My family’s first trip of 2017 was to the beautiful Mexico City to attend a wedding. I love traveling abroad and to be dropped in places where you may not immediately understand the language or customs. At first, your brain feels a bit like mush, but after a while being able to figure everything out from scratch is oh so satisfying.
The only way to truly notice the immense vastness of Mexico City is from the airplane. It’s over 20 million people strong and you can definitely feel that once you’re on the ground. 
We were only there for a long weekend, but there is so much to see in Mexico City so I thought I would share how we got to see quite a lot of it easily!
We stayed at the Hilton Reforma which was very close to a few landmark spots including the Hemiciclo a Juárez and the Palacio de Bellas Artes. On our first night, we took a short stroll to a popular street called Madero. What I loved most was the old architecture that housed tons of modern shops, restaurants, and more. At the end of Madero, you’ll make it to the Zócalo, the main square in Mexico City. It’s amazing to think how much history has gone down right in that town square – think Aztec times.
One thing that stressed us initially was figuring out transportation and where to spend most of the limited time we had. Our concierge recommended Turibus to take us around for our free day and it was the best decision. It costs 140 pesos each for a whole day (only about $7 USD since the peso was weak at the time) and the tour offers four different routes – historical landmarks, shopping, museums, and cathedrals – based on different things you might be interested in seeing.
A few places to get off the Turibus (we took the “historical landmarks” tour, but you can take as many as you transfer to!):
- Museo de Antropologia
- Castillo de Chapultepec – The area is gorgeous, there are tons of street vendors, food and if you make it up to the castle, having a look inside is great for a view of the city and to get that Instagram 😉
- Tamaulipas Michoacán – a very chic neighborhood with lots of restaurants
We only had another half day to explore before the wedding activities so here are a few quick notes and recommendations from the rest of our trip.
Places to eat:
- Café de Tacuba – muy auténtico, muy deliciosa
- El Moro – because you need to have a churro when you’re in Mexico anyway, why not have a famous one!
- La Cervecería de Barrio – BEST steak tacos and mojitos I’ve EVER had!
- Try some street tacos!
A few places I wish I would have visited (guess I’ll just have to go back 😉 ) :
- Teotihuacan Pyramids – it’s a whole day thing and the first thing anyone recommends when visiting Mexico City. We just didn’t have enough time…
- Museo Frida Kahlo
- Luis Barragán houses
- Museo de Arte Moderno
- Museo Mural Diego Rivera
- Mercado de artesanias “Ciudadela” – We stopped here just before we had to catch our plane and I really wish I would have gone here on day 1 when I still had all of my pesos! SO many beautiful and authentic items. It really makes one think about redecorating their entire house.
I didn’t know what to expect from visiting Mexico City. For some reason, it was just never on the top of my bucket list, but I am so happy I had the opportunity to go! There’s so much culture, so much history, so much delicious food, so much color, and the people are truly one of a kind. I’ll definitely be back!
