36 Hours in Mexico City and Teotihuacan

A lowdown of how we blitzed Mexico City and the nearby ruins of Teotihuacan in 36 hours.

Midway through 2016 I had the exciting news that I will be sent to my law firm's New York City headquarters for 6 months. This made for some very exciting holiday plans and for some unknown reason I had my mind besotted to travel to Mexico. I only had 12.5 days of annual leave to use in the 6 months period and therefore I knew from the off that this trip had to be quite intense and will require quite a fair bit of planning.

I intended to see as many facets of Mexico as possible, but also giving enough time in each place to properly feel and get the vibe. Due to this severe time constraint, my final itinerary for my trip in Mexico ended up leaving me with a little over 36 hours to see both Mexico City and the ruins of Teotihuacan. I know from the start that I won't be able to see and feel as much of the city as I would like, but this in itself was an exciting challenge and one that I was eager to take on.

After finishing the trip and looking back, I have to say that I think we managed to do quite a good job in seeing a fair bit of Mexico City in the time that we had. Plus we also had ample time to enjoy the ruins of Teotihuacan before we had to catch our bus to Oaxaca.

Day 1 - Mexico City

12:15 a.m. Our flight arrived in Mexico City. If you have a flight that arrives late,  the immigration and luggage pick up should be quite breezy as from our experience, around midnight the airport was rather deserted. We grabbed a taxi from the airport which was cheap and easy.

We stayed in a hotel right around the Centro Historico area, where most of Mexico City's main buildings and historical sites are located. It's worth the extra spending to get a hotel in this area as everything will be within walking distance and you can start your day nice and early to hit the sights and not worry about getting back too late.

9:30 a.m. We woke up and took off from our hotel. Due to the mishap we had with our hotel reservation the night before, we only checked in at about 2 a.m. and had quite little sleep, so we went out a bit later that I originally had planned with the result of us skipping breakfast. But I suppose if we had to do it all over again, I might be willing to sacrifice 45 minutes of the sleep we had and go out a bit earlier to grab some coffee and pastries in one of the many cafes around the area.

9:45 a.m. We walked around the Zocalo to check out the sights and the area. When we were there it was a Sunday and the city was barely waking up around the time we went out. Luckily the Palacio Nacional was open from 9 a.m. and we managed to explore the historical building, gaze on the gorgeous murals of Diego Rivera and check out the permanent exhibition on Benito Juarez, Mexico's most famous and revered president.

11:00 a.m. Leaving the Palacio Nacional, we walked around the streets that surrounds the Zocalo. By this time the city was a bit more alive. Visitors and locals alike started pouring into the area, street vendors calling out to your selling their various trinkets, street musicians playing on the streets and the Zocalo became more of the pulsing life center of a city we expected it to be.

11:30 a.m. After exploring the streets around the area, we headed to the Metropolitan Cathedral for some sightseeing. When we arrived the morning mass have just ended and we got to see glimpses of the beautiful chapels and ornate altars strewn around the area. The cathedral would soon filled up with an ever larger horde of worshippers as every Sunday at noon the Archbishop of Mexico City will conduct the mass in the Metropolitan Cathedral. So after some sightseeing we decided to step out and meet our friend Miguel.

12:00 p.m. Meeting Miguel, we promptly went to the archeological site of Templo Mayor located (literally) a stone's throw away from the Metropolitan Cathedral. We took our time exploring Templo Mayor and the beautiful museum situated on the grounds of the site. We had a great time discussing about the history of the Aztec culture and civilization as well as the dilemma faced by Mexico City in planning to further excavate the area.

1:30 p.m. From Templo Mayor and before lunch, we made a short stop at the bus ticket counter near Zocalo to arrange all of our future bus journeys around Mexico. As I was planning to visit a further 4 cities in 4 different states I thought it would be wise to have my travel details and bus tickets sorted as soon as possible. January is typically the high season for tourism in Mexico and therefore if you do not book in advance there is a chance that you won't be able to the get the bus or the timings you want. Plus, we had the pleasant surprise of receiving rather substantial discounts for a lot of the bus tickets due to buying them in advance.

2:00 p.m. After settling the bus tickets, Miguel brought us to have lunch at the Casa de los Azulejos, a restaurant housed in a very beautiful historical building and rather posh surroundings. The food was brilliant and this restaurant came highly recommended from both visitors and locals alike.

3:00 p.m. Finished with lunch, we headed to the nearby Palacio Bellas Artes, a beautiful building done in the French Baroque style, housing Mexico's premier art performing space. We unfortunately did not have time to take a look inside, but there's meant to be beautiful murals by Diego Rivera, various others artworks and stunning interior decorations within the building. Definitely one to put on the list the next time I visit the city, I may even try catch the famous Ballet Folklorico de Mexico the next time I'm around! There was also a screen located on the left side of the building, where Miguel said they do free screenings of the shows on some evenings. Miguel also told us that there's a café housed on the top floor of the building just across from Bellas Artes which provides a stunning panoramic view of the city.

