4 Days iN MEXICO CITY
Why aren’t you traveling to Mexico City? Easy to get to from almost anywhere in the U.S., Mexico City is one of the most exciting food, drink and cultural destinations in the world. From Michelin-starred dining experiences, to the most lively street food scene in North America.
I’ve prepared multiple guides:
My favorite Coffee Shops in Mexico City
The cocktails are all over the 50Best Bars in the World list, Mexican baristas and roasters have ranked among the world’s bests in competitions, and you’ll find the best nopales tlayudas in your life at a random street side kiosk outside of the Anthropology Museum.
OUR MEXICO CITY MAP: https://maps.app.goo.gl/
More than 130 destinations - we find this helpful because if you end up in a neighborhood you can see what’s walking distance from you.
Alyssa and I spent 8 nights in Mexico City, exploring Condesa, Roma Norte, Roma Sur, Polanco and more. If I were building a Thursday-Sunday trip or Friday-Monday - here’s what I would do.
DAY ONE IN MEXICO CITY
Your Delta flight leaves MSP at 9:19a and arrives in Mexico City at 12:45p (same time zone but no Daylight Saving). You’ll take a taxi to your hotel - no Ubers convenient at the airport. Go to the counters in the taxi area, you’ll pre-pay. It’s expensive, but you know it’s legit. The rest of the trip, Uber is very inexpensive and widely available.
VISIT
Chapultepec Park: The “Central Park” equivalent of Mexico City, this park holds numerous monuments, ruins, nine museums, a zoo, and more. It’s great for an afternoon stroll where you’ll climb the hill to the castle. CLOSED MONDAY. Yes, the whole park.
Chapultepec Castle: Worth the visit. Great views of Mexico City, it houses the National History Museum. Buy tickets online and then skip right to the metal detector/security gate on your way up the hill. Open until 5pm, they start clearing you out of there at 4:30pm.
TICKETS: https://ventadeboletosenlinea.inah.gob.mx/
STAY
Four Seasons Hotel Mexico: This was a glorious experience. Looks like a hacienda from the outside, just steps from Chapultepec Park, inside it reveals a gorgeous tropical courtyard, packed with greenery. Excellent bar here too, Fifty Mils, make sure you look at the menu online though, as the English menu in the bar left out most of the ingredients and made the cocktails look boring. They are not. https://www.fourseasons.com/mexico/
View from our room into the beautiful courtyard at Four Seasons Mexico
Colima 71 Casa de Arte Hotel: In Roma Norte, a 16-room boutique hotel. We loved it. Every morning started with breakfast on our terrace or in outdoor patio on the main floor, along with pastries from Rosetta Bakery. Great location, lovely people. https://www.colima71.com/
EAT
Maizajo: A Michelin starred restaurant in the line of Oro by Nixta upstairs, and awesome stand-at-the-counter taqueria at street level.https://www.maizajo.com/
Ticuchi: Mostly vegetarian menu, absolutely fabulous. Incredible mezcal and agave selection as well, we just asked our server to put together a tasting of three and we were not disappointed. https://www.ticuchi.mx/en
COCKTAILS: Bijou Drinkery RoomUpstairs in a cooking school, this is a speakeasy in the modern sense - in that it’s not a secret and you make a reservation. Amazing hospitality here. Great experience. https://bijoudrinkeryroom.com/
Tlecan: Cool terra-cotta room, wonderful cocktails. https://tlecan.com/
DAY TWO IN MEXICO CITY
If you’re in CDMX on a Sunday, they close the Paseo de la Reforma (along with a larger network of central roads) to cars as part of the Muévete en Bici program. There are free bike rentals all along the route, people are jogging, it’s magical. Go take the walk or rent a bike.
VISIT:
Centro Histórico / historic center.
Templo Mayor: there’s a museum and also an overlook from outside in case you just want to get a look at some of the ruins of the ancient temple.
