Mexico City: the high-altitude metropolis that took a decade to be discovered

It’s 9:42 a.m. and I’m at a small counter on the Calle Tonalá in the Roma Norte neighbourhood of Mexico City, with a plate of chilaquiles verdes and a cup of café de olla (Mexican spiced coffee). The man making the chilaquiles is a sixty-year-old chef called Don Beto whose tortillas come from a small molino (corn mill) two blocks away. The salsa verde was made an hour ago. This is what I keep flying down to Mexico City for, and what fifteen years ago no one in the Western travel press was paying attention to.

Why I keep coming back

Mexico City — Ciudad de México, CDMX, Chilangos are what residents are called — is the largest Spanish-speaking city in the world (22 million in the metropolitan area). It sits at 2240 m altitude on the bed of a drained Aztec lake. It is the seat of one of the world’s most layered civilisations — Aztec, Spanish-colonial, post-revolutionary modern, and contemporary international metropolis, all visible within a 5-km walk of the Zócalo.

The food, in particular, has become one of the most exciting cuisines on earth. Mexican cooking was UNESCO-listed as Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2010, and the past decade in CDMX has seen a flowering of both reinterpreted traditional Mexican and refined contemporary Mexican cooking that has, in my view, made the city the most exciting food capital in the Western Hemisphere.

Where to base yourself

Roma Norte for the central neighbourhood-walking and the food. Tree-lined, early-20th-century mansion-and-apartment streets, dense with cafés and restaurants.

Condesa for an adjacent and similar feel, with the parks (Parque México and Parque España).

Coyoacán for the south, the Frida Kahlo neighbourhood, the slower-paced colonial-village feel inside the city.

Polanco for the upscale, business-district base with the best fine dining.

Avoid the Centro Histórico as a base for more than two nights — it’s the tourist core and noisy at night.

What to actually do

Visit the National Museum of Anthropology. One of the great museums on earth. The pre-Columbian collections — Aztec calendar stone, Olmec heads, the Mayan rooms — are extraordinary. Allow a full day.

Walk the historical centre. The Zócalo, the Templo Mayor (the excavated Aztec pyramid under the cathedral), the National Palace with its Diego Rivera murals, the Catedral Metropolitana. Half a day; a guided tour is useful for the Templo Mayor.

Visit Teotihuacán. The pyramids of the pre-Aztec civilisation, 50 km northeast of the city. The Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon, the long Avenue of the Dead between them. Hot-air balloon rides at sunrise are popular and worthwhile.

Visit the Frida Kahlo Museum (La Casa Azul). The blue house in Coyoacán where Kahlo lived and worked. Book online weeks ahead.

Spend an afternoon in Xochimilco. The remnant of the Aztec lake-and-canal system, with the colourful trajinera boats. Hire a boat for a few hours; the proper local experience involves a mariachi band coming alongside in another boat.

Walk Roma and Condesa at evening. The 8 p.m.–11 p.m. evening rush of these neighbourhoods is the contemporary CDMX at its most pleasant.

Where to eat

A brief selection from a city of thousands of excellent places:

Pujol — The flagship contemporary Mexican; Enrique Olvera; the mole tasting menu. Reserve months ahead. Quintonil — The other top-tier contemporary Mexican; Jorge Vallejo. Contramar — The lunchtime seafood institution; tuna tostadas and grilled fish. El Califa de León — The Michelin-starred taco al pastor stand. Lardo (Condesa) — Modern Mexican-Mediterranean from chef Elena Reygadas. Tacos at El Vilsito (al pastor, late night, in Narvarte) — One of the city’s late-night institutions. Coffee at Almanegra, Quentin, or Buna 42. Pulqueria Las Duelistas (Centro) — Pulque, the fermented agave drink from the pre-Hispanic tradition. Mercado de la Merced or Mercado de San Juan for the working markets; the food halls there are excellent.

When to come

February through May — pleasant, dry, the jacarandas in bloom in March-April.

October and November — pleasant after the rains.

June–September is the rainy season — almost daily afternoon thunderstorms but otherwise fine.

Day of the Dead (late October–early November) is the city’s iconic celebration; book months ahead.

Practical notes

• Visa: Most Western passports get 180 days visa-free.
• Money: Mexican peso. Card universally; cash for street food.
• Transport: The Metro is extensive and cheap; Uber works well. Avoid hailing taxis on the street — pre-booked or via app is safer.
• Altitude: 2240 m. Take it slow on day one; alcohol hits harder.
• Safety: The standard urban precautions, slightly elevated. Don’t show valuables; don’t walk in unfamiliar neighbourhoods at night. The well-trafficked tourist areas (Roma, Condesa, Polanco, Coyoacán, Centro Histórico) are reasonably safe.
• Water: Don’t drink tap water; bottled or filtered. Most restaurants use filtered water for ice and washing produce.
• Earthquakes: A real risk. The city is built on a former lakebed and amplifies seismic motion. Familiarise yourself with the building’s evacuation map.

A final thought

Mexico City is, in my view, the most underrated major capital in the Americas. The combination of pre-Columbian depth, Spanish colonial layering, contemporary modernist art and architecture (Luis Barragán’s houses; Casa Estudio of Diego and Frida), and one of the world’s most exciting current food scenes, makes a week here one of the most rewarding urban trips on the continent.

The city’s reputation issue — too big, too polluted, too dangerous — has been largely outdated since around 2015. Air quality has improved (though still not great); the central neighbourhoods are safer than most US large-city central districts; the food and design culture has flowered.

Stay in Roma. Eat for the entire week. Walk to Condesa. Spend a day at Teotihuacán. See one museum a day. Go to a market. Drink mezcal. Talk to chilangos. The city earns the affection it provokes and rewards repeat visits more than almost any other in the Americas.