Mexico City gets a bad rep without reason. Whether due to the never-ending smear campaign by the American media or your Aunt Doris’s tall tale of her experience with the drug mafia in DF in the 1970s, don’t let outdated misinformation keep you from visiting one of the top cities in the world (yes, seriously).
5 Reasons You Should Visit Mexico City NOW (Yes, RIGHT NOW)
1. Benefit your wallet
Hotel rates are set ridiculously low in Mexico City in the wake of the earthquakes, especially in the upper price bracket. Estimates suggest that somewhere around 20% of tourists have canceled their upcoming travel plans to the city (without reason – read on for that).
If you book your travel plans now, you can grab many high end and boutique hotels for HALF their usual price. Don’t believe me? Take a look.
Come to Mexico City, now, for an affordable luxury vacation that your budget wouldn’t usually support.
2. Support disaster recovery
Have no fear, Mexico City (and Puebla, and Oaxaca, and surrounding earthquake-affected areas) are safe for tourists to visit. Trust me, I live here (and have stayed in all 3 areas in the past 3 weeks). So do it!
Much of the damage has been repaired, and the continuing efforts don’t really have any impact on tourists. In fact, if you were living under a rock and not aware of the news outside of your bubble, you probably wouldn’t even know an earthquake happened, let alone two!
While it won’t affect your vacation, it would be insensitive to pretend that there isn’t still rebuilding and renovating of private dwellings and some historic and cultural buildings (especially in Puebla), and that people are continuing to pour money into solving problems the earthquake caused. Especially in the smaller, lesser-known villages that experienced more extensive damage and received less aid.
Fortunately, tourism dollars can help everybody by injecting money and rejuvenating the economy.
3. Show your solidarity
Unless you’ve been on a seriously strict media diet (good for you), you know that the Mexican culture and people have been unfairly targeted by the presidential administration, government, and the media as villainous scapegoats for American problems. Be one of the “good Americans” and demonstrate your appreciation for Mexican culture and heritage.
Don’t have any appreciation? Even more reason to take a visit and see what’s what. I promise, it won’t require much effort on your part. All you have to do is show up: you won’t be able to resist the incredible cuisine, seemingly endless art offerings, and welcoming hospitality.
4. Stick it to Trump
Mexico isn’t full of bad hombres, or rapists and drug dealers. It’s a country full of people wanting what’s best for their families, just like the United States.
All it’ll take is a short visit for you to be singing the praises of Mexico (and its people).
From the random guy who came up to my table at a restaurant and offered to help me order (not knowing I speak Spanish), to the frequent shouted greetings of “Welcome to Mexico!”, to the seemingly endless patience offered in response to my heavily accented Spanish… I have never, ever experienced a kinder or more congenial culture (and I’ve been a LOT of places). Locals regularly go out of their way to help tourists and make them feel welcome.
Show the Donald you know what’s really “fake news”, and check out Mexico City to see for yourself… and then go home and tell all your friends.
5. Safer than ever
Yes, every country has its criminals (even the US – gasp!), and every city has its sketchy side (even American cities – double gasp!) but if you’re coming to Mexico City or Puebla with good intentions, you’re really all set. In Mexico, you need to go looking for trouble if you want to find it. It’s in Mexico’s interest to keep tourists safe (actually, it’s even in the dreaded “mafia”‘s interest but that’s a story for another time.)
I feel safer in my stomping grounds of DF (especially the neighborhoods of Polanco, Roma, Condesa, and the historic center) than in ANY major US city. As a dedicated solo female traveler, you know I keep it real and tell it like it is when it comes to safety. And if you don’t trust me, trust my overly safety conscious security expert husband (that’s actually his job: he worries about security in Mexico FOR A LIVING).
Want to read more about Mexico? You should! Check out all of my articles about this incredible nation
Pin it for Later: 5 Reasons You Should Visit Mexico City RIGHT NOW
If you have visited Mexico City – what did you think?
If you haven’t visited Mexico City – why not??
A short vacation in Thailand turned into a life abroad with a canceled ticket home. Nearly a decade later and after living in Bangkok, Rio de Janeiro, Puebla, and Puerto Vallarta, Steph is on to her next adventure and living back in beautiful, cosmopolitan Mexico City. She is living, traveling, and working (both as an expat therapist and an international health insurance representative) around the world to find the beautiful, inspirational, and interesting while sharing it with you!
I love this post!
After the earthquakes, I never once considered canceling my trip–it’s not hard to understand that NOW is when the country really needs tourists. And other than a couple of roped off sidewalks, the disaster made no impact on my trip. There were a couple of times when locals thanked me for visiting in wake of the earthquake.
I absolutely fell in love with Mexico and the friendliness of its inhabitants. I can’t wait to return!
