Exciting 72 Hours in Mexico City 🇲🇽

Mexico City was one of those cities that I have always talked about visiting but never made it because every time we talked about visiting Mexico, we would either go to Cancun or Puerto Vallarta or as far as Cabo. The first time I had tickets booked for Mexico City was in January 2022 but I tested positive for COVID-19 just 10 days before my flight and although the guidelines at the time said as long as I quarantined for 5 days and had 2 negative covid tests (which I did) after an initial positive test, I was good to go but I did not want to risk it.

Luckily I had booked my United Airlines flight to Mexico City with points and thus I was able to cancel it and get all my points back without any hassle. Fast forward to the summer of 2022, my roommate and I were brainstorming places we could take a roommate trip and I figured why not Mexico City? After doing a little bit of planning, we were set to take off the first weekend of October.

Given that Mexico City is a short 4-hour flight from Chicago, we really wanted to take advantage of the weekend plus a Monday which was a bank holiday. Making it a perfect 3-day/72-hour in Mexico City. Are you planning a trip to Mexico City? In a budget? Are you a foodie like me? Are you looking for a good time? if you answered yes to any of those questions, keep reading for a perfect itinerary to this amazing city.

Before you go

• ⏰ Best time to go: I honestly think you can really visit Mexico City any time of the year. Given its geographical location, the weather is always good. We went in October and thought it was perfect. During the day, the sun would be just perfect to go around town with joggers and a light hoodie and you can carry that on later at night.
• 📅 We went from October 7th – October 10th, 2022
• 🛂 For US citizens, you do not need special visas or anything to visit Mexico City
• 💰The currency is the Mexican peso. At the time of writing this itinerary, the conversation was 1 USD = 18 Mexican pesos.
• 🇲🇽 Language is Spanish

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Today I will go through:

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1. Airport: MXN, Aeropuerto Internacional Benito Juárez
2. Getting to the City Center
   • Metro
   • Uber
   • Bus
3. Where to stay: Selina Mexico City Downtown
4. Day 1 – Busy day exploring Mexico City
   • Breakfast at Selina
   • Gran Hotel, Zócalo Plaza
   • Mexico City Cathedral
   • Palacio Postal
   • Palacio de Bellas Artes
5. Day 2 – The Pyramids of Teotihuacán
   • Old & New Basilica de Guadalupe
   • The Sun & Moon Pyramids of Teotihuacán
   • Lunch at La Gruta
   • Arrive back in Mexico City
   • Dessert at Churrerio El Morro
6. Day 3 – Exploring the Business District
   • Breakfast at Lardo Mexico
   • Soumaya Museum

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1. ✈️ Airport: MXN, Aeropuerto Internacional Benito Juárez

There is one main airport you can fly into:

1. MXN, Aeropuerto Internacional Benito Juárez (31 minute taxi/Uber ride)

Aeropuerto Internacional Benito Juárez is considered the main airport to fly into Mexico City. It is relatively close to the city but Mexico City is known for its notorious traffic. Flying into Mexico City should be fine but if you are taking a cab to the airport, leave 3 hours before the flight. It’ll take you 1 hour + to just get to the airport.

2. Getting to the city center

Where to stay: Selina Mexico City Downtown

Selina is a big chain of hostels. They are very popular all over Central and South America. When I was in Bogota earlier this year, I had an option to stay at a Selina but I ended up going with a different hostel and so this time I really wanted to check it out.

This hostel was in a great area and had it all. From an in-house restaurant to co-working spaces for digital nomads. The hostel also hostel events for solo travelers to come together and socialize. There is a full-size kitchen if you prefer cooking and they honestly have so many open hanging-out spaces. One of the nights, we played heads-up with some of the friends we made at the hostel in one of these open hanging-out spaces.

Reserve here: Selina Mexico City Downtown

Photo Courtesy of Selina.com & Mrshutterup.com

Day 1

1. Breakfast at Selina

Start your day with some classic Mexican breakfast at the hostel. As I mentioned before, the hostel has a full on-site restaurant that serves breakfast to dinner. I ordered Salsa Verde Vegetarian Chilaquiles and it was really good.

2. Gran Hotel, Zócalo Plaza

Before coming to Mexico City, I had seen so many videos and photos of this iconic ceiling at Gran Hotel and I made sure it was on my list of things to see in Mexico City. In terms of visiting the hotel for photos, you can absolutely do that for free even if you are not staying there. The only thing you will have to remember is that you can only take photos with your phone cameras. Taking photos on your professional cameras is prohibited. The hotel also has a rooftop with a view of the main Zócalo square.

