Happy New Year! I hope you all had a safe and happy holiday season. I was able to completely unplug between Christmas and New Years when my boyfriend Glenn and I spent 6 days in Mexico City. This was our first time in Mexico City but we had heard many good things from friends around Texas and it definitely lived up to the hype!

We flew in the day after Christmas on a direct flight out of Detroit, Michigan. We stayed at the Sheraton Mexico City Maria Isabel Hotel and although it was a little dated I’d highly recommend it for the location. We asked for a room with a view and were given one that overlooked the Angel of Independence monument and we knew it would be perfect for watching the New Years Eve celebrations.

For our first night in town, we moseyed around La Reforma and had some amazing tacos at Taquería Orinoco. This place always had a line down the street and if there’s one thing we learned about Mexico City, it’s that the restaurants with a line are worth waiting for.

For dessert, we grabbed churros at another super popular spot Churrería El Moro. Again, worth the wait!

Day 1:

On our first full day, we wanted to acclimate to our surroundings a bit more so we walked up to the Centro Historico district hitting a lot of the historical landmarks along the way:

Monument to the Revolution

Church of San Hipolito

Alameda Central

Palacio de Bellas Artes

Palacio Postal – an actual functioning post office!

The House of Tiles

Av Francisco I. Madero

Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

Mercado de San Juan

Barrio Chino (Mexico City’s Chinatown)

Later that night we walked into Roma Notre and had a few mezcalitas at El Parnita before heading upstairs to another restaurant called Páramo that had most amazing tuna ceviche (we even went back later in the trip to get it again!) Both places had a super cool and energetic ambiance.

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Day 2:

After exploring the city on day 1, we decided to get out and see more of Mexico by booking a private tour of Teotihuacan and the pyramids. I think the History Channel provides are great synopsis:

Teotihuacan is an ancient Mesoamerican city located 30 miles (50 km) northeast of modern-day Mexico City. The city, which was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987, was settled as early as 400 B.C. and became the most powerful and influential city in the region by 400 A.D. By the time the Aztecs found the city in the 1400s and named it Teotihuacan (meaning “the place where the gods were created”), the city had been abandoned for centuries. Teotihuacan’s origins, history, and culture largely remain a mystery.

The tour ended with a mezcal tasting and a look at some local artisan goods.

As we headed back to city we experienced the insane traffic that Mexico City is notorious for. It took almost 2 hours to get back so our driver dropped us off at Balcón del Zócalo which was a rooftop restaurant in Centro Historico that overlooks Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral and had amazing views of the mountains that surround the city. This was probably my favorite spot of the trip!

We wrapped up the evening with some street food on La Reforma which is lined with vendors as far as the eye can see.

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Day 3:

We spent a lot of Day 2 in the car so it was time to get our steps in again. We headed to a massive park called Bosque de Chapultepec. It contains monuments, museums, lakes, a castle and even a zoo!

We grabbed breakfast in Polanco at Ojo de Agua which had a lot of healthy options and was one of our favorite breakfast spots of the trip. We ended up going back later in the week.

Then it was time for the renowned Museo Nacional de Antropología. It’s an incredible museum that goes into extreme detail on the history of Mexico. It took us about 2 hours to get half way through and we realized that we should pick up the pace if we wanted to make it to dinner before our nighttime activity.

And that nighttime activity was none other than LUCHA LIBRE (a.k.a. Mexican wrestling). We also booked a tour for this just knowing it was going to be a super busy night on the last Friday before the new year. It was a blast!

Lucha Libra is definitely more of a “show” than a true athletic event. The outcomes are obviously pre-planned but that didn’t take away from the crowd’s excitement and it was super entertaining. Our tour even came with drinks before the event and our very own masks!

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Day 4:

One of the last neighborhoods on our list to explore was La Condesa. It was a beautiful Saturday morning so we found ourselves in a park watching all of the well-behaved Mexican dogs run around and some locals taking group fitness classes.

We grabbed breakfast at Maque which had the most amazing pastries. We then wandered into some vintage clothing stores and enjoyed espressos and the roooftop views at the Cafebrería El Péndulo Condesa. It was every book lovers dream.

We wrapped up day 4 with some low-key tacos and just a few mezcalitas so we would be fresh for New Years Eve the next day.

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Day 5:

My boyfriend is from Pittsburgh and is a die-hard Steelers fan. We had heard that there is a large Steelers fan base in Mexico City so we trekked back to La Condesa for an official Steelers watch party at Salón Malafama. It was so cool to watch a game in Spanish and everyone there might have been even more die-hard than Glenn!

It was finally time for New Years Eve festivities! They closed down La Reforma right in front of our hotel so we were able to hear the live music from Rubén Blades and watch as thousands of people came to ring in the new year.

We went down around 11 p.m. to get a good spot to watch the fireworks show at midnight. There were a lot of families and we never felt unsafe. But because we’re a couple of mid-thirty-year-olds we were back in our hotel room by 12:05 a.m.

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Day 6:

Sadly, it was time to head home. Our flight was in the early afternoon so we were able to grab one last breakfast before heading to the airport. We even picked up some Rosca de Reyes bread to bring back to my mom as a thank you for watching our pets.

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I think like most major cities, Mexico City should be on everyone’s list to visit at least once. It’s a very walkable city and I find that’s the best way to truly immerse yourself in the culture. We averaged over 10 miles per day! If you love good food, you will love Mexico City and that’s one of the main reasons I think we would go back!