FlyerTalk Forums - Mexico City / CDMX: Top Tips (Where To Stay, Eat, Drink & Visit)

Hi FT'ers!

My boyfriend and I are currently in the beginning of a 1 year trip through Latin America and Asia, having just spent 2.5 INCREDIBLE weeks in Mexico City. We loved the city so much that we have no reservations about calling it our favourite city in the whole world (so far). YES, it is that cool!

So for anyone (thinking of) going and looking for tips, we've assembled a few top tips - Mexico City for dummies / the uninitiated, if you will ;-)

So without further ado, here you have our best advice:

- Where to stay: we stayed at hostel Mundo Joven Catedral, which is very cheap (15 eur per night for 2 dorm beds) and located right on Mexico City's main square, the Zocalo. What we love most about this hostel is definitely the incredible rooftop bar, Terraza. Cocktails overlooking the Catedral Metropolitana, anyone? You'll find them here. It's one of the city's most famous rooftop bars - and you're guaranteed access if you stay at the hostel.

- What to do: you won't be short on activities in Mexico City. The city has over 160 museums and many, many other sites to explore. You'll probably want to spend at least a day in the Centro Historico (historic city center), checking out the Templo El Mayor (Aztec ruins), brief visit to the Catedral Metropolitana, Palacio Postal (incredible postal office) and Palacio de Bellas Artes (one of the most famous buildings in the city - it's exquisite). We made a video about our time exploring the Centro Historico which you can check out here (there's insect food and Mexican wrestling involved as well!!):

Aside from that, take the trip to Bosque Chapultepec to visit both the Chapultepec castle and the best museum I have EVER been to: the Museo Nacional de Antropologia. The latter has over 12 halls that you can either browse through in 1-2-3 hours or, alternatively, if you're a history or culture buff, you can probably spend a whole day there. The Frida Kahlo museum, built around Mexico's most famous (female) artist, in Coyoacan is also really worthwhile. The setting of the museum alone, in the house where Frida lived with her (fellow famous artist) husband Diego Rivera, is worth the trip over. It's tranquil & beautiful.

Also make sure to visit either Roma or Condessa, both of which have a lot of street art, art galleries, quirky restaurants & cafes. You'll LOVE it. I know we did.

- Where to eat: this is difficult. There are SO many options for food in this megalopolis that you can find good, reasonable priced food just about anywhere. Our meal of choice was usually tacos, the traditional Mexican fare. It comes in endless variations, but we most loved the ones from Mama Choncha (1 block off the Zocalo - try the El Pastors here) and El Pescadito (best seafood tacos ever. Wait, scratch that - best tacos ever. Try the Campechano and the Chile Relleno de Marlin).

If you want something very fancy, go to Rosa Negra, which has a club-meets-restaurant atmosphere and is simply unbelievable. Both the service and the food are excellent!

If you want something quirky, try insect appetizers at Limosneros, which serves traditional pre-Hispanic food. You'd be surprised that it's actually better than it sounds!

- Where to drink: I refer to my point about Terraza, the rooftop bar overlooking the cathedral. One of the coolest spots we've been. Otherwise, visit the Pata Negra bar near the Zocalo - the place gets PACKED with salsa dancers on weekends and has free 1 hour salsa classes on Thursday.

Sigh... Now I want to go back! Anyway, I really hope this post helped you if you were looking for pointers on Mexico City - or inspired you to go if you previously weren't thinking of doing so. Have any questions? Please ask, I'd be happy to answer them!

Happy travels,
Kim