3:30 p.m. After going around Bellas Artes, we took an Uber to the National Museum of Anthropology in Chapultepec Park. Miguel told us that a lot of the locals in Mexico is still getting used to the idea of Uber and many of them thought that they were expensive, but from our experience, our Uber rides tended to be cheaper than metered taxi rides around the city. Discovering this in Mexico City was what began my fling with Uber for the rest of this trip.

3:50 p.m. Arriving at the grounds of the National Museum of Anthropology, we took our time to explore a bit of the 'pop-up' market of street vendors selling their vast array of goods around the area. After a huge cup of cold Horchata (and the brain freeze that followed), we hit the museum running and didn't stop running until 7 p.m. when the museum closed. The museum was just astonishing and the scale was something I admittedly underestimated when I first arrived at the museum. 

7:00 p.m. As the guards started to close the gates of the museum , we walked out of the building with our minds jumbled with the huge amount of information we just absorbed and our hearts content after the amazing experience at the museum. We got another Uber to take us to Plaza Garibaldi where we planned to have dinner. Whilst in the car we caught glimpses of some of the monuments dotting the streets of Mexico City such as the Angel of Independence.

7:20 p.m. The scene was already rather lively when we arrived at Plaza Garibaldi. When the sun goes down, the Mariachi Bands come out to play! Groups of musicians stood around the square and for a fee of around 150 pesos they'll stop tuning their guitars and serenade you with gusto. We had dinner at the colourful and merry Salon Tenampa, where we massively over ordered a platter of meat. We made a stab at it and after about 1 hour and 15 minutes and so much meat eaten, we gave up. I hate to waste food, but it was nigh impossible to finish the food. Over ordering aside, we did have the best Chorizo I have ever had in that humble eatery, so definitely one for the books!

9:00 p.m. With our stomachs bloated and both of us not being able to walk or move very fast, we hit the square again, this time just to soak up the atmosphere. You could see couples dotting the square, some of them agreeing to be serenaded by one of the Mariachi Bands in colourful costumes. Flower sellers went around the square approaching likely couples who might spare a few pesos for a rose. Amidst the sounds of trumpets, strumming guitars and heartfelt singing, we made our way across the square and into the streets to walk back towards Bellas Artes and to our hotel.

9:20 p.m. Arriving at Bellas Artes we couldn't help but to notice the beautifully lit up Palacio Bellas Artes. The whole building now seem to have a pinkish and purple glow making for a completely different feel and sight compared to the white baroque building we saw in the afternoon. The city was pulsing with life. Even though it was late on a Sunday night, everyone was still out and about. A group of teenagers were trying to take a group selfie in front of Bellas Artes, street vendors trying to sell you candies and cigarettes, old ladies gossiping on the pavements and so much more. It was quite a pleasant surprise to be able to still experience the vibe and life of the city even that late on a Sunday night.  

We had a bit of a detour then, wanting to see the Zocalo at night and hopefully the Metropolitan Cathedral lit up. To our disappointment, they did not lit up the cathedral though we stumbled upon the huge Christmas tree in the middle of the Zocalo fully lit up and with spotlights shining all around it. The whole of the Zocalo had been transformed into a giant ice rink and we could still see hundreds of people gliding their way through the ice.

10:30 p.m. We got back to our hotel shortly after 10:30 p.m. we did not want to stay out too late as we had an early start tomorrow morning, planning to hit Teotihuacan right after its opening time at 8:30 a.m.

Day 2 - Mexico City - Teotihuacan

7:45 a.m. We woke up at around 7 a.m. After showering, packing and checking out from our hotel whilst leaving our luggage there, we hit the streets ready to go to Teotihuacan. Now there are as many ways to Teotihuacan as there are ways to Rome. Some would opt for the full tour package, but those tend to be very expensive and they leave quite late in the morning. Another way is to go there by public transport, you can take busses from Metro Autobuses Del Norte station in Mexico City and it would take you around 1.5 hours. The bus leaves every 20 minutes from the station from the information I have.

Knowing that we had another bus to catch to Oaxaca at 2:30 pm, so if possible we would like to minimize our traveling time. Our new-found solution? Uber.  It cost us only about 15-20 dollars for the both of us (cheaper even if you have more than 2 people as you will split the fare) so we thought it was more than reasonable. The time it took us to get there via Uber was only about 45 minutes and the driver dropped us off right at the entrance to the site.

We got there at around 8:30 a.m. The official opening time was really 9 a.m. but the person at the ticket counter waved us in without a problem and we actually had the most amazing time exploring Teotihuacan deserted and shrouded in the morning mist, an experience I will definitely write about in a separate post.

12:00 p.m After spending about 3.5 hours exploring the site and climbing pyramids, we headed back to Mexico City via another Uber. We arrived just shortly after 12:45 p.m., picked our bags up from the hotel and arrived at the bus station with plenty of time to spare. We grabbed a simple lunch in a Taqueria at the station, stocked up on snacks and pastries for the 7 hour bus ride, grabbed a cup of coffee and boarded the bus which would take us to Oaxaca and onwards to further adventures.