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Ten Days in Mexico: Mexico City, Puebla, and Popocatepetl

20–30 minutes

Overview

My Overall Thoughts

Mexico City is one of those destinations that’s really blown up the past couple of years and I think I went in with sky high expectations. I kind of expected it to be the best city on Earth (or as close to a perfect city as possible). It wasn’t as amazing as my expectations, but I had a good time and thought the city was cool.

Food

  • I was really excited for the bakeries in Mexico City, but most of the bakeries I visited were a huge letdown. The pastries I had were generally way too sweet, and some of the pastries had gone stale.
  • Street stands and casual taco spots were elite. I’m not generally a huge taco person, but the tacos I had in CDMX were delicious. I got to visit some really nice upscale Mexican restaurants too, at a similar price point to New York, and thought the food was generally great.
  • I also went to a couple of Asian restaurants, as I do on every trip – The Asian food was a hit or miss.

Getting around

  • To get around Mexico City, I either Ubered or walked. Ubers are generally affordable, and the neighborhoods that tourists stayed in are very walkable. Cars can be aggressive sometimes, but generally yield to pedestrians.
  • Traffic is awful. Getting from one place to another during the day (especially Centro) was hard, and moving a few miles could sometimes take 30 minutes to an hour.

Weather

  • In May, weather was pretty consistent. It would be sunny and hot in the morning and afternoon, thunderstorms every afternoon starting around 5pm, and cool weather in the evening.
  • Air pollution was terrible – I could see and smell the smog.

Safety

  • I felt very safe. The streets were always pretty busy and I never felt like I was in danger. I took care to research what neighborhoods to stay in and avoid.

Things to Do

  • Mexico City has so many museums, and they’re great! A lot of the museums have descriptions only in Spanish, so as a very rudimentary Spanish speaker, having Google Translate downloaded was helpful. Most museums have a free bag check.
  • Shopping is interesting, but highly unaffordable. Novelty shops and boutiques had some really cool items and I had fun window shopping.
  • My day trips out of the city were interesting, but none of them were must-visits. Personally, I’d rank the trips Popocatepetl > Puebla > Teotihuacan.

My 10-Day Trip Breakdown

Day 0: Travel day

  • Took an evening flight to Mexico City.
    • I flew with Aeromexico. The meal on the plane (included in ticket price) was surprisingly decent and they had a good selection of movies on board.
    • At the airport, going through customs was super fast. Immigration is automated and there’s no need to go through an agent.
    • It was very easy to call an Uber from the airport, there were clear signs for the pickup area and the Uber arrived quickly.

Day 1: Exploring Mexico City (Anthropology Museum and San Angel)

