When I was growing up, I had only bad impressions of Mexico City—too big and too polluted. It’s funny that this city has unexpectedly been one of our favorites—already on repeat.
The city is overwhelmingly enormous, but if you break it down and just focus on the neighborhood you are in it quite manageable. We really only know the smallest, most privileged part of the city—Condesa and Roma Norte. While we explore far beyond these areas, the layers of the city are so thick that I won’t say that we properly know them.
While our first stay (pre-COVID) in Mexico City was in Condesa, I opted to put us in Roma Norte for the second visit—just to see which one we liked better. (For us, its Norte but our friends who came to visit seemed to appreciate Condesa more.)
We love the huge trees, the perfect weather and the cafés that spill into the streets. We love that their Bosque de Chapultepec (huge city park—think Central Park or Stanley Park, but bigger) is a place to stroll and bring a picnic. That they’ve created a wildly popular Ciclovia where miles and miles of streets are closed to car traffic every Sunday from 8am-2pm for hundreds (thousands?) of people to come out and bike up and down the most popular avenues. There are more amazing museums than you could possibly go to. And if all this weren’t enough, we love that street tacos co-mingle with high end and international restaurants. Almost anything you can want, available within walking distance from your door.
The city is so big it can seem hard to know where to start. My friend who lives there gave me this “intro” itinerary and it’s a great way to break into the city.
Day 1 Centro:
This can take about ½ day, or if you stretch it longer if you want.
- Hop into an Uber and have it drop you at Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral.
- From here, you can explore the few blocks around—about 2 blocks in every direction, taking in the cathedral, the enormous zocalo (central square) in front of it—which also features in a James Bond movie.
- Meander to the Templo Mayor Museum—where 40 years ago they found ruins of a Mexica temple smack in the middle of the city. For me, the ruins are fantastic—as is the fact that they found them so “recently”, and then put a pretty cool modern approach to viewing them with glass walkways over the top all make it a big favorite.
- Be sure to notice the National Palace while you are there.
- The Gran Hotel Cuidad de Mexico has an impressive stained glass roof. We had difficulties getting in to see it (they claimed due to COVID, but it seemed more like tourist prevention) so get ready to do some sweet talking (or pretend to go in for brunch but then change your mind).
- An optional stop is to go to Hosteria de Santo Domingo. It’s a long-standing, notable restaurant which serves chiles en nogada. (Chiles en nogada is a national dish—it’s a large poblano pepper stuffed with meat mixture, covered in a creamy walnut sauce and sprinkled with pomegranate seeds to give it the red, white and green colors of the Mexican flag.) Jorge strongly advised we do this. We did and I can say that it wasn’t a top stop for me—neither the restaurant nor the dish. So, you can decide whose advice is more valuable—a local Mexican, or a white girl.
- From here, you’ll want to find Ave 5 de Mayo and stroll down this street. Mostly it’s just admiring architecture, shopping and people watching for the next few blocks. But a lovely way to stroll down the pedestrian-only street.
- Do yourself a favor and stop into Pastelería Ideal which has been around since the 1920’s. Even if you don’t want anything. This iconic pastry shop has patrons buzzing around, waiting to pounce on employees as they bring out trays of new pastries. It’s like the frenzy of the discount bridal dress scene from Friends, but with pastries. You will want to experience it. (Our friends even saw a woman with a huge box of these pastries on the seat next to her for their flight home!)
- Stop by the Postal Palace to marvel at this gorgeous building. Its humorous that the Mexican postal service has a reputation from locals of being unreliable, but they have this stunning postal building they’ve restored. It’s a mishmash of styles, huge spaces with white marble and brass. It only requires a quick pop-in, but it’s a worth the quick detour.
- Your target destination is Palacio de Bellas Artes. A gorgeous Art Nouveau building with an orange and yellow crystal dome that seems to glow at all times.
- Immediately across the street from the front door of Bellas Artes is a Sears. Yes, like a Craftsman tools and Toughskin jeans kind of Sears. Go there. (First, be shocked, since you likely haven’t been in a Sears in ages.) If you walk straight to the back, you can take the elevator up to the 8th floor where you’ll find a café with moderate coffee but a stunning view of Bellas Artes. It’s worth it for a quick stop and a few great photos.
- From here you are just steps away from Alameda Central park and Diego Rivera Mural Museum. You can also roam the area to see the Casa de Azulejos (building covered in blue and while tiles similar to those in Portugal) the Metropolitan Theater and lots of other cultural buildings of beautiful design.
- When you’ve had your fill, you can metro or Uber back.
Day 2 Bosque:
½ to ¾ day
- If you can do this day on a Sunday, I recommend it. This way you can walk or bike down Av. Reforma (or another street—depending on what’s best to get to Bosque de Chapultepec from where you are staying. We always enter near the Estela de Luz or Altar a la Patria. This mostly has to do with starting from the Roma/Condesa side.
- Stroll down some main paths and some smaller ones. We like to make a loop heading to the south before arriving to the Anthropology Museum and pick our route based on how much time we’d like to spend strolling before arriving at the museum The wide paths will be bustling (or bursting, depending on the day) with crowds. Depending on the time of day, you’ll see fruit vendors, tacos, elotes (roasted corn served on a stick or in a cup), small plastic toys, cold drinks, and a million other things for sale. The small paths will be quiet and tranquil walks through nature.
- National Anthropology Museum. This museum is so famous, I’m not sure what I can say about it. The largest collection of Mesoamerican pieces in the world, housed in an iconic architecture building. If you are only going to one museum during your visit, this is likely the one.
- Stay to watch flyers of Papantla, a daredevil pre-Colombian ritual where 4 men climb to the top of a 100 foot pole, connect themselves to ropes and then all “fly” down spinning around the pole headfirst. It’s insane. Oh, and one guy played the flute while spinning down—as if not fainting wasn’t enough work. I wonder how someone came up with this tradition to start with? It happens regularly at the pole in front of the Anthropology Museum, so with some luck you’ll see this.
- Head on home either walking, by Uber or by metro.
With these itineraries, you won’t have a packed full day, so you’ll have plenty of time to explore, have a coffee, sit outside, eat some tacos. During this time, you’ll start to notice how the city changes over the course of the day. In the morning you’ll see certain food vendors and the juice stands all open. Cafes open and over the course of the day, the morning food stands close and the evening ones open. Some you’d swear were abandoned come alive at 10pm with a line around the block. Every corner, every street feels different at different times of the day.
We’ve already planned our next trip, and have a new neighborhood on tap to explore.