TRAVEL GUIDE
for
MEXICO CITY, MEXICO
Well, hello! It’s been awhile, as always. Let’s catch up! Since my last trip recap, we had a baby. Rhys joined us in January and once we knew he was a healthy little peanut, we immediately booked a trip! Just like we did with Quinn, we planned a maternity leave grand finale adventure. Steve picks most vacation locations, but this one was my choice. Criterion: non-stop flight, minimal time zone change and good food. Enter Mexico City! Direct flight: check, 2 hour time difference: check, good food: CHECK! We’ve been to beach destinations in Mexico, but never the capital, and a beach didn’t sound like the first choice for travel with a newborn. Some may say- he will never remember this trip! True, but we will. And now Quinn is aware of where we are going and is learning by experiencing. It’s so cool to share the love of travel with them!
Thanks Rhys for giving us a reason to take a trip!
WHERE TO STAY:
The Condesa neighborhood came highly recommended. First, I came across Casa9 MX which looked awesome. Then, Steve checked his employee discount for hotels and The Four Seasons came up. Shockingly, it was discounted from $1000+ a night to around $200ish…Easy decision!! The sad part? The rate seems to have disappeared now. At least we were able to take advantage for this trip! Our rate included the incredible breakfast spread, and we also tried the restaurant and bar on-site which were also delicious.
The service was impeccable, from the staff at the rooftop pool to the little details for the kids. They had tiny bath towels, baby shampoo, rubber ducks, stuffed animals, sunglasses and more addressed to Quinn and Rhys! They better not get used to this level of pampering.
WHAT TO DO:
The museums! Did you know that Mexico City has the most museums in the world only second to London (depending on the source)? So many options!
National Museum of Anthroplogy was our first stop. It is on the edge of Chapultepec Park, which was right next to our hotel. We strolled over after a quick morning playground pit stop in the park. I wish we had some uninterrupted time to read more of the information (toddler meltdown fun), but it was a great snapshot of the history of Mexico. The center courtyard of the museum has a stunning water feature, El Paraguas or umbrella in English.
Frida Kahlo Museum was on my list, but a bit too far off the beaten path for us to fit in. There are SO MANY MORE museums but there just wasn’t enough time (or 2 year old patience) for them.
Chapultepec Park, as mentioned above, is huge. It is like the Central Park of Mexico City with multiple museums, playgrounds, a zoo, AND a castle! The trek up to the castle is long and hot but worth the view. The signage indicated no strollers, but thankfully they said you can bring them up the mountain and park outside the castle. It was very organized with tags so no one mistakenly takes the wrong one or walks off with it.
Please enjoy this bat exhibit at the park. It will give me nightmares as I have an irrational fear of these critters.
Parque Espana had a huge gated playground that provided a morning of entertainment for Quinn and happened to be near Quentin Cafe, a tiny little coffee shop.
Teotihuacan Pyramids were also high on our list, but too far away for this short trip and with little kids. I’d like to go back to see this when we aren’t constrained by time or strollers/little legs.
Instead of visiting the pyramids, we went to the ruins of Templo Mayor within the city limits. This was the main temple built in the 1300s in the capital city of Tenochtitlan before it became Mexico City.
From there, we popped into the Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral to cool off. It is free to enter and stunning inside.
It was very hot while we were there, so we did an afternoon siesta at the pool before dinner time each day. I suggest you find an inside activity or pool to visit during the hottest part of the day too!
Vacation Quinn is a vibe.
WHERE TO EAT:
Another plus side of a 2 hour time change? Early dinner! All the highly rated spots in Mexico City were booked up for prime time slots, but 4pm was available, go figure!
Cafe Milou- tiny little brunch-y spot with outdoor seating. There was a light breeze, delicious iced mocha (not too sweet) and yogurt parfaits. We noticed a wine bar next door and made a mental note to return.
Hugo- above mentioned cute and delicious natural wine bar! We decided to come here before the food poisoning (spoiler alert), so it was kind of a bummer to miss out on the wine part…but with that level of dehydration it seemed like a pretty bad idea.
Filigrana– fancy pants dinner spot, unique interior, and cricket salt on the guac.
Lardo- excellent lunch or brunch spot, but very popular so expect a wait. They gave Quinn crayons and coloring pages and we enjoyed salads and fresh juices in peace. They also were able to stow his stroller so it didn’t disappear off the sidewalk.
Botanico– by far my favorite spot on our trip. The majority of seating is outside amongst the greenery. There was a koi pond right behind our table and we were tucked into what felt like a little jungle oasis. Top notch food and drink and ambiance.
Helados Cometa- tasty ice cream in the Condesa neighborhood. Maybe used this as an incentive to Quinn to sit through dinner one night…
Quentin Cafe– cute coffee shop with multiple locations, one of which was close to the Parque Espana playground
The only miss with food (in my opinion) was El Califa for tacos, recommended by the hotel concierge. They weren’t bad by any means, but everything else was SO good that this was a little disappointing.
TRANSPORTATION:
First, the humidity is low to non-existent in Mexico City. Even if it’s hot, you aren’t a sweaty mess thanks to the breeze. We chose to walk almost everywhere. There was one destination a little too far to walk, so we Ubered. The way there was a fine, but the return trip involved a whole lot of sitting in traffic. With no A/C and no breeze. That was not fun.
TIPS:
The advice still stands “don’t drink the water” in Mexico. It wouldn’t be a Pastrick family vacation without some illness. Last trip it was a round of COVID for everyone (unknowingly until we returned home and it hit me last and realized it WASN’T food poisoning). This time, Montezuma’s Revenge struck on our last day. A 5 hour flight on the horizon led us to learn that pharmacies in Mexico have plenty of over-the-counter options thanks to Google translate. Other than the untrustworthy water, we felt safe the whole time, more so than D.C. actually. As always, use common sense when traveling but don’t be scared off by what you hear. Until next time (August in Spain to be exact, but who knows when the writeup will happen).
