Mexico City

When people think of Mexico many different things might come to mind. Some might think of the culture, the wonderful food, beaches and resorts. Others might think of more difficult things such as violence in Mexico, crime and the situation at the border between the US and Mexico. Many people in the US might be afraid to visit Mexico due to some of these things. We have been to Cozumel, Ensenada, Tulum, and the upper Yucatan and found things pretty safe and nice in the past. We decided to after looking at US State Department reports and reading a lot of personally testimonials on travel blogs that Mexico City would be a good place to visit. We were not disappointed. As long as you plan ahead and get guidance Mexico City is a wonderful (and sometime chaotic) place to visit. Here is our experience in one of the largest cities in the world and the largest city in North America!

Getting To Mexico City and Transportation

Mexico City has two international airports that you can fly to. I can only recommend flying into Mexico City as driving there takes you through some of the more dangerous border regions and states that are not recommended to travel trough. The largest airport and the one closest to the city center is the Benito Juarez International Airport (Airport code MEX). The airport is around 20-30 minutes from the historical center depending on the traffic. The second smaller and very new international airport is Felipe Angeles International Airport (Airport Code NLU). It is 30 miles North-East of the historical center. Many different airlines fly to Mexico City but we choose Aeromexico which is the national carrier of Mexico. We found Aeromexico a wonderful airline with both flights leaving slightly early, the service and snacks were great and they had TVs at each seat where you could watch many different movies and TV series. In Mexico City, they have a Subway and bus system but it is very congested and pickpocketing can be common on board. Renting a car would be very difficult as the streets are congested and it could be easy to get lost. Uber is also a safe option to get around. There are Taxis but you need to make sure you have your hotel call one or go to an official Taxi Stand. We decided to book transfers through Viator and used Luxury Transfers. Our driver Christian was great and was waiting for us after baggage claim and meet us at the hotel to go home right on time. We also booked all we did with Viator to see the main places to see in Mexico City. It gave us a guide that keep us in the good areas of Mexico City.

Country Information

Most US Citizens won’t need a visa or need to fill out any paperwork to enter Mexico. You just need a valid passport. I always recommend checking the US State Department website to check entry information for a country before you go just in case things change. We had no problem getting through after we were asked basic questions. Spanish is the official language and in Mexico City it will help greatly if you know some basic Spanish when out and about because you cannot guarantee they will know English being in their country. Our Spanish was good enough to get us through most conversations. At the time of the writing the Mexican Peso is worth about $.05 dollars so a dollar can go pretty far. Some people will take US Dollars but the Peso is preferred. As with any country situations can change so pay attention to US State Department warnings in a location.

Mexico City Safety

As with any large city in the world there is crime and areas of the city you should not visit. From some of the research I did before I left I found that the crime rate in Mexico City is not that much different than some of the major cities in the US. I also found that the if you stay in areas like the Historical Center (Centro Historica), the Paseo de la Reforma, Coyoacan, and some other areas you are pretty safe. There is a heavy police presence we found in main areas such as the Zocalo. You do want to take precautions such as not showing your phones or any signs that could be perceived as wealth (we do this everywhere we travel to avoid unwanted attention) and consider carrying a small back pack. Carry it in front if the crowds are large. Keep your passports in your safe at the hotel versus with you. I would not recommend walking around at night as I wouldn’t recommend it in downtown Houston to be honest on many days. Our hotel (The Hampton Inn Centro Historico) had great security and we always felt safe. You also have to be prepared for earthquakes in Mexico City as they do occur throughout Mexico. I’ll write more about it below but we did have an earthquake occur while we were there and heard the earthquake alarms. Most people have heard of “Montezuma’s Revenge” (Traveler’s Diarrhea) and that can happen if you drink the tap water or eat unclean food so be careful in that area. We bought bottled water everywhere we went and for our room to brush our teeth just in case.

What We did In Mexico City

We had a very quick weekend trip to Mexico City so we only really had Friday and Saturday to enjoy the city. We flew in on Thursday night and left a little after Noon on Sunday. While in Mexico City we had the opportunity to do many different things such as seeing Chapultepec Castle and Park, watch the Voladores “The Aztec (Mexica) Pole Flyers”, The National Anthropology Museum, The Angel of Independence Monument, Reforma, the ancient city of Teotihuacan with its massive Moon and Sun Pyramids, the Zocalo (the main square in Mexico City that contains The National Palace and the Main Cathedral of Mexico City. We finished up at The Templo Mayor Museum which has the ruins of the main temple of the Mexica (Aztec) capital of Tenochtitlan. We of course also got some great food while in Mexico City!

