mind-blowing, right? the city initially was built on a lake then another city was built on top of that city! It is worth mentioning that the Spanish brought Catholic Christianity to Mexico and introduced it to the Aztecs. Fast forward to 1821, Mexico declared its independence.
With all the rich history, the beauty from both periods can easily be noticed and makes this city so unique. One can notice ruins that belong to the Aztecs in Mexico City Center “Templo Mayor Museum” and in Teotihuacán and also can notice the colonial period with all the architecture and churches.
Today, in 2022, Mexico City is the largest metropolitan area in the western hemisphere. From doing some research about the economy, this large city is one of the most productive cities in the world. Also, Mexico has the 13th largest economy in the world. Despite all that, poverty in Mexico is a big issue and you can clearly see that wealth is not distributed equally.
Teotihuacán Pyramids
From a personal perspective, I loved how quiet and busy and bustling it can be, how the city has modern and old beautiful buildings, the simplicity and the complexity, and street food stalls next to amazing fine dining restaurants. The city has a bohemian romantic vibe, I am really struggling in finding the right words to describe it. I can spend days walking in the city neighborhoods exploring and stopping by different coffee shops without getting bored. I also can have a little escape to nature at Parque Mexico, Parque Espana, or Chapultepec Park which is one of the oldest and largest parks in Latin America, or travel back in history throughout its museums and ruins. This is what makes this city so charming and a popular destination for many.
Safety
Big cities always have some safety disadvantages. Mexico City is like any other big city; you should be vigilant and you should know where you are. Pickpocketing is the most common safety concern, especially in crowded markets. I believe if you follow safety practices for big cities, will be fine.
From a local perspective, and from my experience, Mexico City is safe during the day. The only area to avoid is Tepito. During the night, avoid Centro and stick to safe neighborhoods. Overall, I felt very safe during my stay.
Covid Safety
I was amazed to see everyone in compliance with face masks in the city. Before entering any place, the temperature is taken and you have to use hand sanitizer. I do think they are a bit on the extreme side but I noticed the same behavior in other countries where tourism is major like Costa Rica. The pandemic has hurt the travel industry and countries are doing their best to keep tourists coming, so I appreciate the efforts.
Also, since the weather is nice, the majority of the time can be spent outdoors which is safer in my opinion.
With that being said, some covid variants are more transmissible than others, and sometimes there is no way to avoid getting Covid, especially in “high transmission areas”. I always recommend assessing your risk before traveling in the Covid era.
Where to Stay
Mexico City has some of the coolest neighborhoods I have ever seen (so far lol). The Hispanic colonial style on the building can be noticed with a lot of green spaces- I love it so much. Some of the best neighborhoods to book your stay at when you are visiting Mexico city are Roma, Condesa, Jurez, Polanco, and Cayoacan.
As for my recommendations, I recommend booking in Roma or Condesa.
I highly recommend the Roma neighborhood. We stayed in Roma Norte and it was so convenient to walk everywhere. It is very safe, filled with shops, fine dining, coffee shops, and galleries. It is considered the hipster epicenter. I also noticed many foreigners who actually live there (mainly Americans). Not sure if this was always the case or it is the Covid remote work effect.
All the mentioned neighborhoods are safe and have access to transportation
Our Airbnb is linked here. It was very centrally located and good for even a long stay.
Roma, Mexico City
Walking around Roma neighborhood
How Many Days Do You Need in Mexico City?
This really depends on your travel style. If you like to see everything in one day you totally can. I have done 24 hours in cities before and it is fun, but if you want a more relaxing and enjoyable type of trip, I recommend staying at a minimum of 3 days. 5 days will be ideal to explore the city without being rushed. We stayed 5 full days and we still wanted to do more activities and visit some places that we didn't have time to do, but we also weren’t rushed and we took our time in each place.
Getting Around/ Transportation
Public transportation
Public transportation is fairly safe and reliable. It is also very cheap. You can get anywhere with it and are suitable for on-budget travelers. However, the only caveat is buses and metro are very crowded and it is a perfect environment for pickpocketing. If you chose to use the metro or the bus, just be vigilant and watch your belongings.
Uber
Uber is very very cheap in Mexico City. It can be ordered from anywhere in the city. We relied on Uber during our trip most of the time. Uber can be ordered from Mexico City airport.
Walk and Bike
The city is very walkable. You can walk from Roma to Cento, From Roma to Condesa and Polanco very easily. We walked from Roma Norte to Bosque de Chapultepec and from Roma to Centor. The walk was very enjoyable and helps you discover new places.
Also, the city is bike-friendly. Mexico City's public bike company is EcoBiki. We were planning to use the bike in the park but we didn’t have time.
Mexico City Climate
Mexico city is located at a high elevation, altitude of 7,350 feet (2240 meters). The weather is very nice and on the cooler side, especially at night. We visited in February and the weather was Spring weather. The High temperature is in the 60sF to 70sF and the low can be as low as 40F. The hottest months are April and May when the high temperature can reach 85 F and lows in the 50s F
I recommend bringing a jacket with you when you travel to Mexico City.
Getting to Mexico City from the US East Coast
I live in MA and there isn’t a direct flight from Boston to Mexico City but you can find many flights to Cancun.
Get the best deal, book your round trip from Boston to Cancun and then find a domestic flight from Cancun to Mexico City. Make sure to have enough time between your international flight and your domestic connection flight; Immigration at Cancun airport takes about 30 minutes to 1 hour and you also need to take the shuttle bus to switch terminals (which takes about 15 to 25 minutes). We had 3 hours between our international flight and domestic flight. For the domestic flight, we booked Volaries and both flights were delayed. I later learned that Volaries is equivalent to Spirit airlines in the US and Ryanair in Europe. They did say they have a strict carry-on weight rule but on both flights no one checked.
From personal experience, I don’t recommend flying with Volaries unless you are okay with delays.
The Do and Don’t of Mexico City
Language: Do learn some Spanish and don’t rely on English. Google translate will help. Do install offline translation for Spanish and English- it is Free
Food: Don’t eat street food or avoid it as much as possible. You may eat street food and nothing happens to you; luck can play a role here. Both my husband and I got upset stomachs without really knowing why but most likely we had uncooked contaminated food (guacamole and homemade popsicles)
Do carry some cash. I do use a travel credit card for all my travel that doesn’t charge for foreign transactions but some places don’t take credit cards such as local markets, Teotihuacan pyramids, and buses. You don’t need more than 500 pesos in my opinion.
Don’t drive do take Uber: Driving is crazy in the city in my opinion and local drivers are very expert. I recommend Uber and public transportation overdriving
Don’t drink tap water, always drink filtered water.
Now you have some idea about the city and I hope this blog post makes you want to book your Mexico City trip. This post is followed by the Mexico City itinerary and Teotihuacan blog posts. Stay tuned
Mexico City Official Website
CDMX Travel is Mexico City official website that has all the attractions and the upcoming events in the city. Make sure to check it out before traveling
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