 | Bosque de Chapultepec, Mexico City | | | | | Brekke Fletcher | Newsletter Editor | | | The first time I went to Mexico City I was bleary-eyed. I had tacked it on after a very long trip, and I immediately regretted that choice upon disembarking the aircraft early in the morning. Who do I think I am? Some kind of tireless road warrior who never says die? My middle name is die. I wanted to lie down. I arrived at the hotel to find my room unready. I was real dirty. Real pissy. I can say this because it was me. I was a little bitch. I just couldn't see things clearly and I was out of my comfort zone. I decided to ramble from Condesa, Mexico City's hub of culture to explore a bit of La Roma, ground zero for all things cool, both neighborhoods that had been highly recommended by friends for walking around. And as I wandered in search of a cafe to caffeinate and people watch, I began to become a bit more excited to be where I was. And once I sat down with a very strong coffee and listened to the cacophony and witnessed the whir of activity, all noisy and beautiful and colorful and alive, I admonished myself for forgetting the number one rule of travel: Be present. CDMX – what can I say? The city shook me. And seduced me. And beguiled me. One of our routinely-deployed travel writing tropes is: When is the best time to go to this place or that place? And while there are certainly valuable answers to that question, my answer for Mexico City is always just go. Whenever you can and as often as you can. For further evidence of its charms, I reached out to Mexico City-based food and travel writer, Lydia Carey. After living in La Roma for nearly a decade, she has nothing but insights and ideas and fantastically specific thoughts on what makes Mexico City so great, so unlike anywhere else on earth. Listening to her opine about the city's distinct neighborhoods, the markets, the metro, the street vendors and parks and architecture and history and culture inspired me to return as soon as humanly possible. If you haven't been, go. If you have, go again. Read more: The best places to eat in Mexico City in 2022 | | | | | Brekke Fletcher is a travel writer and editor whose work has appeared in TIME Magazine, The Wall Street Journal and CNN. Now she oversees Newsletters for Lonely Planet and loves every minute of it. | | | Here are a few additional suggestions from Mexico City-based writer and guide, Lydia Carey, for what to see, eat, drink and do in Mexico City. | | | | | See the view from the top of Torre Latinoamericana. I think it's really important to give you a sense of where you are. | | | | | Have a drink at Handshake. It's a new speakeasy in the Juarez. They have mini versions of cocktails. | | | | | Explore Xochimilco. These canals and chiampas are a really important ecosystem that needs to be safeguarded in Mexico City. | | | | | Have tamales at Doña Emi. They're totally, completely, insanely good. You don't know how good they are until you get there. | | | | | Stay at El Patio 77. It's a really good bed and breakfast-style hotel in San Rafael. | | | Is there a "best time" to visit Mexico City? | There's not really a "bad' time to go, but sometimes are better than others, especially if you can't stand rain. Our take: It's not too early to book a trip to CDMX for this year's holiday season. | | | Mexico City-based writer Lydia Carey is the author of La Roma and operates Mexico City Streets, which crafts itineraries and tours for visitors of all stripes. Here, she shares some of her favorite things about the capital. | | | | Bosque de Chapultepec, Mexico City | | | | | How long have you been in Mexico City? | I moved to Mexico about 15 years ago. First, I lived in San Miguel de Allende, and then I moved to Mexico City to work for the English language newspaper there, which is now defunct. I've been in Mexico City for about nine years now. | | | How do you describe Mexico City to those who haven't been there? | I still haven't totally come up with my perfect description for it. But one thing I will say is that Mexico City is super loud. | There's the sweet potato vendor and the trash pickup and the gas guy and the water guy and the traffic and people honking their horns and people selling things and bike bells and then there'll be like a marching band and a protest. | It's just one of the noisiest places I've ever been in my entire life. | | | | | You'll find the best street food in neighborhoods with the most office workers, like Narvarte. | | | | | I'm doing a mix of several different things: travel and food writing in Mexico City, and I do a lot of stuff that's specifically about Mexico City that kind of falls in sort of a hazy category. | I wrote a book about my neighborhood, La Roma, in 2015, and I've been working on updating that. I also do trip planning and tours, through my website Mexico City Streets. | | | So you literally "wrote the book" on La Roma? | Yes. And I'm not over the Roma, but I've been there for nine years, and there are so many other really interesting neighborhoods – but La Roma is so beautiful, so walkable and has so many great restaurants. It has this bohemian chic. It's an amazing place for people to start their journey in Mexico City. | | | | | "If you want to make the effort to really explore the city, you could be exploring it for the rest of your life." | | | Do you feel that Mexico City is not for people unwilling to be a bit uncomfortable occasionally? | It's a very intense experience. I'm not denying that. Some people totally love it and other people are like: get me out of here. You know, 28 million people live here; it's totally insane all the time. | My number one complaint is the pollution. We're a big boiling pot of pollution. I hate it. | | | But there are green spaces and lovely streets, too. | I really like Bosque de Chapultepec. I have a really soft spot for the park. It is really stunning, and I think people under-appreciate it. There are all these paths behind the castle that people never walk on and no one is ever there. It's just totally beautiful. It's three times the size of Central Park. | There are also parts of Polanco that I think are really nice. There's a little horseshoe- shaped section down by the Parque Lincoln, which is really nice. | | | | | Public transportation is a great way to get around. The metro and the bus system are easy to understand. | | | And there are so many museums, too. | | | Do you have a favorite market? | I love any market, but Mercado de la Merced, which is the second largest market, is one of my favorite places in all of Mexico City. | It's a little dicey for people to go on their own if they've never been there and if they don't speak any Spanish. It's a massive labyrinth with like 25,000 vendors and five different buildings. It's got its own Metro stop. | | | Do you think people should use hotels or Airbnbs? | First-timers might be more comfortable in a hotel or a small bed and breakfast-type place, but the reason I prefer Airbnbs is that it's really nice to have a place to put stuff if you go to a fantastic market. I think it is really beneficial to at least have a little kitchen. | You don't want to go to the market and not buy mangoes if you want mangoes! | | | | How would you rate this newsletter? | | | This email was sent to you by: | Lonely Planet Publications Ltd. | 1101 Red Ventures Drive, Fort Mill, SC 29707 | | | |
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