Mexico City
Sorry this post took forever, but it’s finally here—a guide to Mexico City! We went to Mexico City two years ago for a long weekend in January and it was such a perfect winter escape. Super easy to get to from NYC and not very expensive. I loved the European vibe it has and the food scene is incredible. I’m sure there are so many new spots I’m not aware of, but wanted to share all that we did! I honestly think about this trip once a week and am itching to go back…
STAY
We stayed at Casa Nuevo Leon which is located in La Condesa. Nicely decorated and clean, but don’t expect any frills. We loved staying in La Condesa—super walkable and lots of restaurants nearby. We have Ignacia Guesthouse on our list for our next visit. Have heard lots of good things about staying at Hotel Condesa DF—we went for drinks on their rooftop one night.
There are also tons of cool AirBNBs in the city worth checking out! I’d recommend staying in La Condesa, Roma or Polanco neighborhoods.
EAT
Where to begin! Lunch is the biggest meal so be prepared to spend a couple hours on it. One of our favorite meals was an insane 10-course lunch at Pujol. It my be overhyped at this point, but we loved it. We grabbed breakfast at Rosetta’s sister bakery, formerly called Pandaria Rosetta, now called Cafe Nin almost every morning. We had lunch another day at Contramar, which is always my first recommendation to anyone heading to CDMX. The restaurant is constantly buzzing with an amazing energy and they have some of the best seafood. You have to get the tuna tostada—literally dream of that!
Dinner at Rosetta, a beautiful Italian restaurant inside an old mansion. Also home to the tallest breadstick you’ll ever see—trust me. I wanted to take their glasses home with us too. We also loved breakfast at Lardo. And I can’t forget churros at El Moro! A must for dessert (or breakfast!).
DO
One of the things we were most excited about was visiting some of the architect Luis Barragan’s houses. We did a tour of his home and studio (basically based our trip around this as tickets book up quickly!). We also did an afternoon visit to Cuadra San Cristobal—a home and horse stables he designed, which are north of Mexico City. We booked that tour via email, but I am guessing there might be better ways to do it now. He has a few other homes you can see as well—this site covers a lot of them.
High on Grant’s list was doing a day trip to the pyramids in Teotihuacán. I am SO glad we did this—I’ve never experienced anything like it and it was so cool to experience an ancient city and pyramids. We took public transportation to get there, which was fine and totally doable. However, there are organized tour groups you can go with, which is what I would recommend doing. We ended up joining an English-speaking tour so that we could learn more about this history of the ancient city.
One morning we walked through part of Chapultepec Park and climbed the hill to see the castle. We also wandered around Museo Nacional de Antropologia briefly—definitely want to go back on our next visit. We did not make it to Frida Kahlo’s home, but have heard incredible things (and to definitely book tickets in advance!).
There are lots of craft markets throughout the city, which we loved perusing. I picked up a few souvenirs—a woven bag and some artwork (reminder that I need to frame them!). We only had a few hours on Sunday before we flew home, but I had heard incredible things about La Lagunilla flea market and the antiques market which only happens on Sundays. So many cool things to see—I was wishing I hadn’t spent most of our pesos and that we didn’t have a flight to catch!
TIPS
Ubers are the most convenient and affordable way to get around. Overall, we felt pretty safe everywhere we went, but of course, use your best judgement. Be careful with the water—only drink from bottled water or from what your hotel provides you.
As always, if you are planning a trip or have any questions, leave a comment or shoot me an email!