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I’m guessing I’ve been to Mexico at least 10 times. I’ve baked on the beaches in Cabo, Puerto Vallarta, Playa del Carmen, and Cancun, and crossed into the border towns of Tijuana and Juarez. I’ve sampled the ample cultural delights of metropolitan Mexico City and Guadalajara, and spent some heavenly days in the quaint little mountain town of San Miguel de Allende. But I just went back again to visit a place that keeps popping up on all sorts of travel lists – hot spots, hip capitals, food scenes, cultural meccas, and more: Mexico City, or simply DF, as the locals call the capital.
To top it off, we splurged and stayed at “the hippest hotel in Mexico City’s hippest neighborhood” (according to CN Traveler), and spent much of our time in its bourgeois-bohemian streets in the neighborhood of Roma Norte. I could (and probably will later) write more about how we spent our over-the-border getaway, but what keeps asserting itself as I review my photos are the walls. Of course, muralist Diego Rivera and his colleagues figure prominently in any photo essay on Mexico City, but there is wall art all over DF, especially in Colonia Roma, and its quirky vibrancy permeated our strolls, our sightseeing, and even our meals.
One Foot Out the Door 
We loved DF. You went to Frida Kahlo’s house, and the Diego Rivera museum – we did too. Of course.
Alison
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Yes! Frida’s house was actually one of our favorite places … she was such an interesting woman, and being in her work and living space was inspiring. And Coyoacán in general was a little oasis in Mexico City, didn’t you think?
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Amazing! Especially loved the last. Such wonderful color.
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Thanks! Those Diego Rivera murals were incredible! I had seen them before but I forgot how colorful they were (and so huge). This time we spent more time at the Ministry of Education, which has three full floors covered with his work. In many ways these were much richer than the ones everyone flocks to see at the National Palace.
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Hope you do that follow up post. Lovely photos, would love to see and read even more! 🙂
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Follow-up post(s) in process! It’s always so hard to figure out what to highlight!
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Amazing! I have been to Mexico many times but not Mexico City. I would really love to go there as well as San Miguel de Allende!
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Both are worth the trip! San Miguel de Allende is harder to get to, but so different from many other parts of Mexico. And if you want a big city weekend or longer, Mexico City has something for everyone. What we loved was the simplicity of the travel – barely over 3 hours flying and the same time zone – so we could really hit the ground running!
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OMG, I am having location envy 😀The one thing that is sorely miss in Fiji is painted walls. And you’ve captured some beauties here Lexi. A fabulous variety. I can’t even pick out a favorite, try as I did. I like every one. I have spent too little time in Mexico but intend to do more when I get ’round the globe.
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Oh, I love hearing that someone in Fiji has location envy! Let’s switch right now for a couple of weeks or months! But I do get what you’re saying – Latin America as a whole has that vibrant color on soft stone walls that just can’t be replicated anywhere else.
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It truly does. I am kind of kicking myself that I was in such a hurry to get to the Pacific and not sending more time in Latin America. When I joined this boat, we spent one day in Mexico, a month in Panama, and 21 days in The Galapagos. Next time around, I’ll stay 2 years in Latin America if I have my way 😆How cool would it be to swap places for a few weeks or a month. At least i get to travel there virtually here.
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Lex, Mexico has long been one of my top…say…three places in the world, just love it there…the people, the language, the tortas from street vendors. I haven’t been there in a couple of decades, but I did live there for two years once upon another life. In Manzanillo, a laid back little beach community on the Pacific side. Been there?
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I have not been to Manzanillo, but know a bit about it – sounds heavenly! I’ve spent time on both coasts and in both the urban and mountainous middle and, like you, l love so many aspects of the country. For a while I thought I would move there at some point, but then it got violent and scary in a lot of places and I backed off in the last decade. I’m back to testing the waters now, though, and this dip was good, really good!
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What a fantastic gallery! That last mural is stunning in its capture of colour and expression.
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Thank you! I went into some of the galleries and buildings with Diego Rivera’s murals with the attitude of “been there, seen those” and boy, was I surprised at how powerful these murals (still) are! The one at the end of this gallery was part of a full wall mural in the Museo Mural Diego Rivera; I think it may have been the most stunning of all the works we saw on this trip.
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It’s our policy to stop in the capital of every country to see the major sights and museums, and DF is no exception. It sets the stage for just about everything else you’ll see in Mexico. We’ve traveled quite a bit in the central highlands, and the things we saw in DF helped us understand more of the history. ~ James
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Awesome policy … so many people skip over the noisy, crowded capital cities but I agree there is much to be learned about a country there. In Mexico in particular, so many people only “know” the country through glitzy beach resorts and never see the real culture. That sounds snotty, but I don’t mean it that way; our early travels were just dipping our toes in the water (literally!) also, but we soon realized we wanted a deeper dive in a lot of places. (You two are practically scuba diving if we continue that analogy …!)
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BTW, as I said, we spent some time in the central highlands and loved it. SMA and Oaxaca were cool, but Guanajuato was fabulous, and Morelia was also great. Check out our posts for future travel ideas. ~James
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I will! I’ve been to Guanajuato and also San Miguel de Allende, Guadalajara, etc. So many great spots in non-coastal Mexico!
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Thanks so much for directing me to these posts! I had the vague notion that Mexico has wonderful street art, but you’ve solidified that in my mind now – your pictures are fabulous! I would love to have a trip in Mexico just soaking up the street art and street food!
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Those last two things are pretty much what we partook of on this last trip to Mexico City! We just roamed with very few set plans, checked out all the street art, and ate lots of good stuff!
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Sounds fabulous and those street artists are talented! We haven’t been to Mexico City yet (apart from the airport) although we plan to stay there a few times on our next trip to Mexico. We fell in love with Oaxaca and Puerto Escondido but would like to explore this colourful Country a lot more
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Having Mexico pretty much right next door has been a big plus. We can fly there in less time than it takes to get to other places in the U.S. (plus my husband has a lot of business there), so we have been spoiled by our opportunities to see a lot of the country. The city itself is very cosmopolitan, and I’ve enjoyed every trip I’ve taken there!
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You are so lucky, we have only had one trip there, 3 weeks where we spent Christmas in Puerto Escondido and new year in Oaxaca and we fell in love with Mexico. We will be back 😁
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