  • Woke up shortly before 7am.
  • Breakfast at Panaderia Rosetta Puebla – Panaderia Rosetta is the most well-known tourist bakery, which is why I chose to start my trip there. It was a complete letdown – Kind of expensive, and the pastries weren’t even good. On the bright side, because I went to the Puebla location, I didn’t have to wait in line.
    • Chocolate & vanilla concha: Awful texture, no taste difference between chocolate and vanilla flavors, both just tasted like sugar. I didn’t end up finishing it.
    • Mexican chocolate hazelnut cookie: This cookie was stale, and there was zero hazelnut flavor. I took one bite and didn’t want any more.
    • Iced americano: Maybe Panaderia Rosetta should become a coffee shop instead, because their iced americano was really good!
  • Picked up a snack for later at Odette – This is another well-known tourist bakery. It’s a cute spot, but the pastries were just ok.
    • Ham & cheese croissant: Decent, but too oily.
    • Nut & chocolate roll: God this was awful, the only taste was sugar and it was sweet to the point where it was inedible. If they dialed back the sugar by about 80%, it might be good.
  • Anthropology Museum – A must-visit in Mexico City. This museum is absolutely massive. It has a ton of amazing historical artifacts, detailed descriptions, and nice outdoor exhibits too. People say you can spend a whole day here, and I definitely believe them, but I got museum fatigue after a couple hours. The Aztec room in the back of the museum was the most impressive and felt like the central exhibit of the museum, I’d prioritize that room.
  • Lunch at La Once Mil – Upscale Mexican restaurant, everyone eating here looked really rich and the neighborhood (Lomas de Chapultepec) had fully gated houses that looked like houses straight out of Beverly Hills.
    • Ceviche tostada: To start, I think I realized I don’t like ceviche very much. But this was just tough to eat, because the juice from the ceviche bled into the tostada and the tostada became too soggy to hold the ceviche, making a mess. The ceviche was also too spicy for my taste, but that’s on me.
    • Limonada jamaica: Not bad taste-wise, but not well-blended, with all the flavor sinking to the bottom and the top tasting like just seltzer water. The bottom of the drink was good.
    • Steak taco: The steak in this taco was incredible, definitely recommend this dish.
  • Took a 30 minute Uber to La Casa de Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo – This was a cool pit stop in San Angel, it’s where Frida & Diego used to live. The architecture is really cool – If I had to imagine my dream house this would be it.
  • Explored the San Angel neighborhood – I spent some time wandering around here. It’s a nice, historic-looking area, feels safe, sidewalks are pretty narrow and it’s difficult to walk on the cobblestone streets since the stones are uneven.
    • Gallina de Guinea: Very cute little bookstore I walked by in San Angel, it has a Panaderia Rosetta (boooo) in the back.
    • Casa del Obispo: An art gallery that felt more like a store than an art gallery. I only spent about 5 minutes here, I didn’t love the art, but I enjoyed the courtyard.
    • El Bazar Sabado: Exploring El Bazar Sabado was my reason for coming to San Angel in the first place. I walked around the outdoor and the indoor market, both were pretty huge and had some nice art and other souvenirs. Paulina y Malinali is a store in the indoor market that has cool designer clothes inspired by traditional Mexican design. There was also a pop-up weekend plant expo. Very cute.
    • Parroquia de San Jacinto: Lovely, peaceful church courtyard in San Angel. I enjoyed sitting briefly in the courtyard.
  • Took an hour-long Uber to Bao bao, a Taiwanese eatery in Roma. The food is decent but the service is a bit slow.
    • Pork shiitake dumplings: I’ve had better, kind of one note, but not bad.
    • Gua bao: I thought the pork belly in the bao was good, I wish there was more pork belly.
    • Peanut ice cream: I was taken aback by how much I liked this. It was like an Asian peanut sauce made into an ice cream, and it was delicious. My only critique is I wish it didn’t melt as quickly.

