Hello everyone! I apologize for not posting in a while, I was hit with the dreaded writer’s block and could not find anything I really wanted to blog about, until now that is! I do promise to try and post more consistently, and will aim for a blog post per month.
I recently spent a couple of days in Mexico City, and had such a good time exploring! This was probably my favorite trip I’ve taken this year. The city is so vibrant and beautiful, and the locals are some of the friendliest I’ve met. From what I’ve read online when researching, Mexico City can sometimes get a bad rap as being unsafe, but I’m here to tell you that’s not the case. Quite the opposite in fact!
Day 1
We flew out to Mexico City on Saturday, and pretty much got into town just in time for dinner. The first restaurant we dined at was Sud, which is number 11 on Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants list. The restaurant itself is beautiful, and the service is superb. They even brought out a personal coat rack for us to hang our jackets on! There is a tasting menu that you can order, but we chose to pick a few items off the menu.
Favorites included the duck breast, the grilled octopus, and the chicharrones soup with nopales. The great thing about this restaurant was that it introduced us to a lot of new flavors and ingredients that we’ve never tried before, and was the perfect way to start our trip.
Day 2 (La Condesa + Coyoacan + Centro Historico)
La Condesa
Mexico City is such a major food city, and we planned to spend our second day eating as much as possible. So of course, what better way to start the day then with the largely hyped Chilaquiles sandwiches at La Esquina de Chilaquiles? We got to the food stand around 10:30, and luckily the line wasn’t too bad yet. During peak times, the wait can be up to two hours.
This place lived up to the hype. The chilaquiles sandwiches are served with either red or green sauce, and chicken or beef milanesa. We got one of each with chicken and both loved the green one more. This is definitely a must eat when visiting Mexico City. I can speak a little Spanish and was able to order with no issue, but if you can’t don’t worry! The ladies who work the booth are very nice and friendly.
We also stopped by El Pescadito to try their fish tacos. These weren’t the best fish tacos I’ve ever had, but for the price of less than $2 USD, totally worth it.
Another taco place we wanted to visit was Tacos Los Juanes to try their cabeza and lengua tacos, but coudn’t because we ran out of time.
Coyoacan
Now that our bellies were full, we headed over the Coyoacan to check out the Frida Kahlo Museum. Be sure to book your tickets in advance online. There is a separate line for ticket holders and non-ticket holders, and the wait can be very long without. Not only is this such a pretty museum to visit, it was a great way to learn more about Frida Kahlo’s life not only as an artist, but also as a woman who went through so much in her life.
Our plan was to also check out Mercado de Coyoacan afterwards to check out the market and eat at the Tostadas De Coyoacan in the market, but we were so full we decided to skip that stop.
Centro Historico
Our last stop for the day was the Centro Historico neighborhood. Here we stopped to admire the Palacio de Bellas Artes. The best view to be had of the building is actually in the Sears department store across the street. There’s a coffee shop on one of the top floors where you can buy a coffee and enjoy the view.
We visited on a Sunday, and this is a place where locals like to relax and have fun with their families. Everyone was admiring the beautiful architecture and enjoying the warm weather, such a pretty place to spend an afternoon!
I will say Instagram made me add this next stop to my itinerary, but luckily it was just a five minute walk across the street from the Palacio de Bella Artes. This place is called the House of Tiles (Casa de los Azulejos) and was so so pretty.
We of course had to check out El Mercado de Artesanias La Ciudadela. This market is a 10-15 minute Uber ride from Palacio De Bella Artes. Make sure you give yourself enough time to browse the market if you go later in the day, it usually closes at 6pm.
We only spent an hour here, but you can easily spend 2-3 hours there if you’re shopping for souvenirs.
Day 3 (Teotihuacan Pyramids + Roma)
On our last full day in Mexico City we headed over to the Teotihuacan Pyramids. We chose not to do a tour and just ubered over to the location. It’s about 45 minutes from the city, and the Uber ride was about 40 USD one way. There is an entrance fee of 75 pesos per person, which comes out to about a little less than 4 USD.
Climbing these pyramids was quite a trek! Definitely make sure you bring your walking shoes. The pathways are very safe but very steep, so don’t be afraid to take breaks on your way to the top. Also make sure you bring lots of water before you start, there are no stalls or vendors selling food/water in the actual pyramid area, only souvenirs. There are a bunch of stores and vendors at the very entrance to the Pyramids, so make sure you buy food and water there before you begin.
There are two main pyramids at the site, the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon. The largest structure on site is the Pyramid of the Sun and is the first one you will come upon on your trek. Below is picture from the top of the Pyramid of the Sun over-looking the Pyramid of the Moon.
We found the view from the Pyramid of the Moon to be much more beautiful, but both are worth climbing.
We spend the last half of our day exploring the neighborhood of Roma. Our first stop was to grab some chicharron tacos at Taqueria de Orinoco as a post hike treat from the pyramids!
Below is a photo of the menu, we only got the chicharron tacos and an aqua fresca. These tacos were so. good. I couldn’t believe they were only 30 pesos each!!
You’re given a variety of dipping sauces as well to put onto your tacos. We got two each to start with but of course ended up going back for more!
Now that we were full our next stop was to go and check out Cafebreria el Pendulo, a really cool bookstore that also doubles as a coffee shop and rooftop bar. Just as an FYI they don’t allow any photos taken with cameras in the store, only with phones.
You can browse new and used books in here. There’s almost something for everyone because of the wide variety.
Roma is a beautiful neighborhood, and we had a lot of fun just walking around taking everything in as the sun was setting. Golden hour was amazing!
Mexico City was such an amazing place to visit. Like I mentioned before, Mexico City can get a really bad rap, but not once did I feel unsafe on this trip. I was no more cautious than I would be in any big city, including my hometown of Los Angeles. The locals are super friendly and welcoming. Whenever we had a question about something or were unsure about how/where to order food, someone always came over to help us out. I highly recommend putting Mexico City on your bucket list, I will definitely be going back!