3 Days in Mexico City

3 Night Itinerary Snapshot

Day 1:

• Chapultepec Park
• Museum of Anthropology
• Walk around the Polanco neighborhood
• Dinner at Pujol for a Michelin Star restaurant

Day 2:

• Hot air balloon day in Teotihuacan at the Pyramid of the Sun & Moon
• Explore a different neighborhood; La Condesa & Roma are both great
• Check out El Angel de la Independencia at night

Day 3:

• Plaza de la Constitucion
• Torre Latino Observation Deck – Central District
• Alameda Central Park
• Markets and Shopping

Traveling via CDX Crossing

Roundtrip tickets from either San Diego or LAX to Mexico City can easily cost upwards of $600 / person, and it only gets more expensive as you fly from deeper in the United States. Tickets from Tijuana to Mexico City usually cost closer to $200 / person. However, people don’t always want to brave the customs line at the U.S. / Mexican border to access the Tijuana airport. That’s the appeal of the CDX crossing. It’s a footbridge that you can access via the U.S. side that allows you to walk from California directly into the Tijuana airport without setting foot outside once.

Roundtrip tickets via CDX will cost $37.95 (2024) on top of the cost of your airfare. On your way into Mexico, you will be required to show the following documentation to either the CDX agent or Mexican Customs:

• CDX crossing ticket
• Boarding Pass
• Valid Passport
• Immigration form (acquired at CDX terminal)

On your way back into the States, it tends to be a bit smoother. We were required only to show:

• Valid Passport
• CDX crossing ticket

Day 1

Assuming you stay in the central part of the city, a great jumping-off point for your first day is Chapultepec Park and everything that surrounds it. The park is typically a 10-20 min taxi ride from most neighborhoods where tourists stay. At the park, you will find the Museum of Anthropology, which is the largest and most visited museum in Mexico. It is stocked full of significant archaeological artifacts from Mexico’s pre-Columbian heritage. A trip to CDMX isn’t complete without a stroll through this museum.

We paid $15 / person for entry, and in 2024, we were able to purchase the tickets at the museum.

Walking distance from Chapultepec Park, you will find the neighborhood of Polanco, an upscale part of the city that is full of shopping and great places to eat. However, if you’re anything like us, then you’re probably looking for a great place to grab a bite. If that is true for you, then I highly recommend the restaurant Pujol. Rated as one of the city’s Michelin Star restaurants, it is necessary to come to the understanding that you will be opening up your wallet for this experience. However, the prices are still lower than expected at a similar restaurant in the U.S. or United Kingdom. If you want a once-in-a-lifetime experience, we found that it was worth paying the cost at least once. The whole experience lasted us about 2 hours, and it included a 7-course meal that had dishes such as grasshopper tostadas and 3300-day-aged Mexican mole. We left the restaurant feeling a bit of buyer’s remorse, but once the sticker shock wore off, we looked back at the experience fondly. Make sure you try to book this experience in advance. We did not and got lucky by showing up in the middle of the afternoon. It seemed rare that they were able to accommodate without a reservation.

Day 2

A trip to CDMX isn’t complete without a visit to Teotihuacan and the Pyramids. It is one of the ancient wonders of our world, and a walk around this historical site will certainly spark your imagination. Or better yet, you could fly over the historical site, which is certainly what I would recommend.

Several companies offer hot air balloon rides above the pyramids shortly after sunrise. We chose to go with Viator; they made the experience easy and stress-free. Here are some bullet points recapping our experience with them.

• We paid $368.94 for two adults (2024)
• They picked us up in CDMX at our hotel at 5:00 AM
• They also dropped us off at CDMX closer to 4:00 PM
• They handled all of the transportation
• They provided breakfast and coffee
• They gave you the option to stay after the balloon ride to explore the pyramid complex on foot or to ride back to CDMX early

Overall, the experience was very positive, and we felt like we were in safe hands. The only negative thing to note was that our driver, on the way back into the city, seemed to be at the end of our shift and literally kicked us out of his van in the middle of “Avenida Paseo De La Reforma”. This is one of the busiest streets in the whole city, and he stopped traffic with his hand to “safely” get out of his vehicle. Luckily, we were only a 10-minute walk to our hotel.

Day 3

Where to Stay

There are so many safe and desirable neighborhoods to stay in in CDMX. You really can’t go wrong with most of them. We stayed in Roma and found it to be incredibly convenient. It felt safe, there were many food options, it was walkable to other neighborhoods, and overall, it was located in a great central location. Side note: we were pleasantly surprised to find out that this area seemed to be the center of the LGTBQ community of CDMX. This made the vibes fantastic, and we loved walking around this neighborhood. The party never stops in Roma.

Some of the other neighborhoods I would look at staying if we went again would be:

1. Polanco – For a younger hipster vibe with loads of shopping and high cuisine
2. Centro – Close to a lot of the city’s monuments; however, this area tends to be more hectic as it’s known as the heart of the city.
3. La Condesa – Quieter neighborhood while still being centrally located. We walked through this neighborhood and found some of the best food stops on our entire trip.

How to Get Around

In most situations, I am a confident driver; however, you could not pay me to drive in Mexico City. The metro population of CDMX is roughly 22 million people, and it is shown on the roads. The streets are congested and full of aggressive drivers. Luckily, you can take taxis and Uber to access most parts of the city easily. There is an adequate public transportation system and subway in CDMX as well. However, we never felt the need to take advantage of this when Uber prices were so cheap. For example, for a 20-minute ride during rush hour, we paid 130 Pesos or roughly a little $6 USD. We took Uber a couple of times and never felt unsafe.

We ordered a taxi from the airport to our hotel in Roma and paid 350 Pesos or $17 USD. We also elected to order a cab via our hotel to get back to the airport, and I believe we paid closer to 400 pesos for this ride.

What we Spent

Things to Note:

• If traveling on a budget, spending less on food would be fairly easy. The $721.19 did include the Michelin-star restaurant we went to. Most meals for the two of us rarely exceeded $30-$40.
• Our hotel was very nice and included a rooftop pool; however, spending less would be really realistic. It just might not be in a desirable area.

Safety