Day 2: Day trip to Puebla

  • Woke up before dawn to catch a 6:30am bus to Puebla.
    • Traffic from Condesa to the TAPO station wasn’t bad at all in the early morning, so I arrived within 20 minutes.
    • At the bus station, finding my gate was a struggle. I saw on the station board that I was supposed to go to “Gate 3” to catch my bus. I found Gate 3 immediately, but after waiting there for 20 minutes I realized it wasn’t the Gate 3 for my bus, and that every bus company had its own series of gates.
    • The bus itself is comfortable enough, but a bit dirty (gum on the backseat, crumbs in the seat, etc.)
    • I arrived in Puebla around 8:30am, on time. The phone signal in the Puebla bus station isn’t great, so it took some time to get to a place where I could call an Uber, and after a 20 minute Uber, I reached the center of Puebla.
  • Zocalo de Puebla – The central square in Puebla! It’s very pretty, lots of green space, beautiful church and other buildings, lots of people hanging out – Nice place to walk around.
  • Grabbed breakfast at Clemente Specialty Coffee – Clemente is a cute coffee shop, but wasn’t as cute as I would’ve guessed based on the pictures. It’s located in a courtyard on a historic street.
    • Cold brew: Thought it was good!
    • Sourdough bacon ham sandwich: The bread was hard and maybe a bit stale, and the sauce was mid. It filled me up but I didn’t enjoy eating it.
  • Walked around Alley of the Frogs – Most of the stands in the outdoor market didn’t have much that I was interested in, but there’s a really nice shop called De Los Angeles Art Gallery with some incredible art of Puebla.
  • Visited the Amparo Museum – The archaeological museum in Puebla. The artifacts are similar to the Anthropology Museum in CDMX, but there’s some interesting art, it’s free, and the rooftop has a really nice view of Puebla, so it’s worth a short visit.
  • Stopped by Biblioteca Palafoxiana – Biblioteca Palafoxiana is the oldest library in Mexico – It’s quite pretty! There was also a free orchestra concert going on at Centro Cultural so I sat there for a while and enjoyed the music.
  • Lunch at Maiz Criollo – I’d heard the food in Puebla was even better than the food in CDMX so I had high hopes for this spot, but I was kind of let down.
    • Huarache – The first few bites were really good, but the flavor fatigue set in fast and the dish was very rich. I think this dish just needed more acidity and different flavor elements to make it more interesting.
    • Blue corn ice cream – The flavor of the ice cream was great, and I enjoyed the crunch from the small corn pieces, but the ice cream texture was off, not creamy enough and too icy.
  • Ubered to the Puebla bus station to catch the 4:30pm bus to Mexico City.
    • Like last time, it was very confusing to find the gate for my bus. I got there about 30 minutes early and went to the bus company’s designated area.
    • However, they didn’t announce my gate until the last minute, even though buses leaving 2 to 3 hours later already had gates. The agents were not at all helpful, and I would’ve missed the bus if I hadn’t repeatedly asked where my bus was.
  • Tiny dinner at Kiyo – Upscale Japanese restaurant a two minute walk away from my Airbnb. Food is quite good, but very expensive.
    • Seared salmon unagi bowl – Delicious but very small portion.

Day 3: Exploring Mexico City (Centro, Condesa, and Roma)

  • Worked from 7am-3pm.
    • Got coffee and breakfast from Camino a Comala – On the list of the “World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops.”
      • V60 Finca: This was unlike any coffee I’ve had – It’s really good and has a particular taste that’s hard to describe.
      • Comala toast: A bit too Hollandaise-forward for me that it made me queasy, although I think the high altitude was partly responsible.
    • Spent some time walking around Parque España & Parque Mexico and exploring the Roma and Polanco neighborhoods. There are a ton of cool boutiques, and I enjoyed window shopping but I didn’t buy anything.
  • After work, I Ubered for about an hour to reach Centro and did a Walking Tour of Centro.
    • Traffic to get there was absolutely awful. There was also a teacher’s strike going on, so a lot of roads were closed.
    • The tour itself was great, I learned a lot about the history of Mexico City. We walked by the archaeological site, bank, old theater, postal palace, Palacio de Bellas Artes, House of Tiles, etc. and learned about Mexican food, culture, and history.
  • Dinner at Makan – Makan is a Singaporean / Malaysian restaurant, it wasn’t bad but way too expensive for what it was. Service is good. I wouldn’t recommend it and probably wouldn’t return.
    • Pato rostizado: Good, but not a standout dish. Nothing special, pretty much just as expected.
    • Orange, pomegranate, lemon juice: Very refreshing and good.
    • “Kaya toast”: When I ordered kaya toast, I was expecting kaya toast, but this was not kaya toast. This was two slices of thick green bread smothered in coconut flakes and caramel. I don’t even think there was kaya on the toast, and it was sickly sweet and very disappointing.