Author
You’re the best! Thank you for sharing this. Those really are the two most important points: tourists are unaffected, and Mexico NEEDS you. That plus lower prices = WIN WIN WIN all around 😉
I’m so glad you enjoyed your trip, and that I got to see you — even though it got cut short by the flu 🙁
I am planning to go in May. Where would you recommend to stay?
And any other “must see” areas?
Author
Depending on what you’re interested in, I always stay in one of the neighborhoods around Colonia Condesa. That’s also where I would choose to live, if I were to move back to Mexico City. Because the traffic in Mexico City is SO bad, though, I always plan my stays around where I want to spend the majority of my time.
For example:
With my younger brother and his girlfriend, we stayed in a 2-bedroom Airbnb in Roma, lots of cheap bars and restaurants.
When I visit with my brother-in-law and husband in February, we’re staying in a 2-bedroom Airbnb in Cuauhtemoc on Reforma, because we only have 3 days and want to do a lot of sightseeing and museum-visiting, and want a central location on a major street to facilitate that.
When I visit in March with a group of travel bloggers (median age of the group early-30s), we’re staying in a big Airbnb house right in Condesa, because we’re planning a lot of eating and drinking and wandering by foot.
I recommend Airbnb for stays in Mexico City, I think the value is unsurpassable in terms of what you get (especially compared to hotel prices). If you haven’t used it before, here’s a link for $40 off an Airbnb stay.
Regardless of where you stay, I recommend Uber as the best, safest, and cheapest way to get around here’s a link for a free first ride)
Hola! Having been here only a week and originally Fromm chicago, I genuinely feel safer here. It’s such a shame people have that stigma. I lived in Medellin, Colombia prior to Mexico and we dealt with the same stigma. However, I do feel safer in CDMX and there’s a certain sophistication to this city I didn’t expect. Thanks for the unique and fun viewpoint.
Author
Thanks so much, Stephanie! I definitely feel safe in CDMX and I agree about the sophistication.. it reminds me of Europe, to be honest, but more fun and better food (in my opinion 😉 )
I was TRULY enjoying your blog, aaaaand THEN you had to get ignorant with the Trump bashing. SMH. Stick to writing about Mexico. As a new expat, and a rational independent who leans conservative, from USA, it blows my mind this type of ignorance. I have had many great, in-depth conversations about Trump with Mexicans, and once they understand the complexity of US-Mexico relations, the problems with ILLEGAL immigration, the TRUTH about where he stands on issues, versus the lies from liberals & the media, many agree. People understand that ILLEGAL immigration hurts a country, as Mexico has it’s own problems with illegals. People ALSO get that a president is there to fight for HIS PEOPLE, not others. I love the people of Mexico, and they should have a president who fights for THEM, as Trump fights for Americans. Not only is your post on Trump ridiculous, it shows a real lack of depth & understanding. As a finance major, a political commentator and more, your ignorant portrayal of the POTUS & USA, really annoys me, AND it doesn’t help.
Author
No problem, Lawrence! This wasn’t a post on Trump, it was a post on reasons to visit Mexico. I don’t like Trump, and I disagree with his policies on nor his statements about Mexico. The lovely thing about having a blog is that I can write about WHATEVER I WANT without needing to please everyone… and I’ll continue to do so.
Please, go ahead and stamp “fake news” on this blog and move on, but I think you should take a minute to look up the definition of ignorant, as you’ve thrown it at me multiple times in your comment when it really doesn’t apply.
My friend and I are thinking of booking a last minute trip from the states from just this weekend. Never been to Mexico City and obviously a little scared after the recent US Travel Warning. Were there any areas you’d say to stay clear from?
Author
Of course, you should always do what’s right for you, but I travel extensively to places under the “US Travel Warning” (actually, pretty much everywhere I go lately has a US travel warning), and I’ve never once found it to be relevant. To be totally honest, I think a lot of it is political rather than factual.
If you go to tourist areas (the Center, Chapultepec area, etc) and choose your accommodation and hang out in Roma/Condesa/where most tourists stay, you’ll probably feel safer than pretty much any big city in the US. To get into a dangerous area of Mexico City, you’d kinda have to be trying purposefully. That being said – the area around the airport isn’t the best so I wouldn’t recommend staying over there, and definitely take Uber to/from the airport.
Hi there
I am about to visit and its my first time traveling abroad as a solo female so this was nice to read!
I want to stay in Condesa but I have heard that it has been impacted a lot? Will it be a nuisance to stay there?
Author
Hi!
I totally disagree that it’s still showing any signs of the earthquake for visitors.
I was there just a few days ago with some visitors: my friends couldn’t even tell there was an earthquake, and I actually forgot until they mentioned it.
I have 5 friends coming down from the States to spend a week in Mexico City at the end of March, we’re also staying in Condesa then. There’s literally ZERO impact on tourists. 99.99% chance you won’t even be able to tell.
Go and enjoy 🙂