Our First Day's Tour

On our first day we were picked up by our great tour guide Jorge. We booked with Viator and was able to get a private tour so we could talk and ask all the questions we wanted about the different sites. This tour was a full day tour that took us to many of the sites we saw inside Mexico City. Its great to have a guide as good as Jorge was as he knew the city and its history well. Here’s what all we did on the tour!

Chapultepec Castle and Park

Our first stop on the tour was to visit one of the only Royal Palaces in North America (all the Royal Palaces are found in Mexico that are in North America). We walked through the large, nice and green Chapultepec Park that included a lake for people to rent boats at. Chapultepec Castle is on top of Chapultepec Hill. We learned from Jorge that Chapultepec means “The Hill of the Grasshoppers” and you will see sculptures and emblems of Grasshoppers around. Chapultepec Castle reminds me on the palaces in Europe with grand hallways and bedrooms. It also is full of beautiful murals depicting times in Mexican History. On the ceiling one depicts the US Storming of the Chapultepec Castle by the US Marines in the Mexican-American War (Also called the US Invasion in Mexico). There was also beautiful Stained Glass Windows imported from Europe and some great views of Mexico City. Its a must see place when coming to Mexico City and our guide did great telling us the history.

The Dance of the Flyers

As we were walking through Chapultepec Park to head to our next stop we happened upon a group that was performing the Danza de los Voladores. They climbed high up the pole and started flying down while spinning. Its an ancient ritual the bring the rain. The performers are not paid so they sold items and asking for tips. It was a great experience in the park on the way to the National Museum of Anthropology. We once again felt completely safe walking through the very nice park the entire time with our guide. It felt like any park in the US.

The National Anthropology Museum

Mexico is a country that is full of history and culture. There are many advanced ancient cultures that lived throughout Mexico. For example the Mayan People built large cities with tall pyramids such as in Chichen Itza on the Yucatan. The Mexica People (Aztecs) built the huge city of Tenochtitlan that is now Mexico City. Also near Mexico City is the more ancient city of Teotihuacan with multiple giant pyramids such as the Sun and Moon pyramids that are a little smaller than the ones in Egypt. With so much history it shouldn’t be a surprise that Mexico has a huge museum that goes over all this history. The museum is broken up into the different regions and cultures in Mexican history. They have a large Mayan and Mexica (Aztec) areas for example. They have many different artifacts and exhibits for each area. They have outdoor exhibits as well that include replicas of temples and sites. The museum is huge and will take you a good amount of time if you want to see it all in detail. We walked through with our guide and saw the most important parts.

The Angel of Independence and Reforma

We next were picked up by our driver and drove down Reforma to see the sights to see there. Its a beautiful street with modern buildings and many fancy shops and restaurants. You can also find American restaurants such as Chilis or hotels like Hilton along the street. We have been to many European capitals and this street rivals many of their avenues with the beauty and shops available. Like in New York for example there are people dressed as things such as the Transformers you can take pictures with. In the center of Reforma is the famous Angel of Independence monument with its Gold Angel on top. Its the center of a large traffic circle and we stopped to get some great pictures of it. Our last stop of the day was to visit the Palace of Fine Arts on Reforma. Its a grand building that also rivals halls in Europe. Inside it has a beautiful Art Deco Architecture and more famous murals painted. .

The Zocalo

Our final stop before we headed back to the hotel was a stop in the main square of Mexico City. Its a huge and busy place that has the National Palace (the Capital building) and the main Cathedral of Mexico City. It also has the Templo Mayor that once was the capital of the Aztec Empire. You can still see the ruins of the site and the museum. Near the Templo Mayor there are many Aztec Religious leaders doing purification rituals on people. You can smell the incense as you walk by. We visited the huge cathedral that in some places is tilting due to the ground it sits on. They were preparing the square for the Dia de los Muertos celebrations so it was busy with activity. A huge Mexican flag is in the center of the square. You can buy anything from vendors and shops in the area. Its a place to watch for pickpockets but we also never felt unsafe there. After the visit we headed back to our hotel for the evening.

The Earthquake

After a nice dinner at our hotel we headed up to our room for bed. We were aware Mexico City like other places in the world is in a seismic and volcanic zone with the Popocatepetl volcano not too far away. Its a risk similar to going to California when it comes to Earthquake. The extra issue in Mexico City is being built on a lakebed the soil is more susceptible to shaking. Mexico has worked hard to give as much notice as possible before an Earthquake. We turned out the lights at around 11pm (23:00) and headed to bed. A few minutes later we were awoken to loud sirens going off around the city screaming “Alerta Sismica”. I knew from research that meant we had around 60 seconds before the Earthquake hit. We got our shoes on and grabbed our phones and headed down the emergency stairs. We went outside with other hotel guests and waited for awhile to see what was going to happen. Some said they felt the Earthquake but we did not. It ended up there was a strong 5.9-6.0 Earthquake in Oaxaca South of Mexico City that triggered the alarms. There was thankfully no damage in Mexico City but it was a fairly scary experience not knowing what was going to happen. Its good to know the emergency plan if you visit a region that can have natural disasters.