Day 4: Exploring Mexico City (Condesa, MUNAL, Postal Palace, and Roma)

  • Worked from 7am-3pm.
    • Coffee at Insomnia Cafe – Small storefront, 2 minute walk from my Airbnb, offers coffee and a small selection of pastries.
      • Latte with almond milk: I wanted cold brew, but they didn’t have it in the morning (this seems to be a somewhat common occurrence for Insomnia). The latte was a little watered down, but otherwise good.
    • Coffee at BUNA – Cute shop, looks pretty gentrified though (lots of expats). I didn’t like my drink very much.
      • Cold brew with macadamia nut milk: I took a risk choosing macadamia nut milk and it did not pay off, as the milk tasted pretty weird.
    • Lunch at Tortas al Fuego – Very fast and casual, great tacos.
      • Al pastor tacos: Very good, for a good price. I surprisingly liked the pineapple on the tacos!
  • Visited Guillermo Tovar de Teresa Museum – The museum was a nice building, but there wasn’t a ton of art inside. It only took me 15 minutes to visit the museum.
  • Ubered an hour to Centro to visit Palacio Postal – It’s a very, very pretty building, kind of similar to a European opera hall. I didn’t spend that much time here because I wanted to have time to explore MUNAL before it closed. The Postal Palace has some nice souvenirs too.
  • Explored MUNAL (National Art Museum) – The museum has lots of interesting exhibits, including one on astrology and spiritualism in Mexican art. It was also interesting to see lots of European influence in the painting styles. I also stumbled into the Telegrafo Museum (attached to MUNAL), which had cool ceiling frescos in classical style but with telephone poles.
  • Made a quick stop at Palacio de Bellas Artes – I got there too late so I wasn’t able to go up the stairs to see the Diego Rivera murals, but I saw a peek of the murals from below and visited the gift shop.
  • Dinner at Tacos Meteoro – Very quiet new restaurant, feels kind of upscale but also fast casual. Fantastic lechon taco. The service is really nice, they noticed I didn’t eat the onions so they brought me my second taco without onions.
    • Lechon taco: Absolutely fantastic, crispy skin and soft fall-apart pork complemented really well, flavors weren’t too extreme.
    • Cochinita pibil taco: Not super memorable but still decent, flavors / texture not as good as the Lechon.

Day 5: Exploring Mexico City (Condesa, Chapultepec Castle, and Polanco)

  • Worked from 7am-3pm.
    • Coffee at Raku Cafe – Japanese-inspired coffee shop, expensive with nice vibes. Their French toast looked pretty good.
      • Cold brew: Decent, but not super flavorful.
    • Small snack at Tacos y burritos asados – Street stand, I stopped by for a snack because I saw a bunch of locals here for a meal.
      • Churros: Four for $1 is a great deal, but I thought the churros were just alright.
    • Lunch at Tacos Don Juan – Casual spot, relatively expensive but pretty good value, lots of meat in the tacos and tastes great.
      • Arrachera & longanisa taco: Good! A tiny bit dry.
      • Ribeye taco: Loved this one, better than the arrachera & longanisa in my opinion.
  • Explored Chapultepec Castle & the National History Museum.
    • They made me throw out my water at the front, which I found really unreasonable (I asked if I could leave it at the entrance, they said no), as they told me this after I’d already bought my ticket, and because it was over 85F and sunny out and nearly the entire complex is outdoors, so dehydration is a serious risk.
    • Other than the unreasonable entrance policy, the castle is really beautiful and has great views of the city (including the Independence Monument!) It was also good to learn more about the history of Mexico here, as I had no idea that an Austrian prince used to be the monarch of Mexico.
    • The National History Museum lives inside the Chapultepec Castle complex, and has some cool art and interesting context.
    • I spent about 3 hours here in total.
  • Walked around Bosque de Chapultepec and stopped by Librería Porrua, a coffee shop x bookstore. The menu didn’t look that good, but the space is really nice with an outdoor space right by the water.
  • Ubered to dinner at Siembra Taqueria, a Michelin guide taco spot highly recommended to me by my friend, more expensive than some other spots but with great food.
    • Sirloin taco: My favorite taco I had in Mexico!
    • Cheese & mushroom quesadilla: I wasn’t very impressed by the quesadilla, there wasn’t much flavor, it mostly tasted like cheese.
    • Flan: It was good, but a bit too rich. I don’t generally like flan that much but enjoyed this a lot.

