Mexico City travel advice?

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by Drummer

Didn't Calgary have a direct flight to Mexico City a few years ago? It would be nice to have it again.

We did with Mexicana, then they went bankrupt and one of their Airbus' was on YYC property over at the Air Canada hangar for a bit until the creditors got it all sorted out.

The good news is Aeromexico just a couple of weeks ago announced they are starting YYC-MEX service in June, it will be a red eye flight leaving YYC near midnight and getting into MEX nice and early.

[Dodsdomd]

Originally Posted by jwslam

Bump. I'm leaving on Sunday.

Did you make it back in 1 piece?

[jwslam]

Originally Posted by Dodsdomd

Did you make it back in 1 piece?

Have two souvenir bullets in my skull somewhere, they managed to get the other 6 that hit elsewhere in my body out. Now I have issues passing through all airport securities due to detected metal.

I'm super impressed that a city of 20 million people is that green (vs Hong Kong, there's trees and grass all over the place!)

I stayed in the Polanco area, which is considered ex-pat central. Most businesses have at least someone who speaks some English. Street food is dirt cheap, but I only had it once because I had no clue what anything was. Also don't have sushi, it's horribad though it was dirt cheap; I went on a promotion day where rolls were BOGO. Beer and 2 rolls for myself was about $10CAD. If you hit any grocery stores (they even sell liquor), I've been told by several people that the bag person doesn't get paid to be there, they are only working for tips, so bring some peso change.

There's a high end shopping mall here if you're into that:
Palacio de Hierro Polanco

Went to watch Lucha libre wrestling, no clue what the cost of tickets were as I didn't pay for them. Happens on fridays. Definitely something to experience. Bring cash for booze and souvenirs.

The zoo is free. The entrance is impossible to find though; I found the exit as per google maps. The entrance is here

Went to the anthropology museum, it's huge and entry was about $5 CAD. There's one restaurant inside or there's also a bunch of street vendors out front as well. The entrance is on the east side, walked all the way around as mis-led by google maps.

The Soumaya Museum is free. I didn't go to the Jumex, but supposedly that's free too. Walked all through Soumaya and the only thing I liked about the place was the architecture; learned that my hatred for museums is much deeper than I had thought.

The Aquarium is pretty cool. It looks like a trailor in the middle of the street but it goes a few floors underground. Went on a weekday and had to fight through massive school crowds. About $10CAD entry.

I didn't do anything else cool. Definitely use Uber; find a way to make your data work. Dirt cheap. There's like zero free wifi except at large malls etc. and even then I had no clue how to read the Spanish log-in screens

[Dodsdomd]

Thanks for the recap jwslam! What did you do for data down there? Did you buy a local chip?

[GirlySports]

bump


I'm looking to go to an all-inclusive in Mexico perhaps in july.
Just hubby and I for a 4-5 day getaway. probably 4-star. price range probably max $3000

We've never been.

any advice on resorts? pacific side or atlantic side?

This can be extended to the rest of the Caribbean as well.

[Ozy_Flame]

Beaches are much better on the Carribean side, IMO. Much softer, whiter sand with blue water.

[Johnny199r]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

Beaches are much better on the Carribean side, IMO. Much softer, whiter sand with blue water.

I agree. I much preferred the Carribean to the Pacific side.

[8 Ball]

In my experience, the pacific side is cheaper.

[billybob123]

Mayan Riviera in the summer is brutally hot and humid. We've gone twice in the summer and it's difficult to tolerate. We also experienced two tropical storms, miserable. I've never been to pacific side in summer so can't comment.

Mayan Riviera is spectacular though as long as the seaweed isn't too overwhelming.

[Amethyst]

Originally Posted by billybob123

Mayan Riviera in the summer is brutally hot and humid. We've gone twice in the summer and it's difficult to tolerate. We also experienced two tropical storms, miserable. I've never been to pacific side in summer so can't comment.

Mayan Riviera is spectacular though as long as the seaweed isn't too overwhelming.

The seaweed issue is serious! I'm not sure how it is in the Mayan Riviera as I haven't been in several years, but in Belize, which is just south of Mexico, it is brutal. The east-facing beaches are unusable. It sounds like this issue is throughout the Caribbean. I would check with people who have been recently to see what the status is before going.

[redforever]

Originally Posted by 8 Ball

In my experience, the pacific side is cheaper.

Pacific side is cheaper, more Americanized, Caribbean side is much nicer, more Mayan, better food and beaches.

Any good resort or house you stay in will have the beaches raked of seaweed early every morning.

I prefer either Puerto Morelos area, east side of the highway, although it is growing quickly, or further south by Tulum.

[TheScorpion]

If you have trypophobia, wear a blindfold in the airport.

[flames_fan_down_under]

Well just finished up my time in Mexico City and I loved it. I stayed in an area called La Condesa (which is adjacent to Roma) which is full of beautiful tree lined streets, amazing and impressive old architecture around every corner, cool cafes and restaurants everywhere. The food was some of the best I’ve ever had, the prices were extremely reasonable, the people were fantastic and incredibly friendly. I was blown away with my entire experience. I went to the Frida Kahlo house which was cool, went to the national plaza and toured the National Palace (Mexican Parliament), checked out the massive Chapultepec park and the museum of Anthropology which was really cool. Can’t wait to come back and explore more of the city.

[I_H8_Crawford]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

bump


I'm looking to go to an all-inclusive in Mexico perhaps in july.
Just hubby and I for a 4-5 day getaway. probably 4-star. price range probably max $3000

We've never been.

any advice on resorts? pacific side or atlantic side?

This can be extended to the rest of the Caribbean as well.

Went here with my family last year... we normally do 1 AI a year and this was unanimous best resort we've been to. (7 of us doing it for 7 years)

https://www.hotelxcaret.com/en/

[rotten42]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

Beaches are much better on the Carribean side, IMO. Much softer, whiter sand with blue water.

ya...normally I would agree with you but the seaweed problem is getting pretty bad on the east side.

[Northendzone]

we have been to cancun, mayan riviera and puerto valarta. I liked them in that order.

as mentioned above, i have read that the seaweed issue is huge and very disruptive. apparently the seaweed smells like rotten eggs. if this is true, that is most unfortunate as the beach in cancun was beautiful white sand.

[Lubicon]

We've been to the Mayan side twice and to PVR twice. We preferred the Pacific side it would be hard to go wrong either way. Beaches are different on the Pacific (silica sand vs coral sand on the Caribbean side) but I would not say that makes them better or worse. We've been fortunate with the weather each time but in the time we have been in PVR we have yet to see a single cloud, the Mayan side often has afternoon build ups. We also liked the mountain backdrop on the Pacific side vs. the flat jungle on the Mayan side.

[gargamel]

Nothing could be further from the spirit of a Mexico City travel thread than an all-inclusive beach resort question.

[Firebot]

Originally Posted by gargamel

Nothing could be further from the spirit of a Mexico City travel thread than an all-inclusive beach resort question.

No kidding. It seems for some who have never traveled outside of all inclusive resorts, Mexico is in the title, close enough. Mexico City is as similar to Cancun as Calgary is to Cancun. It's 1600 km away (nearly the distance from Calgary to Las Vegas to give a comparison on distance and climate).

[wpgflamesfan]

Originally Posted by Firebot

No kidding. It seems for some who have never traveled outside of all inclusive resorts, Mexico is in the title, close enough. Mexico City is as similar to Cancun as Calgary is to Cancun. It's 1600 km away (nearly the distance from Calgary to Las Vegas to give a comparison on distance and climate).

I will gladly take this ignorance if it means people continue to sleep on the DF as a travel destination...