National Palace: Open to the public but only for (Free) guided tours. https://mexicocity.cdmx.gob.mx/venues/national-palace/?lang=en
Cathedral: The first cathedral to be built in the Americas. Stunning. Worth visiting for sure. https://mexicocity.cdmx.gob.mx/venues/metropolitan-cathedral/?lang=en
Torre Latinoamericana: One of the tallest buildings in Mexico City, there is an overlook here. ($220 MXN = $13 USD). We just went to the Sky bar in the building, which also has a great view, and at least got a cocktail for our $13.
EAT
FINE DINING: Limosneros - we loved this place, went for an a la carte experience but they have a tasting menu ($125/per person). Table side salsa preparation, creative interpretations of classic Mexican dishes, their own homemade agaves available by the ounce. MENU: https://limosneros.com.mx/ING-MENU.pdf
STREET FOOD: Taquería Los Cocuyos. This is a favorite of many Minneapolis chefs - you’ll see the “meat jaccuzi” - all the brisket and chicken simmering in meat juice, and the butcher just going to town creating amazingly fresh and delicious tacos. https://guide.michelin.com/us/en/ciudad-de-mexico/cuauhtemoc_1995126/restaurant/taqueria-los-cocuyosIdeal
Pasteleria: What a bakery! Massive! Inexpensive! On weekends, you see families picking up their pastries and breads for the entire week. https://en.pasteleriaideal.com/
Ticuchi https://www.cntraveler.com/restaurants/mexico-city/ticuchi
DAY THREE IN MEXICO CITY
VISIT
FRIDA KAHLO CASA AZUL: This is the south of Mexico City - you need tickets in advance, and the correlate to a specific entrance time. They’re not kidding about it, either. They sell out weeks in advance ($320 MXN = $18.50 USD) https://boletos.museofridakahlo.org.mx/en A fascinating exploration of an amazing woman. She created in her house, and this house has been left in almost the condition it was in when she died.
XOCHIMILCO: Take an uber from your hotel to the Xochimilco Markets, explore, get some tortillas or tlayudas from the women inside the market, get tamales from vendors outside or in the adjacent flower market. Then walk to the entrance of the Floating Gardens and rent a boat for a couple hours. Ideal with a larger group, there’s a government maximum of $750 MXN per boat per hour so don’t let someone charge you more. Negotiate if you want (I got ripped for bargaining on my IG feed) but make sure you generously tip the person rowing your boat.
BACK TO THE CENTER CITY OPTIONS:
Anthropology museum (open 9am): Stunning architecture - this is an indoor/outdoor experience. A guide would have been helpful as much of the museum’s signage is in Spanish only (not a complaint, just a heads up to non-Spanish-speakers.) https://mna.inah.gob.mx/
Roma Norte / Condesa: great local shopping and restaurants everywhere. This is the more upscale area of the city, probably most popular for visitors.
Avenida Presidente Masaryk in Polanco: this is the premier luxury shopping center - Latin America's most expensive strip - with Louis Vuitton, Hermès, and Chanel, alongside high-end department stores like El Palacio de Hierro.
EAT: Rosetta https://rosetta.com.mx/en/menu-en a la carte
COCKTAILS: Limantour, Bar Mauro, FIFTY MILS at Four Seasons Mexico, Baltra.
BONUS DAY TRIP:
PYRAMIDS OF TEOTIHUACAN
We took a half-day trip to the pyramids of Teotihuacan, which took some searching for. We wanted a bus from CDMX to take us out there, no silly tourist stops, no lunch, just a guided tour. viator.com/tours/Mexico-City/Teotihuacan-Pyramids-early-access- It was spectacular. We had a great tour guide and an awesome experience.
I hope you decide to book a trip to Mexico City - the culture, the people, the food and the drink - it was just glorious. We were there for a week and barely cracked the surface. If you want to see the highlights of our trip, I’ve saved them on Instagram. Here’s a link: https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/18111157325106926/Share