Day 6: Exploring Mexico City (Condesa and Museum of Modern Art)

  • Worked from 7am-3pm.
    • Coffee at Quiasmo – One of my favorite coffee spots in Mexico.
      • Cold brew with almond milk: Great!
    • Quick snack at Churreria El Moro – Tourist-famous and iconic churro spot, well-deserved reputation in my opinion.
      • Churro with cinnamon: Absolutely fire. Freshly made, great flavor.
    • Lunch at El Pescadito – Well-known, pretty casual spot, has a limited menu with a lot of fried food.
      • Fish & shrimp taco: Pretty mid. I don’t generally like fried food, but I also felt like there was no flavor in the taco.
      • Smoked tuna taco: Also mid, flavor wasn’t great, kind of dry.
  • Visited Museo de Arte Moderno – The traffic to get here was brutal and it took about as much time to get here as it would’ve taken to walk. The museum itself is really nice. I don’t love modern art, but still thought there were some cool pieces here. The outdoor sculpture garden is nice too.
  • I took a long walk through Bosque Chapultepec to try to visit the art galleries in the Chapultepec neighborhood, but they were all closed.
  • Dinner at Barrón – Very nice and cozy restaurant, pretty expensive, the food is alright.
    • Free chips & guac: Delicious, possibly my favorite part of the meal.
    • Steak tostadilla: Maybe I don’t like tostadillas, because I found this difficult to eat. It was very acidic and not that much steak on the tostadilla to ground it.
    • Lemonade: Delicious!
  • Spent the evening exploring stores in Condesa – Like Roma and Polanco, it was too expensive to get anything, so I just enjoyed wandering.

Day 7: Exploring Mexico City (Condesa and Coyoacán)

  • Worked from 7am-3pm.
    • Lunch at Tacos “El Gato Volador” – A street taco stand with a very cute mascot, the tacos are okay.
      • Birria taco, campesina taco: Good, but not the best tacos I had in Mexico.
    • Snack at Cayetana – Fancy bakery, not much seating, though quality was mid.
      • Pan de elote: Texture and flavor were kind of disappointing, very oily and a bit stale.
      • Beetroot bread: Surprisingly good, also pretty oily.
    • Coffee at Rumor – Clothing pop up x coffee shop, the shop had good vibes and nice salespeople, but the drink was absolutely awful.
      • Americano with coconut cold foam: God this was one of the worst coffees I’ve had in years. It was disgustingly sweet and it was a struggle to take more than one sip.
  • Ubered for an hour to get to the Coyoacán neighborhood.
  • Visited the National Museum of Popular Culture – Interesting museum with a lot of cultural apparel and explanations as to why the apparel is culturally and historically significant. I enjoyed the exhibits, but didn’t think it was a must visit by any means. Nice courtyards.
  • Walked around Coyoacán Center Square – Visited the Jardin Higalo, Parroquia San Juan Bautista, Hernan Cortes House all surrounding the square. These spots were all very nice and have quintessential CDMX architecture. There were a lot of (polite) panhandlers that came up to me in the area.
  • Explored Parque Frida Kahlo and Capilla de la Conchilla – I stumbled upon this by accident while killing time. Capilla de Conchilla was really pretty and peaceful, I really liked it there.
  • Grabbed a drink at Altaniebla – Coyoacán neighborhood cafe with nice outdoor seating.
    • Passionfruit tea: Quite good and flavorful.
  • Visited the famous Frida Kahlo Museum – I found this museum a bit overrated and enjoyed Diego & Frida’s house more than this museum. The museum is beautiful but there are so many people that it’s hard to get around, whereas the Diego & Frida house was much quieter and didn’t make me feel claustrophobic.
  • Dinner at Caracol de Mar – Absolutely beautiful, upscale restaurant where the bill nearly gave me a heart attack because I forgot to divide by 20 when converting to USD (I divided by 10). The food is very good but none of it was shockingly good.
    • Mole verde risotto: Fantastic dish, great flavors, combining Italian and Mexican cuisine.
    • Sea bass in crab sauce: The crab sauce is amazing, top tier, I wish there was more of it and a bread or other crispy thing to enjoy the sauce with. The fish was decent, not dry.
    • Mezcal jamaica: I don’t really drink, but thought this drink was great and decently strong.
    • Chocolate tamal: This was a very questionable dish – It basically tastes like they tried to make a dessert out of something that shouldn’t be sweet (I know tamales are usually savory). I appreciate the risk, but it did not pay off at all, and I really didn’t enjoy it.

