What You Need To Know

Mexico City Travel Guide

Embark on a journey with my Mexico City Travel Guide, your ultimate companion for discovering all the wonders of this vibrant metropolis and crafting the perfect Mexican escape.

Mexico City Unveiled

Discover the Heart of Mexico with My Mexico City Travel Guide

To this day, I tell everyone Mexico City is one of my favorite places in the world. The main reason? THE FOOD. It didn’t matter where or what I ate, everything was mouthwatering. Unfortunately I went at a time where I didn’t take social media too seriously, so I actually don’t have a lot of documentation on where I ate – hence why you won’t see recommended food places in this guide! But that just means I have to go back!!

As the capital and largest city in Mexico, I highly recommend everyone adds it to their list. It’s such an exciting city – such rich history, fun attractions – it’s a place I feel like you can never get enough of. Most people hear Mexico and think of Cancun or Cabo and while those are fun places, Mexico City its unique in its own right: it’s the fifth-largest city in the world, is home to more pyramids than Egypt, has more than 150 museums, and has the second-most visited Catholic church in the world.

Please go to Mexico City – you won’t regret it!!

Vanessa's Insider Tips

My Travel Tips for Mexico City

Here are some helpful Mexico City travel tips to know before you go:

When to Go: The summer months are rainy season, so go anytime between March – May or October – November. I went in September though and didn’t experience any rain!
Where to Stay: I crack up thinking about this because unbeknownst to any of us, when I went with my mom and aunts we stayed in the gay neighborhood – Zona Rosa! Since it was a family trip and we went with a travel agency, we didn’t pick the area. That said, Zona Rosa was still a fun and safe area! Other popular neighborhoods are the upscale Polanco and the artsy sister neighborhoods of Condesa and Roma.
How to Get Around: Mexico City is huge, so you’ll need to get around by car or taxi.
Mexico City Solo Female Travel: Mexico City might be off the radar for many people because its perceived as dangerous. I can only tell you my experience and that was that I didn’t feel unsafe during my time. However, with my family being from Medellin, Colombia, I am used to being in these types of cities where you need to be street smart – e.g., nothing flashy, don’t draw attention to yourself, don’t look lost, don’t take your phone out in certain areas. I would give the same advice for Mexico City as I would for Medellin: just be street smart and you should be fine. Again, my personal experience was that I felt fine walking around and exploring. For this reason, I would say for solo female travel in Mexico City, go if you have prior experience traveling alone, don’t go if its your first time backpacking or first solo female trip.

Discover Mexico City

My Recommended Itinerary for Mexico City Travel

Here’s what I recommend for Mexico City:

Plaza Garibaldi:

This plaza is in the historic center of Mexico City and is known as the home of mariachi music. No matter the time you come here, there will be endless amounts of mariachi bands playing. The best time to go is Friday or Saturday night after 11PM! Come here for the music (tips are expected of course) and there are also restaurants in the plaza for you to grab a bite to eat afterwards.

Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe:

I was raised Catholic but admit I’m not a very good one! However, even I can admit this was a magical site – it’s the second-most visited Catholic church in the world and has become one of the most important pilgrimage sites for Catholics. In fact when I first entered, there was a Priest outside blessing people with Holy Water. Everyone was standing in a crowd and he was prayer and throwing the water.

The most iconic part of the church is the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe hanging behind the main altar. There’s bulletproof glass and a moving walkway that allows crowds of people to pass it, looking for a blessing. Our Lady of Guadalupe is an important and powerful symbol of Mexican faith.

Outside the church there are various other churches and buildings. I recommend walking the entire complex. My favorite part was the Quetzalcoatl Fountain, a waterfall-type fountain decorated with sculptures.

Overall, it’s a really sacred and culturally significant experience to come here!

Historic Center:

This is the beating heart of Mexico City. Here you’ll find a lot of historical buildings and monuments. Like most historical centers, it’s a really charming area.

Begin in Zocalo, the main square and one of the largest in the world. From there, make sure you visit the Metropolitan Cathedral (one of the ten largest churches in the Americas), Templo Mayor (Aztec ruins next to the cathedral), National Palace (go inside for murals), and the Palace of Fine Arts (go inside for art exhibits and murals). Continue walking around and take a stroll through Alameda Central Park, the largest public park in the city.

Xochimilco:

Xochimilco is about an hour away from Mexico City. They are canals filled with colorful, vibrant gondola-like boats that are pushed by men with long poles. It’s a really fun experience taking a ride on these boats! I’d like to describe it as a more fun, animated version of Venice! Take an Uber here (or car if you have one) and when you show up, pick a boat. Be prepared for mariachi music and vendors passing by on their own boats. Try to go during the week if you can because it gets very crowded on weekends.

Day Trip to Cuernavaca and Taxco:

As I’ve said, I went to Mexico City with my mom and aunts using a travel agency. One of the trips they arranged for us was to visit neighboring towns outside Mexico City. Visiting Cuernavaca and Taxco are usually done together because they’re along the same route.

Cuernavaca is a cute colonial city. The main sight to see is its cute pink cathedral. Other than that, just walk around and enjoy its peacefulness.

Day Trip to Cuernavaca and Taxco:

Cuernavaca is a cute colonial city. The main sight to see is its cute pink cathedral. Other than that, just walk around and enjoy its peacefulness.

I absolutely loved Taxco! I just found it to be really, really pretty and charming. The main sight to see here is the Santa Prisca church.

I know it seems like all there is to do in these towns are see churches, but they’re those types of places where the beauty is in walking around and soaking in their energy. They’re really, really cute and I wouldn’t list it here if I didn’t feel they were worth seeing!

Day Trip to Teotihuacan Pyramids:

My Mexico City trip was right after I went to Egypt, so I was thrilled to hear Mexico City also had pyramids! Teotihuacan is an ancient city known today as the site of many of the most culturally significant pyramids. What I loved about going here is you can climb the pyramids! But it is STEEP so be prepared for your butt and thighs to burn like never before.

Museums:

As I said before, Mexico City has over 150 museums. I’m someone that can appreciate a good museum, but even that is a lot for me! I would recommend looking up all the museums the city has to offer and then picking what interests you most. I only went to two, but that was enough for me and I felt they were super super interesting.

Dive Into The Culture

Best Mexico City Museums

Frida Kahlo Museum:

Also known as the Blue House, this is a historic house museum dedicated to the life and work of Frida Kahlo. This was where she was born, grew up, and later died. I learned a lot about her during this visit – I had no idea she had a life full of so much suffering! There are a ton of artifacts and artwork of hers in here too.

National Museum of Anthropology:

This is the largest, most important, and most visited museum in Mexico. I spent a few hours here checking out all the exhibits, but I went pretty quickly. You can easily spend an entire day here!