Travel is a distant memory these days, so I decided it’s time to share some past trips I’ve been on!
Last Spring, Roman and I visited CDMX (Ciudad de México) for a cool 4 days. We like to maximize our time by getting early flights in and late flights out, which is exactly what we did on this particular trip. We landed in Mexico City just before 5am and waited for the subways to start running before we hopped over to the Centro Histórico de la Ciudad de México. This was probably the scariest moment of the entire trip, because it was pitch black with barely another person out at this time of the day and we had a good 10-15 min walk from the station we got off at until the Palacio de Bellas Artes.
We hung out near the Palacio, taking it all in, without a single other soul around. Then we started walking around. By 6:30am, there was a lot of activity on the street as people began making their way to work. It was fascinating watching a city come alive. As we were unable to check in early to our AirBnB, we decided to spend the day hitting up museums, filling our time until we could unload our bags and relax before dinner.
As the sun rose, we walked over to Zócalo, also known as Plaza del Zócalo, the main square. We then walked around as businesses started opening up and had breakfast at Café de Tacuba. This is one of the oldest restaurants in the city (open since 1912!) and is housed in a former convent. It was an excellent start to our trip and with our bellies full, we headed over to MUNAL (Museo Nacional de Arte).
We went back to explore the Historic Center in full daylight. We stepped into la Casa de los Azulejos (House of Tiles), which is beautifully restored and then we ended up at the Mirador Torre Latino. This Mexican skyscraper pales in comparison to newer ones across the globe in terms of height, however, when it opened in 1956, it was the tallest building in Latin America. The observation deck had amazing views of the city center. It got a bit rainy and windy as we got to the top, which was a little scary for me, but it gave Roman a view of a cafe across the street, high in the sky, so we went back to street level to find it!
We found that cute outdoor cafe — Cafeteria Finca Don Porfirio — and it had the best view of Palacio des Bellas Artes. It’s located on the 8th floor of the Sears building, with a beautiful terrace that looks out onto the Palacio and was the perfect spot for a break. It doesn’t have extensive seating area, however, it’s a sweet spot for a quick cup of coffee!
The rain kept coming on and off, so after our drinks, we walked across the street to the Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts), which is located right next to Alameda Central park. The palace has an interesting history, dating back to 1680. After checking out the murals, we walked to Museo Mural Diego Rivera. This was our last stop before we finally checked into our AirBnB, drop our bags and get ready for dinner.
Speaking of bags, we had packed most of our things in Roman’s new Cotapaxi. He carried the 35L travel pack and we only used my Jansport to carry more immediate items (like water and electronics to use on the plane). I find the 35L pack to be too heavy and big for me, however, it seems to work well for Roman. By the way, I have no affiliation with Cotapaxi — we are just pleasantly surprised with how functional their Allpa Travel Packs are. We had a long first day, and a long last day, and Roman had to carry the heavy bag both days. It’s made extremely well, so it made carrying all our stuff on those long days really easy and it’s large enough to pack both of our clothes for a 4 day trip and then some.
The next day we had breakfast at La Ventanita, walked through Bosque de Chapultepec (an enormous park) where we saw the Totem Canadiense, before spending a chunk of time at la Museo Nacional de Antropologia. After spending hours in this gigantic indoor/outdoor museum, we walked back through Bosque de Chapultepec to get to Museo Tamayo. This was my favourite museum, of course, because I do enjoy a lot of contemporary art and this one was set up in such a fun way.
We walked back to our AirBnB, stopping in at Panderia Rosetta for a quick pastry stop. That evening we walked along Roma Norte and had several delicious drinks at Licoreria Limantour before calling it a night.
We started our third day off with breakfast at Lalo! They have communal seating and they are very popular — for good reason! The food was so yummy, and it was worth the very short 15 min wait. That’s nothing compared to some of the wait times I’ve had for brunch in Toronto!
After breakfast we visited the open air Mercado de Artesanias la Ciudadela. Unfortunately photos are not permitted here, and the only photo I took (before realizing this rule was in place) was of these pom pom garlands that I deeply regret not buying. I did buy a trio of sugar skulls which have been on our console ever since we returned. They make me so happy!
We met up with a friend of Roman’s, and she took us around Coyacan. So many beautiful homes and lovely graffiti pieces. We had a traditional lunch at Cantina La Coyacana, in the open terrace part of the restaurant. Roman and I are vegetarians now, but this dish, molcajete chimarron, is a meat-lover’s feast and there’s enough food for 3 (maybe even 4). We ended the day at Arena Mexico, watching Lucha Libre. It was actually really fun, and this is coming from someone who does not understand the hype around wrestling in general. Luchadors are fun to watch so if you have the time when you visit, I’d recommend taking in a show!
On our last day, we checked out of our AirBnB early, and had late breakfast at ENO. I really wanted to go to Pujol, and we will definitely try to eat there on a future visit, but the next best thing was to visit Chef Enreique Olvera’s delightful cafe. The service was impeccable and the atmosphere was quiet and casual. In fact, I would say most of the places we ate or drank in had an attention to service as well as quality foods. It’s one of the reasons we enjoyed CDMX so much.
After eating, we walked along Avenue Masaryk, stopping here and there, until we got to Museo Soumaya. Several years ago, Amazing Race Canada stopped in Mexico City for an episode and they featured this incredible museum. Since I saw it on cable tv, I have not been able to get this place out of my mind. It was really the only stop I had planned for prior to landing in Mexico City and it was even more fantastic in person than I can describe. And what a happy coincidence that at the top floor of this beautifully curated museum, there was an exhibit on Rodin! Roman has now see Rodin’s work in 3 museums around the world with me — and if you can’t tell yet, I absolutely adore Rodin’s work.
After the Museo Soumaya, we explored Antara Fashion Hall, which is an open air mall. We were so tired of walking that we then hopped on a Turibus and took in some other parts of the city that we didn’t have the time to explore in depth. We had a late night flight, so we grabbed some tacos and made our way to the airport to fly home.
All in all, our trip was jam packed (as usual) and there’s still so much we want to see and do there. We know we will be returning soon enough, but I’m happy with our first adventures in CDMX! This definitely was not my most fashionable trip, but if you want to see more photos, check out my Instagram stories (I have a highlight for Mexico City).