3. Mexico City Cathedral

The best part about making Gran Hotel your first stop in the day is that everything else is within a walkable distance from here. After the beautiful Gran Hotel, visit the Mexico City Cathedral. When I was there, the cathedral was going through some major construction and I couldn’t go in for that reason but I was able to check out the small adjoining church. The church itself was beautiful from the outside and inside. The church has two main entrances. South (facing the main square) and East (facing Seminario St.) The main entrance on the main square side is decorated heaving with white stone carvings.

4. Palacio Postal

Mexico City has a lot of hidden gems. Just like the Gran Hotel and its colorful ceiling, Mexico City’s oldest post office is an artistic building in itself.

It was opened 100+ years ago and it still operates as any post office in the world would. One of the main ground floors houses a small museum dedicated to displaying the history of Mexico’s mail service. Its crown jewel is the invaluable, very first stamp Mexico ever issued, which true philatelists find among the most titillating postal relics on display anywhere in the world today. 

There are a lot of souvenir shops and stand outside of the post office. Take this chance to mail yourself or someone you love a postcard. Something I’ve learned to do over the years of my travel is that it’s not always possible to bring back physical souvenirs with you especially if you travel light like me. Either they break or are too heavy for my carry-on size bag 😅

This has made me opt out for a different kind of souvenir. I always try to mail myself a postcard from the country/city I’m in. This way, I get a “souvenir” in the mail a few weeks after I’m already home, reminding me of the good time and stamps that go on that postcard are all so unique from each country and let’s not talk about how CHEAP it is.

5. Palacio de Bellas Artes

Palacio de Bellas Artes is the main cultural center in Mexico City and hosts notable events in music, dance, theatre, opera, and literature in Mexico and has held important exhibitions of painting, sculpture, and photography.

This is the main downtown square of Mexico City and so it is very crowded. Especially during the afternoon, plus to make things a little more difficult, there was a protest going on and so not only the streets were filled with activists but there was a lot of security including cops at every intersection. I felt completely safe but with so many people, I was concerned about pickpocketing but besides that, it was a very safe environment.

I did go inside the cultural center and thought it was okay. After looking at the building from the outside, I had very high expectations of what would be inside. All the cultural pieces were great but the building itself is very plain from the inside. The high dome ceiling is one thing that was very cool but even then I thought it would’ve been stained or something.

6. Take a break at Finca Don Porfirio

One of the best spots to see the Palacio de Bellas Artes is from this cafe across the street called Finca Don Porfirio. This cafe is located in a Sears (American department store) across Palacio de Bellas Artes.

After spending some time exploring the city, take some rest here, have some coffee and do while people watching. When you come up to the cafe, you get assigned a table in the back but once the ledge “bar” style spaces become available, you can move there to get a full and undisturbed view of the Palacio.

The cafe was a little on the expensive side compared to other cafes around the town and I’m assuming it’s because of the view which was definitely worth it though.

7. Dinner at Ling Ling Mexico City

It’s an Asian-inspired cuisine restaurant with a Mexican Asian fusion menu. I got the “Treasures from the Land” vegetarian sushi and it was really good. It’s located in The Ritz-Carlton and the views are beyond amazing. Like any other restaurant with good views, it was a little expensive but not as bad as something in Chicago.

Day 2

1. Old & New Basilica de Guadalupe

On our second day in Mexico City, we booked a day tour with @getyourguide because we wanted to see the Teotihuacán pyramids. The pyramids are an hour or so outside of the main metropolitan city and we could’ve honestly rented a car and gone on our own time but we opted out for GetYourGuide as they make things easier to plan things around. It was a full-day trip so be prepared to spend the day exploring the outskirts of Mexico City. The great thing about this tour was that it not only included the pyramids of Teotihuacán but it also included some other key stops along the way.

The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe was one of the stops along the way. There are two basilicas on the site. An old Basilica of Guadalupe and a New Basilica of Guadalupe. The old Basilica was built in 1709 and soon became very dangerous because of the sinking of its foundations. If you walk into the old basilica, you will realize that it is slightly slanted on the left-hand side. Due to this very reason, there was a new Modern Basilica built nearby.

There is a set of stairs you can climb behind the Basilica to get up to this viewpoint. My favorite thing about this picture is that you can see both Basilicas in the same frame.

