Which neighbourhood should you sleep in?
Polanco or Roma–Condesa, and the choice is about what you want to do on foot. Polanco puts you beside Chapultepec, the Museo Nacional de Antropología and the city's formal tables; Roma and Condesa put you in the middle of the walkable, tree-lined, late-eating city. Historic Centre hotels are magnificent and quiet only in the evening. Whatever you choose, budget an hour to cross the city at the wrong time of day — this is the detail that breaks most self-planned itineraries.
What has to be booked before you land?
The Casa Azul, first. The Museo Frida Kahlo sells tickets only in advance and only by timed slot, at MX$320 for general admission, and weekend slots routinely disappear weeks out; it is closed Mondays and opens at 11:00 on Wednesdays. The capital's serious kitchens release their books weeks ahead too, and the tasting rooms that matter take one sitting a night. The Museo Nacional de Antropología needs a booked guide rather than a booked ticket — it is enormous, and three good hours in it beat a whole aimless day. We hold what can be held and tell you plainly what cannot: no one gets into a sold-out Casa Azul slot at forty-eight hours' notice, ourselves included.
What does the altitude actually do to day one?
At 2,240 m it flattens you for an afternoon. Plan the first day light — a garden, one museum, an early dinner — and put the museum marathon on day two. The dry season, October to May, brings cold mornings and warm afternoons; from May to October the rain arrives in the late afternoon almost daily, which makes mornings the reliable half of the day rather than ruining it.
Is Teotihuacán worth a day, and can you climb anything?
Yes, and probably not. The site is about 45 km northeast, open 08:00 to 17:00, MX$210 for a foreign visitor, and it is at its best in the first ninety minutes after opening. Climbing is a separate question decided by INAH and it moves: the Pyramid of the Sun has been closed since 2020, and the first platform of the Pyramid of the Moon reopened in May 2025 and was suspended again in April 2026. We will tell you what is open the week you travel rather than promise a summit.
Who should skip the capital?
Anyone whose holiday depends on a beach, and anyone who cannot spend time in traffic. Mexico City is a walking-and-eating city with long transfers between its good parts. If that is not the trip, go straight to Los Cabos. If it is, the culinary capital and city and pyramids are the two shapes we build most, and Mexico sets out how the capital pairs with a coast.