We originally chose Mexico City as a stopover just for the bars - my partner and I are traveling with the "50 Best Bars" list and here are 5 of them in the top 100 (for 2025).

The main highlights of the trip were to be up around Tulum and Cancun.

In the end, though, we both remember Mexico City perhaps more than the coastal areas.

Before the trip, I was in awe of Mexico City. A little bit because of safety, but also because of its size. A population of over 20 million sounds like a place where you spend half your vacation in a taxi and the other half in traffic jams.

I struggled a bit with how to plan our stay - either too much time there (there didn't seem to be that many attractions) or too little (we had day trips planned outside of CDMX).

View the 10 best hotels in Mexico City

Where to stay during the itinerary?

We found it most helpful to split our stay between two neighborhoods.

Historic Centre (1st-3rd night)

Ideal for a first introduction to the city and its main sights.

Plus, relatively close to Uber from the airport and many organised tours depart from the centre.

• 👉 We stayed at the Gran Hotel Ciudad de México

Roma Norte (3rd-6th night)

More pleasant environment, better restaurants, bars and overall more modern atmosphere.

I would happily stay here for the whole stay next time, although it was more practical for us to have the historic centre for the first few days.

• 👉 We stayed at the NH Collection Mexico Reforma

Day 1: 4am alarm and the best morning of the whole trip

Arriving at 8pm from Europe after a 16 hour journey and a 4am alarm the very next day?

Madness or experience? That remains to be seen.

We arrive at the Gran Hotel Ciudad de México around 9:45pm and after a few hours of sleep, it's clear that this seemingly crazy plan has paid off.

We have much worse jetlag on the way west and wake up around 3:30 on our own.

• 💬 How do you fight jetlag? Share your tips in the comments below the article, thanks!

I have an Uber booked ahead for 4:30. It went without a hitch and the driver confirmed the ride sometime during the night. Still, there would be plenty of cars available downtown at that hour without an appointment.

We have about an hour drive to San Martín de las Pirmades.

Our first hot air balloon flight.

• approx. 6:00-6:45
• Detail in the article Ballooning over the pyramids in Mexico

Find out prices and book a balloon flight

After that, we take an Uber for the short drive to the Gruta Cave Restaurant. It would be walkable, but after all, fatigue and a little fear of the unknown make us more cautious.

• approx. 8:00-8:40
• we have a rich breakfast

From the restaurant we walk just a few meters to one of the main attractions at CDMX.

• approx. 9:00-10:00
• Pyramids of Teotihuacán

The grounds are huge and still not very crowded this early in the morning. The whole thing feels much less touristy than the pyramids of Chichen Itzá near Cancun, which we visited about 14 days later.

From the pyramids we take public transportation back to the CDMX center (only stop at gate 2). The ride takes about 75 minutes, not very comfortable, but we wouldn't take Uber for much less time.

We get off at the Deportivo 18 de Marzo metro station and walk to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

• about 11:45-12:45
• tour of the basilica and surrounding pilgrimage sites

It's getting pretty hot and I'm starting to show a lot of fatigue, so we take an Uber and head back downtown.

• About 13:30-15:00
• We discover the Palacio de Bellas Artesand the historic post office building opposite.
• then we have a coffee at the Finca Don Porfirio café overlooking the palace.

In the afternoon we only have the energy for a short walk back to the hotel, where our busy schedule catches up with us and we have to take a short nap.

However, as our original plan in Mexico is to visit the top bars and we want to adjust to local time as quickly as possible, we're still heading into town in the evening.

We head out for one drink at a bar called Tlecān.

Day 2: Day trip to the Tolantongo Cascades

When I first saw the photos of Grutas Tolantongo, I was a little suspicious that it was another place that looked better on Instagram than in reality.

Luckily, I was wrong.

The next day we went on a day trip to the mountains of Hidalgo State.

Grutas Tolantongo is one of the most beautiful places we visited during our whole trip in Mexico.

The thermal pools built high above the canyon look great in photos, but are even better in real life.

Since this is a day trip, I described the whole process in the article about the trip to Grutas Tolantongo.

I chose the Tolantongo trip on day 2 because the tour's starting point is only about a 7 minute walk from our hotel, which we only stayed at for the first 3 nights.

• We left Mexico City at 5:30am, returning at about 7:45pm.

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Day 3: The neighborhood that made me fall in love with Mexico City

The third day will finally be our first day, which we will spend entirely in CDMX.

In the morning, we pay for breakfast at the hotel and between 9:30-11:00am we walk around the Zócalo and the historic center.

At 11 we check out and take an Uber to our next hotel - the NH Collection in the Roma district.

And it is here that I definitely changed my mind about Mexico City.

Up until then, I had seen it mainly as a fascinating but somewhat chaotic metropolis.

The Roma district has a completely different feel.

Compare hotels in Roma (CDMX)

Wide tree-lined streets, small parks, cafes full of people working on their laptops, designer shops and restaurants on every corner.

If I were choosing a single place to stay today, I'd probably choose this neighbourhood.