Our Second Day of Touring

For me I didn’t get too much sleep after the Earthquake not knowing if there would be aftershocks but all was fine and the next day we started our next tour. On this tour we were once again picked up at our hotel and then were taken outside of Mexico City to the Ancient City of Teotihuacan. We drove through the suburbs of Mexico City on the way where we saw many aerial tramways that help the locals get around the many hills in the area. Once we arrived we started touring the massive city.

Teotihuacan

The ancient city that predates the Mexica (Aztecs) is a huge place that is only partially excavated. In many areas you can still see preserved paintings of things such as birds and jaguars. We walked through many different rooms and buildings and then made our way to the grand street that connected the large Moon and Sun pyramids. There are many smaller pyramids along the way. We bought some obsidian from some vendors that were walking around the site. The pyramids are giant. You are no longer able to walk to the top of the Pyramids but with the altitude we didn’t want to try it even if we could. After walking through the main pyramid area we drove over to the elaborate but smaller Temple of Quetzalcoatl. Quetzalcoatl is a serpent and you can see many different carvings into the pyramid. The site is very impressive and is of course a Unseco World Heritage Site. After our nice walking tour we headed back to our hotel to freshen up and do a little more touring in the afternoon on our own.

Templo Mayor

We decided after all our tours were done that we would walk the few blocks from our Hotel back to the Zocalo to visit the Templo Mayor Museum. There you can get a close up view of what is left of the main temple of the Mexica Empire (Aztecs). Cortez and the Spanish destroyed much of it but you can still see some of the colors of the temple and some of the carvings into the stone. The museum is pretty large with it being multiple stories of artifacts and the history of the city that the Spanish destroyed and built what is Mexico City over it. We spent an hour or two visiting the museum before we headed back to our hotel to get ready for our nice dinner at a fancy Mexican Food restaurant we made reservations for.

Azulisimo (Very Blue)

A friend of mine from work who lives in Mexico suggested we visit Azul Historico as the food and setting is wonderful and it was a short walk from our hotel. We looked into reservations and they were sold out. We found they had another location called Azulisimo also close by so I snatched up the reservations they had left and we headed over. The inside of the restaurant was very nice with trees and a nice high ceiling. It had a Mexican flare to it. We ordered a variety of different things since we skipped lunch and wanted to try the dishes. We got guacamole with chips and also tortilla soup for starters. The presentation of everything was immaculate. Our soup was in a bowl that the top was a “Dia De Los Muertos” lady. We also tried some very strong Mezcal from Oaxaca that was served in a decorative gourd. I ordered a traditional Mexico City dish called Huarache that is a seasoned steak (Carne Asada) below a tortilla with salad, beans and cheese. It was huge and very good. I love Latin style steaks as they are very flavorful. Donna got Mole Cheese Enchiladas that were also good. The meal was very good and I am thankful this restaurant was suggested by my friend. Its always good to speak with someone familiar with an area if you can to get insights like this. While it wasn’t a cheap meal we still got a lot for the amount we paid and it would have been more expensive back home (the meal was around $90 with tip).

Where to Stay

We stayed as mentioned above in the Historical Center at the Hampton Inn Centro Historico. The Hampton Inn we found was nice with large rooms, had a good breakfast and had a lot of security so we felt safe at the hotel. There were families and other people staying in the hotel. There are plenty of other hotel options in the Centro Historico and in the Reforma area. Like with any large city do a bit of research to make sure you are staying in a good area of the city.

In Conclusion

On Sunday we got picked up on time by our transfer service and we headed back to Mexico City International Airport. Being a Sunday morning traffic was pretty light. At the airport there was a decent amount of security with us being asked before we checked in questions surrounding our bags to check for any kind of illegal activity. The security was also very strict taking a look in each of our bags. With the possibilities of trafficking I can understand wanting to be extra careful so I had no issue with the extra checks. Our flight boarded early and we got home just fine. We really enjoyed Mexico City and we felt just a safe there doing the trip the way we did it as we would in many US cities. Mexico I feel has an unfair reputation around safety in some parts of the country. Do not get me wrong there are areas especially around the border and even neighborhoods in Mexico City that are not safe but as long as you take precautions I feel destinations like Mexico City are generally safe and very enjoyable. Mexico has a unique and very long history and has a great culture. Its well worth giving it a chance as you will be rewarded as we were while there!

If you are Interested in this trip:

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