After Bacalar (four days next to idyllic turquoise water – love love love!), I flew to Mexico City.
I hadn’t been to a big big city for a long time (think the last one was Panama City!) and there’s no two ways about it – Mexico City is huge! There’s so much to do, so many neighbourhoods to explore and stay and a lot of tacos to eat!
I spent almost a week in Mexico City, splitting my stay between Zocalo and the Roma/Condesa areas. I stayed first in Zocalo at Casa Pepe (which is like a boutique hotel!!) and then at Hostel Home in Roma (more homey feel!).
On my first morning I did the free walking tour offered by the hostel. It was a good tour around the downtown area, and more importantly for me it was ideal for meeting people! I met a great bunch doing it and we continued to do things together for the next few days (and we even reunited in Oaxaca for Day of the Dead!).
Teotihuacan Pyramids
Outside of Mexico City is Teotihuacan, a former Meso-American city famous for its Sun and Moon pyramids. I was keen to do a day trip from Mexico City. On the hostel walking tour the previous day, I met a great bunch of people who were also happy to avoid a tour and go ourselves.
Getting there
We decided earlier was better: less heat, less people and we’d be back in Mexico City for the afternoon. We went by public transport which was straightforward to use and cheap!
To get to Teotihuacan by public transport, take a bus from the bus station, Terminal del Norte. Buses leave every 15/20 minutes and cost 104 pesos return. Once in the terminal, head to gate 8 to buy your ticket from one of the booths.
The bus station is in the north of the city, it’ll likely be far from where you’re staying. To get there you can either take an Uber or metro. The metro involved a couple of changes but was easy and much cheaper – 5 pesos a journey! I’d recommend!
On our way back to Mexico City, the bus passes Indio Verdes station. We got off here, rather than at the bus station, as it saved us a line change on the metro.
The pyramids
The pyramids were impressive; none of us expected them to be so big!
The pyramid of the Sun is Teotihuacan’s largest temple and was constructed around 200AD by the Aztecs. The pyramid of the Moon is smaller (adeptly named!).
There were a lot of steep steps to climb – the views were well worth it!
Entrance to Teotihuacan: 75 pesos
Opening hours: 9am-5pm
Note: Tours to Teotihuacan are available. Our hostel offered one for around 500 pesos and it was a whole day out with some other stops. I’m a do it independently when I can and Teotihuacán was very easy to do so. Plus we returned to Mexico City much earlier and had the afternoon there.
Lead up to Day of the Dead in Mexico City
Oaxaca was my destination for Day of the Dead, yet I unknowingly managed to be in Mexico City a week before in the lead up to the main celebrations. It was pretty cool!
Shops were selling the yummy pan de muerte (really tasty bread!) and my stay coincidentally coincided with the International Day of the Dead parade which happens on the Sunday* before the actual Día de los Muertos.
*The dates change every year depending on when Day of the Dead falls. If you’re keen to see the parade, do check the calendar.
Fun fact: The International Day of the Dead Parade wasn’t originally part of Mexico City’s Día de los Muertos celebrations. The parade was created for the James Bond film and now by popular demand it has become a yearly parade in the run up to Day of the Dead.
I loved the parade! It really was fantastic and worth the three hour standing wait. It was meant to start at 2pm from Zocalo, however as a Mexican standing next to me said: Mexican time is Mexican time and an hour later than expected – at 3pm – the parade started. I’m so glad I was there for it!
Food in Mexico City
Mexican food is super yummy and Mexico City has so many options! I ate so many tacos there and I can’t remember names of places but I don’t think you can get a bad taco!
Mercado Roma in the Roma area is wonderful too. It’s a more upscale market and pricier than street food tacos and such but oh so good! I ordered a chicken tikka masala there and I was in a happy food place! My friends got burritos and tacos which were equally as tasty. Again I don’t think it’s possible to get bad food there!
For those with a sweet tooth, chocolate and churros is a thing – yay for me! I lived in Spain for eight months and loved them. Churrería El Moro is the place to get them and there are many branches throughout the city. The oldest one is in Zocalo! We ordered a portion of churros to share with a cup of thick Spanish hit chocolate. So so rich and so so good!