In the afternoon, we walked along Paseo de la Reforma past the Angel of Independence statue and continued on to Chapultepec.

If you plan to visit any of the local museums or Chapultepec Castle, feel free to set aside a full day here. For us, the castle was enough and we passed the museums and the famous "instagram-spot" at the Pink Wall on our way back to the hotel.

• about 12:00-13:30 coffee, walk and lunch
• approx. 13:30-14:15 walking tour of Passeo de la Reforma to the park
• 14:30-15:30 Chapultepec Castle
• 15:30-16:30 walk back to the hotel

In the afternoon we take some time to rest and are looking forward to one of the highlights of the whole trip to Mexico.

A visit to the 2nd best bar in the world according to "50Best" - Handshake Speakeasy.

But I will talk more about that in a separate article.

Day 4: Luxurious Mexico City and our biggest mistake

The next day didn't start quite as planned. First, we explored the very nice local flea market in Jardín Dr. Ignacio Chávez.

• approx. 9:00-9:45 a.m. Flea market tour

Then we wanted to visit the Frida Kahlo Museum, but only on site did we find out that tickets are usually sold out a week in advance.

No matter, at least we took our first metro ride (well, I guess I could have forgiven that) and walked around the very nice and quiet Coyoacán neighborhood.

That took us all morning and we didn't leave Coyoacán by Uber until around 11:00am to get back to the center.

We were most impressed with the pair of museums , Museo Soumaya and Museo Jumex.

• About 12:00-13:00 we spent around the museums

But even more than the exhibits themselves, I enjoyed the transformation of the city.

We went from a historic center full of colonial buildings to a neighborhood full of modern architecture, upscale shops and restaurants in a matter of days.

Then we set off on foot through the upscale Polanco district.

Walking down the most expensive street in all of Latin America - Avenida Presidente Masaryk - at times reminded me more of Paris than Mexico.

• Approx. 13:00-16:00 stroll through the Polanco district, lunch and shopping

We ended the evening just as befits Mexico City.

Cocktails in the best bars in the world.

There were two on the agenda that day - Bar Mauro and one of the first luxury bars in CDMX Licorería Limantour.

Day 5: Morning run and food poisoning

The last day in CDMX fell on Sunday, when several kilometres of streets around Passeo Reforma would be closed to cars and opened up to cyclists and runners.

We couldn't miss that, so between about 9:00-10:30am we headed out for our morning run.

It's an interesting experience, but honestly in places we don't understand a bit which streets are actually open to pedestrians and which are not.

After a shower at the hotel, we take the metro to Chinatown, Mexico. I would definitely skip that one for next time though - it's just one short street full of tourist souvenirs.

After that we take an Uber to a very interesting modern library building - Biblioteca Vasconcelos.

Around 12:30 we decide where to go next.

We want to take a cable car ride over the colorful Iztapalapa neighborhood, but it's completely on the edge of town and I google that this area is not exactly one of the safest.

In the end, we decide to take a quieter afternoon and take an Uber back to our favorite neighborhood, Roma, where we stroll through the shops and cafes.

It's probably here that we make the fatal mistake of having lunch at a quesadilla street stall.

About 2 hours later, we both start to feel sick and have the typical symptoms of food poisoning.

We get a little better in the evening, so we go to tick off the last bar on our list - Baltra Bar.

It's in another wonderful neighbourhood , Condesa, which - despite the lingering intestinal distress - we do at least get to explore a little.

We're quite taken with it. It's even slightly better than Roma. Quieter, more luxurious and with more greenery.

We spend the night mostly in the toilet, but that's part of travelling, and by the next evening we're almost fine.

The next day we leave Mexico City at the same time and fly to Chetumal, where we will start our journey through Riviera Maya and the Yucatán Peninsula.

Compare domestic flight prices in Mexico

What would I do differently next time?

I would either cut a day off, or rather plan the last day better.

I'd probably go to the Xochimilco water canals, which didn't fit into our plans anymore.

But otherwise I was very happy with our plan and especially with Mexico City.

I was expecting a dusty, not very interesting and not very safe megalopolis.

And in the end, CDMX struck us as a pleasant place to live and visit as a tourist - if you know where to go.

• 💬 Have you been to Mexico City? What was your itinerary? Inspire us and other travelers in the comments below.

Itinerary map

The map will help you understand why the itinerary is divided in this way - because each day sticks to one area of the city at a time.

What should I look out for when planning?

1️⃣ Leaving Frida Kahlo to the last minute
Tickets can sell out up to a week in advance - be sure to book online before you go.

2️⃣ Underestimate the size of the city and rely on public transport
Mexico City is huge and transfers from one end to the other can take well over an hour. Moreover, the metro doesn't work well for tourists and only gets you to a small number of attractions.

Get a Mexican eSIM and stay online

3️⃣ Skip Teotihuacán
The pyramids are a long way from the center, but I would definitely include them in your itinerary.

4️⃣ Live in the same neighborhood all the time
The combination of the historic center and Roma/Condesa will offer a much more varied experience.