We are back form such a fun weekend away with friends and to be honest, Mexico City surpassed all expectations! I explained a little bit before we left, but our friends all decided a few years ago that we would pick one trip a year where we all had to make our best effort to come, no matter what. Last year was Austin and unfortunately we experienced some pretty awful weather while there, but still had the best time, so we had high hopes for this time around in a new location!
We planned this trip well in advance so everyone could set the dates aside, grab flights at an affordable cost as well as hotel rooms. When Matt and I go on friends trips I try my best to disconnect from “work life” and soak in as much “in the moment” time as possible. With that being said, everything was snapped on my iPhone and I don’t have a ton of photos, but the places we went while there were awesome and SO worth sharing! Also, I created a Mexico City Highlight on Instagram and have everything saved there as well! As for my outfits, most pieces I packed were oldies but goodies, but here are a few cute casual dresses perfect for travel!
My two girlfriends spearheaded the planning for our group of 13 and honestly knocked it out of the park. Hopefully if you are traveling in a larger group you will find this helpful, but also if you are taking the trip with just one other person a lot of what we did would still be great. There is so much charm and character in Mexico City, I would highly recommend it and would love to go back!
A few random travel related things before I dive into this post. We always try and carry-on for a long weekend getaway. I recently discovered this travel back-pack to use in addition to my carry-on bag and it is GREAT! I love the separate compartments to store and organize your items. I also love having these wipes on hand for after the plane ride and this jewelry case helps keep things organized and not get tangled!
A LITTLE BACKSTORY ON TRAVELING AROUND MEXICO CITY:
After a 4.5 hour flight from NYC, we landed in Mexico City. While the ride from the airport to the hotel should only take about 20-25 minutes, it took us close to an hour because of traffic , which is notoriously bad in Mexico City (and honestly the only drawback). We flew in on a Friday and apparently while traffic is bad pretty much all the time (22 MILLION people commute in and out of the city each day), it is especially bad on Fridays that are pay days because everyone is going out after work (which this Friday happened to be). I must admit, I like that mentality!! The same scenario applied when heading 2.5 miles form our hotel to drinks that night, it took us close to 45 minutes.
Anyways, for getting around we organized a small bus to pick us up from the airport and take us to the hotel. It was the best option for a group our size. Otherwise, we used Ubers when getting to and from dinner, bars, etc. which are cheaper than a regular taxi.
For our group tours we had a private van with a tour guide, which I will touch on later as well.
WHERE WE STAYED:
We choose to stay at the W Mexico City which was in a great location (upscale Polanco District, think 5th ave of NYC) and allowed us to walk to a few of our dinners and bars that were on our list to check out. Like I mentioned above, this was key since the traffic can be pretty bad and Mexico City is LARGE. We also loved hanging out in their Living Room Bar to grab a drink and have as a meet up point before heading out. Their margaritas were amazing by the way! We also choose this hotel because it is in an extremely safe neighborhood and while we were aware of our surroundings the entire time I never felt unsafe. All of us girls also left all of our jewelry back home just in case.
WHERE WE ATE/DRANK:
As you can imagine, with our size of group we needed to plan ahead and make a bunch of reservations. I would recommend doing this no matter what, but if you are a much smaller group you may also have some luck last minute.
Supra – Such an awesome rooftop bar with a 360 degree view of Mexico City. We came here for pre-dinner drinks and timed it perfectly with sunset! Our friend who unfortunately couldn’t make the trip last minute booked this spot through a co-worker, and we struggled to find a website for it, but here is the address! (you enter through a parking garage, fyi) — Address: Av. Álvaro Obregón 139-163, Roma Nte., 06700 Ciudad de México, CDMX, Mexico
Rosetta – We had dinner here our first night and with our size group we were able to dine in their private room which was so much fun! Located in a large mansion in the Roma district, using Mexican ingredients and seasonal items for their dishes. They required a pre fixe menu for a group our size which came with 3 main courses and desert. The food was good, but the ambiance of this restaurant was even better.
Gin Gin – A cocktail bar located within Roma, we walked here after dinner at Rosetta our first night. FYI, we had made a reservation for a table and I don’t think we would have been accommodated otherwise with a group our size. Known for, you guessed it….their gin drinks! The article I linked goes into great detail about the spot as well as popular cocktails on their menu.
RosaNegra – Latin/American cuisine with amazing decor and overall fun vibe! The wait staff was SO on top of things, especially for our big group. Open air concept, delicious food and sparklers and sing-alongs all wewre part of our dinner celebration. Such a great place to go to start your night before heading out.
La Santa Masaryk – It wouldn’t be a friends trip without one night of staying out extra late and dancing! We reserved a table at this night club and it was a BLAST. We all said we hadn’t danced like that in so long! My one friend had to wear her husband’s shoes home (he was a trooper and wore his socks) because her feet hurt so bad ha. The only thing I couldn’t stand was you are allowed to smoke inside the club. While it wasn’t as bad as I would have thought, I can’t stand cigarette smoke so it was a bit of a downer.
Churros at El Moro – Hands down the best churros of our trip! Make this a priority on your trip 🙂
WHAT WE DID:
Luxury Private Tour (8hrs, $110pp – we had 15 in original count) – Side note, make sure you have pesos on you because everywhere charges about 5 pesos to use the restroom! Tour includes:
- Xochimilco: Aka “Little Venice” or the “Floating Gardens”. You hop on a floating gondola to take you up and down the canal for a couple of hours (we did 2hrs). We packed a cooler (the bus stopped at a spot en route) and a portable speaker for this, but it also included a mariachi band hopping on with us for 5 songs. SO MUCH FUN!
- San Angel: A super charming neighborhood with its cobblestone streets and colorful buildings that also has a “Saturday Market” where you can shop the different stands for all sorts of things.
- Frida Kahlo Museum: Our tour guide already had our tickets so we got to hop the line (which was long). You can take as much time as as you want within the museum, but the cool part is it is actually in her house she lived in. She was a painter who had a plethora of health issues and enjoyed painted self portraits of herself using the mirror above her bed. Very cool museum, and now I need to watch the movie!
Eat Mexico: Taco Tour – With our size group we had this tour to ourselves, but you can always add on to a group as well. There were 6 stops on the taco tour and not only did we fill our bellies with tacos and cervazas, but also learned so much interesting knowledge about the taco culture in Mexico (did you know the average person in Mexico eats 8 tortillas per day and their are 65,000 tortilla factories within the city?! Crazy!).
Bird Around the City – This is one of my favorite ways to explore a city! Just make sure you download the “Bird” app and you can hop on a motorized scooter pretty much anywhere in the city. The coolest part was on Sunday, one of the main drags by us was shut down for pedestrians, so everyone was out running, riding their bikes and on their scooters. It was extra safe getting around and we had a blast. We ended up taking the Bird from our hotel all the way to the historic district, grabbed churros and then met up for the taco tour.
Pyramid Tour – The 4 of us who are parents opted to leave super early on Monday to get back to our little babes, but the rest of the group linked back up with the same tour guide and service that we used in the beginning of our trip for a tour of the pyramids. Their pictures looked amazing and I highly recommend adding to your to-do list. I believe they are located about an hour outside the city and you can spend as little or as long of time there as you would like.