Day 8: Day trip to Teotihuacán and exploring Mexico City (Condesa and Polanco)

  • Woke up at 4:10am for a hot air balloon tour over Teotihuacán.
    • The weather was cloudy and the wind wasn’t in our favor, so we didn’t get anywhere close to the pyramids, but the experience of being in the balloon was cool.
    • The experience was extremely touristy and there was lots of up-selling involved. After the balloon landed, they drove us elsewhere to try to sell us the pictures, and we had to wait there for an hour because the next stop was closed. I found this wait ridiculous given the early wakeup time.
  • Brunch at Huehueteotl Restaurant – This stop was included in the tour. It’s a buffet-style food option. The food was quite bad and there were a lot of flies buzzing around. The tour also stayed there for way too long.
  • Skipped the scheduled tour mezcal tasting and went to pyramids early to walk around. It’s a massive complex and it was very hot out, with little shade.
  • Took a guided tour around Teotihuacán – The tour was alright but learning about the history of Teotihuacán was interesting. It was a bit tough to hear and understand the guide as it was very loud.
  • Headed back to Mexico City and arrived in the early afternoon.
  • Coffee and a snack at Ocelote Cafe – Small cafe in Condesa. The U.S. is bringing its tipping culture everywhere, because I got asked for a tip on my carry-out coffee order that I ordered standing up and picked up at the counter.
    • Cold brew w/ almond milk: Bit watered down.
    • Chocolate babka: Fantastic, best pastry I had in Mexico.
  • Lunch at Taqueria Orinoco – Touristy taco spot known for its red tables.
    • Chicharron taco: Pretty mid and dry compared to the other tacos I had.
  • Ubered to Polanco to visit Museo Soumaya – Museum has a cool art collection, from Rodin (an entire floor) to great Mexican artists to other European art to reproductions of famous pieces. The building is really cool too.
  • Visited Museo Jumex – Modern art museum, where the art is questionable (sorry), but they have a really nice gift shop. Very nice outdoor areas (balcony and art display that’s also a ping pong table). Quick visit.
  • Dinner at Carmela y Sal – Best meal of the trip.
    • Tostadas mentidas: The dish translates to “lying tostadas” because it’s topped with coconut that doesn’t taste like coconut, it tastes like meat. Really cool use of food, great shock value, and tasted good too.
    • Shrimp fettuccine with honey: This was a cool dish. It was shrimp fettuccine, but sweet, and it surprisingly worked.
    • Suckling pig: Very rich and fatty, quite good.
    • Mango dessert: Not to my personal liking (I don’t love mango or boba) but everything was fresh and the portions were big.
    • Rose drink: Not good, too sweet.

