I spent 8 days in Mexico City in August, 2018, during the rainy season.
Trip
The trip was via Frankfurt airport with a couple of hours stay there but I did not bother to visit a transit lounge. Smoking areas are available at the airport prior security. Transportation between terminals is perfect with electric trains every 5 to 10 mins.
Lufthansa was my host to Frankfurt and Mexico City, no complaints yet the service lacked the fine touch of Qatar Airways.
The flight was long across the Atlantic ocean and we heard the compulsory announcement that using wifi enabled devices when flying over USA was strictly prohibited by US laws.
I was not positively impressed with the organization at Benito Juarez airport when we landed in Mexico City. I waited for over 90 mins to reclaim my luggage. It appeared it was taken off the belt together with the luggage of many other people and taken elsewhere without any notice. Police dogs are walking on the belts and I mean on the belts - stepping on the suitcases and sniffing for drugs or explosives. I wonder how people who are allergic to dogs react to this.
Is It Safe?
Well, crime levels in Mexico are all over the news, so I presume they have a solid reason for the dogs on the luggage belts. On virtually all crossroads in downtown Mexico City, even the small ones, there are one or two heavily armed police officers with automatic weapons.
I personally spent the entire week in the very centre of the city and never had any negative experience in terms of feeling safe. I was able to walk around large areas and enjoy the city and the friendly and open people.
Is water drinkable?
No! By no means ever drink tap water in Mexico City. Bottled water is available everywhere, so make sure you have plenty of it.
Accommodation
I stayed at the Geneve hotel in the very centre of Mexico City and must say that my experience with the hotel was negative.
It is indeed a very good looking hotel with a lot of history (built 1903) and looks impressive.
This however depletes the positives I can say about this place and I will most definitely be staying elsewhere when I visit the city again.
The hotel lacked significant renovations, if any at all. My room looked nice, yet an AC unit (serving the entire hotel I guess) was placed just outside the window and brought so much noise that it was impossible to get any decent sleep. There was an internal door to an adjacent room, which was occupied by a young couple. In terms of sound insulation, this internal door could have been missing with the same level of success. Breakfast was difficult to explain - about a dozen of different dishes, placed in semi-transparent containers with no explanation whatsoever to what was inside. Not being able to eat anything chilly, I refrained from eating anything that did not look 100% familiar. On the very first day I broke a tooth with the first bite of some kind of meat I was brave enough to place in my plate. I shall stop here because I appreciate the impressions I got there should not influence the whole picture.
Weather
Perfectly fine for a shirt and light jacket in August. Temperatures of about 18 - 20 Celsius during the rainy season. Umbrella is a must there at that time of year - heavy rains late in the afternoons which last for two or three hours.
Cash or CC?
Credit cards are accepted in many places yet you will most definitely need cash. ATMs available everywhere, the one at the airport I used added a withdrawal fee of 12 EUR to my account so try to avoid the airport ones.
Vaccines
No compulsory vaccination is required to enter the country.
What vaccines or precaution is required for you will depend on many different things so you must seek a professional advice on that. What is generally recommended as vaccinations however is:
- Hepatitis A
- Hepatitis B
- Yellow Fever
- Tetanus and Diphtheria
- Typhoid Fever
- Polio
- Rabie
- Meningococcal Infection
General Impressions
Mexico City is very impressive, with a lot of historic buildings and wide central boulevards. The infrastructure is not the best, meaning the sidewalks are far from great for walking and the asphalt in the streets is full of holes. That would hardly spoil the positive impressions though. People are open and friendly everywhere you go and ready to help and talk to you about the country, food, history and culture.
There are tall buildings downtown which give Mexico City its contemporary look.
The old Presidential Palace is great to look at and the view is even more impressive at night:
I think a short morning and evening video of walking in Mexico City would probably help feel the atmosphere there.
Morning walk to the office:
Evening walk along pedestrian zone:
For those of you who would like to see a selection of the beers available in Mexico City, here is a taste of those:
Food
One word - hot!
I feel obliged to add some lines to this word. And this is not about the different kinds of tacos you can order. It's about eating hot, chilly and nothing else. Even the sweets you buy there have a significant chance of being chilly.
People simply do not eat anything else. To an extend they do not pay a lot of attention to the actual taste of food before they add some kind of chilly sauce to it. I am in no position to eat chilly, so I always tried the food "plain taste" - the good news is that the chilly sauces are placed on the table so you can decide for yourself if you want to add some to your food or not. Typically it would be from left to right from "least" to most chilly. The bad news is that "plain" taste is non-existent in most cases (apart from the soups, they were gorgeous).
A colleague from Columbia who had recently relocated to Mexico shared that the taste for eating chilly becomes an addiction. I have solid reasons to believe her! At the time she had only spent 4 months in Mexico and she shared she used to wake up at night with the idea of having something chilly to eat.
Electrical plugs
Type B only:
I hope I was helpful to those of you who are looking for first hand impressions from Mexico City.
Have a safe flight!
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