2. Pyramids of Teotihuacán

The main attraction we were on the tour for. Teotihuacán is an ancient Mesoamerican city located in the valley of Mexico. It’s mainly known for its most architecturally significant Mesoamerican pyramids. People from all around the world come to see these pyramids and if you are visiting Mexico City, make sure it is at the very top of your things to see in Mexico City.

The two main pyramids are the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon. One in the picture is the Pyramid of the Sun. It is the third largest pyramid in the world and is often compared to the pyramids of Giza. Although it’s considered the third largest in the world, it’s still just over half the size of the pyramids in Egypt. The Pyramid of the Sun is 75 meters high whereas the Great Pyramid of Giza is 146 meters high 🤯

Not a lot was discovered when looking for artifacts in and around the pyramid but a unique historical artifact was discovered near the foot of the pyramid at the end of the 19th century and it was the Teotihuacan Ocelot, an alabaster sculpture of a cat, which is now in the British Museum’s Collection.

3. Lunch at La Gruta

La Gruta is a very impressive restaurant. Just a few steps from the pyramids is one of the most traditional and impressive places in the area. The restaurant is located in a cave which is a large cavity of volcanic origin. Right behind the pyramid of the Sun. I did not get a chance to go here since we were on a guided tour and so this is one thing I would’ve changed if I had driven myself.

4. Arrive back in Mexico City & have dinner at Selina

5. Dessert at Churrería El Moro

Mexico is known for desserts. Especially churros and hot chocolate. The best spot to go is El Moro. Go to the location in Roma Norte because it’s decorated really well and you will also find a lot of locals here. It’s actually so popular that there is usually a line around the block and you would think that it was all filled with tourists in the line but if I’m being completely honest, 80% of those standing in line were locals.

You can get the regular Churros and Hot Chocolate and/or they have a Churros ice cream sandwich which was too good. I had way too many.

Day 3

1. Breakfast at Lardo Mexico

We made some great friends at our hostel and they invited us for breakfast on our last day in Mexico City. Since we were invited for breakfast, I did not pick this restaurant but it was really good. It’s a European-Mexican fusion brunch restaurant that has a huge menu.

There is an outdoor patio which is very lively in the mornings. Make sure to get your reservations in advance as we had to wait a little bit because we decided to walk in.

2. Soumaya Museum

Soumaya Museum was by far the most unique thing I witnessed in Mexico City was this Soumaya Museum. It’s an art museum and it’s become one of the top iconic museums in CDMX. And not only because of its art but also because of the giant cube-looking silver building, tiled with 1000s of silver hexagons.

It has over 60,000 pieces of art on display from legendary Mexican artists, European icons, and otherworldly-known artists.

Given the museum has so many pieces of art, it’s nearly impossible to see them in one day. If you are short on time, the 2 recommendations are: check out works by Mexican artists like Tamayo and Riviera, and don’t forget Rodin’s “The Thinker”. “The Thinker” is right in the lobby so it’s hard to miss.

💰 FREE
⏱ Everyday 10:30-18:30 pm

3. Flight back

Overall Mexico City thoughts:

• Mexico City is NOTHING like a resort town you may have visited in Mexico. Towns like Cancún, Cabo, Puerto Vallarta, Tulum, etc.. don’t do justice to how beautiful Mexican culture and architecture are.
• Hardly any place will take credit cards. Only well-established, sit-in restaurants/places will take credit cards.
• This brings me to my 3rd point, Bring USD in cash and exchange them at BANCO AZTECA. it’s a bank and we found the BEST exchange rate here. Make sure you have your passport.
• BOOK A TOUR and definitely go see the pyramids. It’s a very unique place.
• Get ready to try all sorts of street food. Embrace it FULLY. we were there for 3 days and I don’t think we managed to even try 50% of all the different kinds of street food we saw.
• Traffic is BAD. no matter what time of the day it is. Unless it’s late at night, then you’re fine. But traffic, in general, is bad any time during the day. Try to take public transportation but Ubers are also very cheap so you make a decision on what works the best for you.
• Ubers are CHEAP but they take forever to come, given the traffic situation. We’ve had to wait at least a minimum of 10 mins every time we ordered an Uber.

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I hope you enjoyed reading my itinerary for Mexico City and I also hope that in one way or another, I’ve helped you plan your trip to this city. If you liked this, please check out my other city blog/itineraries and leave a comment! Also, let me know what else you would like me to cover on my next city blog in the comments below. I would really appreciate it. Lastly, check out my most recent 5-day itinerary about Rio De Janeiro 🇧🇷

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