Day 9: Day trip to Iztaccíhuatl – Popocatépetl National Park and exploring Mexico City (Juarez)

  • Woke up at 6:20am and got to the tour meeting point for our Iztaccíhuatl – Popocatépetl National Park Tour by 6:45am, but we had to wait around and didn’t leave until 7:15am.
  • Hiked Paso de Cortés – Altzomoni Loop.
    • The altitude and incline were rough and the altitude sickness meds I took made things worse. Would recommend testing out the meds before a major hike because I got tingling and numbness in my limbs, had trouble breathing, and needed to pee, all symptoms that I either didn’t have or had a lighter version of when I’d previously been at a higher altitude.
    • It rained and hailed during a big chunk of the hike and Popocatépetl disappeared behind a cloud pretty much the moment we arrived. Despite that, it was a beautiful hike, with cool grass and a really nice valley. It wasn’t crowded and it was a great experience!
  • Had lunch after the hike (included in the tour price) at a really cute spot in the mountains. The food was alright, and we met a really cute dog.
  • Arrived back in Mexico City at 5:30pm.
  • Picked up a snack at El Minutito – Coffee shop by day, bar by night, with a cool outdoor van for extra seating.
    • Chocolate croissant: Mid, similar to a DC croissant.
    • Chocolate cookie: Pretty good!
  • Dinner at Maza Bistrot – Indian restaurant with food made from local ingredients. This was the restaurant I was originally most excited for, because Indian-Mexican fusion sounds exciting, but the food was just okay, nothing standout.
    • Bhel puri: Decent.
    • Curry du jour chicken: Not bad, not really my preferred taste profile. The naan that came with it is made from bananas and tasted really weird.
  • Dessert at Helados Carmela – What a happy accident that we stumbled onto this place, I had one of the best ice creams of my life here.
    • Coffee oreo & yogurt honeycomb ice cream: Coffee oreo was especially good, but both were delicious.

Day 10: Travel home

  • Woke up early to head to the airport and fly home.

Favorite Activities in and around Mexico City

  • Museums and monuments:
    • Anthropology Museum
    • Chapultepec Castle
    • Capilla de Concha
    • MUNAL (National Art Museum)
    • Museo Soumaya
    • Palacio Postal
  • Tours
    • Walking tour of Centro
  • Day trips
    • Popocatepetl-Iztaccihuatl National Park

Food: Biggest Hits and Biggest Misses

  • Best:
    • Best restaurant (overall): Carmela y Sal (Polanco) – Really overall fantastic dishes, enjoyed the “tostadas mentidas” (made of coconut, tasted like meat).
    • Best taco: Siembra Taqueria (Polanco) – Steak taco was incredible.
    • Best coffee: Quiasmo (Condesa) – Great cold brew.
    • Best dessert: Helados Carmela (Juarez) – Incredible ice cream.
    • Best bakery: Ocelote Cafe (Condesa) – Great chocolate babka.
  • Worst:
    • Worst restaurant: Huehueteotl Restaurant (Teotihuacan) – Dragged here by a tour, food was not good.
    • Worst taco: El Pescadito (Condesa) – I don’t like fried food, nearly all their tacos are fried fish. Not very flavorful.
    • Worst coffee: Rumor (Condesa) – Disgusting coffee, about 5x too sweet.
    • Worst dessert: Caracol de Mar (Condesa) and Makan (Centro) – Chocolate tamal from Caracol de Mar was a risk that did not pay off (their food was otherwise good). Makan’s kaya toast didn’t have any kaya and was sickeningly sweet.
    • Worst bakery: Panaderia Rosetta, but there were a lot of terrible bakeries to choose from – Stale baked goods, flavors and texture were terrible.

Overall Recommendation on Mexico

The good:

  • Lots to do – Museums, parks, etc.
  • Cool architecture and interesting neighborhoods.
  • Amazing tacos.
  • Generally safe for solo women.
  • Not too expensive – but rapidly getting more expensive.

The bad:

  • Horrible traffic.
  • Air pollution.
  • Thunderstorms every afternoon.
  • Bakeries.

I would give my time in Mexico a 5.5/10. There were some cool things to see, but I don’t think it blew me away the way I thought it would. Still think it’s worth a visit, but would go in with lower expectations.

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