Frida Kahlo Museum
I’ll say it now: I don’t know much about Frida Kahlo – sorry!! I went with my Casa Pepe hostel group one morning to her house and museum.
It’s always interesting to see where someone lived and it was no different for Frida Kahlo. I saw lots of her artwork and learnt that she didn’t have the easiest of lives. If you like Frida Kahlo or would like to learn about her, it’s a good place to do so.
Tip: Buy your tickets online if you can. When we arrived for our slot, the queue to buy tickets at the door was very very long! I wouldn’t want to wait that long!
Cost: 230 pesos general admission on a weekday, 250 pesos at a weekend. Booking online has a booking fee – I paid 246 pesos in total. Definitely worth it to avoid the long queue!
Note: There is a 30 peso extra cost to take photos inside the museum.
Follow this link to book your tickets or for more information.
Lucha Libre
Lucha Libre is Mexico’s take on wrestling. The Luchadores typically wear masks and include a lot of tricks and acrobatics in their fights.
When in Mexico, it’s an event to experience! I went with the Casa Pepe group from my hostel on a Friday evening.
It was entertaining to watch, certainly overdramatic, theatrical and over exaggerated! There was a referee who amusingly did nothing and had his own acting show to put on. The tricks and acrobatics in the ring were impressive (and I reckon choreographed and well rehearsed!). It was a fun evening, I’m glad I saw it but I won’t be rushing back for round two!
I was also surprised by how popular it was with Mexicans.
Where: Arena Mexico
When: Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays
Cost: Seats closer to the ring are more expensive. If you’re really keen to be close to the ring, turn up early to buy tickets or go with a tour (they have seats reserved). We turned up half an hour before and could only buy tickets for the further back rows which cost us 120 pesos each. I was happy; I could see everything!
Anthropology Museum
The Anthropology Museum in Mexico City is the largest and most visited museum in Mexico. It’s massive and has so much information about Mexico’s history. If you want to know more about Mexico’s history, it’s the museum to visit!
I went with a girl from my hostel for a couple of hours. Whilst it was interesting, there were so many exhibits and detail that I found it quite overwhelming and struggled to digest the information. We didn’t last that long and soon got distracted by our need for tacos!
Location: In Chapultepec Park, around a half an hour walk from the Roma neighbourhood.
Entrance cost: 75 pesos. Free for Mexicans on Sundays
Opening hours: 9am-7pm Tuesdays-Sundays
How to get to Mexico City
Mexico City is pretty much in the middle of Mexico. If you’re travelling Mexico, the chances are that you’ll pass through Mexico City at some point.
Mexico is a big country and distances between places are long!
Domestic flights with Interjet or Volaris are reasonably priced. Sometimes the flight is the same as the bus which would take so much longer. Some destinations you can fly from are Puerto Escondido, Merida, Cancun, Chetumal, Oaxaca, Puerto Vallarta, Guadalajara…
Note: Mexico City’s airport is big! To reach the city centre, you can take a taxi, uber, metro or metrobus. I asked several taxi companies in the airport how much it would cost to go to Zocalo and was told around 230-250 pesos (£10 approx). It’s not super expensive but for backpacking me I was looking for cheaper. The metrobus is a way cheaper option and worked well for me. I paid 40 pesos in total – 10 for the card and 30 for the fare – and the bus dropped me off in Zocalo, a 15 minute walk from my hostel. I also had a card to use on the metro and buses!
By bus, ADO buses are great for reaching Mexico City if you’re coming from the eastern part of Mexico – Oaxaca, Chiapas and Yucatan! You can book tickets on their website, on the app and at the bus station.
Final thoughts…
Spending nearly a week in Mexico City is normally way too long for a non city backpacker like me. However, when it came to leave, I felt like I’d barely scratched the surface, especially in terms of discovering all the great food places!
Out of the cities I’ve visited on this trip, it’s definitely one of my favourites and I can definitely see myself returning to Mexico City in the future, hopefully when I travel the north!
I also loved being there in the lead up to Day of Dead – the parade was seriously brill!
My next stop is Oaxaca for Day of the Dead and then I’ll be making my way south through the Chiapas and Yucatan regions where I will end my trip (yikes!) and fly home from Cancun.
