Mexico City Hit List — Someday Sherpa

Sep 2

Sep 2 Mexico City Hit List

Mexico City - museums, music, chilli and Spanish.

Flying in to Mexico City, you can't help but be in awe of the sheer size of this expansive city. It sprawls for thousands of square kilometres and has a halo of smog floating over the 21 million residents. Touching down, you arrive at 2,400 metres which left me breathless after climbing four flights of stairs to get to our hostel room. Nope, no elevators here. Thank goodness for Sherpa who diligently made sure the bags reached the room. He didn't even ask for a tip.

So shit - Spanish is a thing. Very much a thing. Not many people speak English and I'm cursing myself for being an ill-prepared tourist and not learning Spanish prior. I'm working hard to pick things up and my explanatory hand gestures are working over-time - but they're not very effective. Hands up if you stand out as an ignorant gringo 🙌

Sherpa and I had a great trip down from San Franscisco. It was a 3am start for us to make our 6am flight. He had all the bags ready to go and even a few healthy snack packs for our journey. Truly he went above and beyond - he's kind of cute 😉

But enough of Sherpa, here's our hit list for Mexico City.

DO

Ride the Metro (subway) everywhere. It's only 5pesos per trip and it's very easy to navigate. Even for a navi-guesser like me.
Museo Nacional de Antropología
- This place is impressive. Fill your head with knowledge about the history of mankind evolution along with an in depth look at the history of how Mexico became Mexico. It's a cultural insight you should definitely invest in before exploring anything else - especially the pyramids.
- Only 65peso. We rode the city bikes there from the Historic city - only a short 3km and there is a bike lane the whole way.
Museo Frida Kahlo
- Get an inside look into Frida's colourful world for only 120peso.
- Again, we cycled here from Condesa - a little further than anticipated - 9km. No bike lanes, a little hairy at times. Actually, hairy at all times. Despite the appearance of utter chaos on the roads, it is organised chaos. My tip is to keep your eyes on the road, and cars, trucks and people will move around you.
Museo Nacional de Historia
- We didn't go in but hiked up the hill for a decent view of the city.
Watch the world go by at The Zocalo, Mexico City's huge, central square - one of the worlds largest. Catederal Metropolitana watches over the square.
Explore Condesa
- This is the trendy, vibrant part of the city. I highly recommend staying in this area and have been told by many people that The Red Treehouse is a brilliant choice (US$95per night so out of our budget)

EAT & DRINK

Slow cooked pork tacos from the roadside street stall. Hands down the best tacos I have ever had. This place was recommended by a fellow traveller and no shit - this is how he described it to me so I could find it in a sea of street stalls:

"Look for the fat man with the big trunk on Rosales Street".

Fish tacos at Trahinera, Old City
Cerveza (beer) with everything

SLEEP

Hostel DF Suites
- Private room with ensuite for 500pesos per night
- Free breakfast & wifi with super friendly staff

IF YOU DARE

Hire from the local public bike sharing system, there's a station almost on every block. 90peso for one day (1,500peso deposits)

OUTTA TOWN

Pyramids - Teotihuacan
- You can take a tour from Mexico City (550peso) but we opted to DIY. It's significantly cheaper and more time efficient - coming in at a total of 380peso and 3 hours (as opposed to 550peso each and 7 hours).
- DIY: take Metro yellow line to Autobuses del Norte and then find terminal 8 to buy your bus ticket to the Pyramids. Bus takes 1hr. On the way back you get a bus from a different spot from where you are dropped off. It is bus stop Dos and is closer to the middle sized pyramid at the end of Death Rd.
- Tips: bring food and drinks with you as there is nothing to buy inside the pyramids.

THE TALLY