Mexico City 2 Day Itinerary

Mexico City sits at 2,240 metres above sea level, and if you arrive from a coastal city the altitude will remind you within the first few hours. Drink water, walk slowly on the first day, and do not schedule a long uphill walk in the afternoon. Everything else about this city is generously easy for visitors: the food is exceptional, the Metro is cheap and efficient, and the neighbourhoods you actually want to be in are walkable and safe by day.

Day 1: Historic Centre, Chapultepec, and Roma Norte

Morning: Centro Historico

From Benito Juarez International Airport (AICM), use the pre-paid official taxi counter inside Arrivals, not drivers who approach you in the terminal. The fixed-rate ticket covers the fare by destination zone and costs roughly 250 to 350 pesos (12 to 17 USD) to the centre. Uber and DiDi also operate from the airport parking structure and are cheaper but require careful navigation to the pickup area.

Start at the Zocalo (Plaza de la Constitucion), the second-largest public square in the world. The Templo Mayor, the excavated remains of the main Aztec temple complex, occupies a full city block directly northeast of the square. Entry is around 90 pesos. The adjacent museum has the best collection of Aztec artefacts in existence, including the 3.6-tonne Coyolxauhqui disk that workers discovered during a construction project in 1978. Allow two hours.

The National Palace on the east side of the Zocalo is free to enter and contains Diego Rivera’s massive mural cycle on the history of Mexico, wrapping around the main stairwell. The detail rewards slow looking.

Afternoon: Chapultepec and the Anthropology Museum

The Museo Nacional de Antropologia in Chapultepec Park is the most important museum in Latin America, and that is not an exaggeration. Entry costs around 90 to 100 pesos (under 5 USD). The Aztec sun stone (often called the Aztec Calendar), the Olmec colossal heads, and the Mayan room alone justify an entire morning. Most visitors budget two hours; three is better. Closed on Mondays.

The Bosque de Chapultepec around the museum is the largest urban park in the western hemisphere. Walk through it or take the metro (Chapultepec station, Line 1). The Castillo de Chapultepec on the hill above the park was Mexico’s national palace and is now a history museum with the best panoramic view in the city.

Evening: Roma Norte

Take a taxi or metro to Roma Norte, the neighbourhood where Mexico City’s food culture has been centred for the past decade. Tacos at Taqueria Alvaro Obregon (which has been carving al pastor for 30 years) cost 20 to 35 pesos each and are the correct way to start the evening. Dinner at Rosetta on Colima Street, chef Elena Reygadas’s now Michelin-starred restaurant in a restored mansion, runs about 800 to 1,200 pesos per person. Book months ahead in high season. If Rosetta is full, Contramar in the Condesa (fresh seafood, tuna tostadas, open since 1998) is the local default for a good reason.

Locals eat dinner after 8pm. Turning up at 7pm means you will often be the only table in the room, which is pleasant but strange.

Day 2: Coyoacan, Xochimilco, and Polanco

Morning: Coyoacan

Coyoacan is a colonial neighbourhood about 20 minutes south of Roma Norte by metro or taxi. The Museo Frida Kahlo (Casa Azul, the Blue House) is the artist’s birthplace and home and contains her studio, personal effects, and a small selection of paintings. Tickets must be booked online in advance and sell out weeks ahead for weekend slots. Entry is around 270 pesos. Even if Frida Kahlo’s work is not your primary interest, the house and garden are worth the visit for the density of detail.

The neighbourhood around the museum has good cafes and one of the best market plazas in the city on weekends (Mercado de Artesanias de Coyoacan, adjacent to the main square). The bookshops on Francisco Sosa street are worth twenty minutes even if you read no Spanish.

Afternoon: Xochimilco

Xochimilco is the surviving portion of the lake and canal system that the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan sat upon before the Spanish drained it. The trajineras (painted flat-bottomed boats) on the canals are a genuine piece of Mexico City life and not merely a tourist attraction: families rent them on weekends and Sundays for parties, with food and music boats paddling alongside. A private trajinera for a small group costs around 400 to 500 pesos per hour. Afternoons on weekends are the most animated and the most crowded. Weekday mornings are quieter and the canal banks are visible without the party boats. Both are valid experiences.

This is a UNESCO World Heritage site because the chinampas (floating gardens) alongside the canals have been farmed continuously since pre-Columbian times.

Evening: Polanco and Departure

Polanco is the upscale commercial district northwest of Chapultepec, full of international brands and expense-account restaurants. The Museo Soumaya on Plaza Carso is free to enter and houses Carlos Slim’s personal art collection, 66,000 pieces including a large number of Rodin sculptures. The building’s faceted silver exterior is the most photographed modern architecture in the city.

For a final dinner, Pujol on Tennyson Street in Polanco is the benchmark for Mexican haute cuisine, frequently ranked among the world’s best restaurants. The omakase tasting menu runs around 2,500 to 3,500 pesos per person and requires a reservation made weeks to months ahead. If that price point is not the plan, Roma Norte’s taco counters on the walk back to your hotel cost 1 percent as much and are genuinely good.

Things to know:

  • The Metro (subway) is 5 pesos per journey regardless of distance and covers virtually every destination in this itinerary. It is crowded at rush hour but safe, fast, and the correct way to travel on a budget.
  • Altitude sickness (soroche) affects some visitors for the first 24 to 48 hours. Headache, tiredness, and shortness of breath are common. Avoid alcohol on the first day, drink extra water, and rest when you feel it.
  • Tap water is not safe to drink. Buy large water bottles at a OXXO convenience store rather than small plastic bottles.
  • Street food eaten at busy taco stands with high turnover is generally safe: the ingredients are fresh and cooked to order. Avoid anything that has been sitting out in the heat.
  • The official pre-paid taxi counters inside AICM are the safest transport option from the airport. Do not take any taxi offered by someone who approaches you unsolicited.
  • Tipping 10 to 15 percent at restaurants is expected. At taco counters and market stalls, rounding up the peso amount is sufficient.