(Published in Suitcase Magazine, March 2016, where I was contributing editor)

Nowhere else in the world is there a place quite like Mexico City. Some 700 years ago, a wandering tribe of Aztecs arrived to a steep mountain valley and discovered a crystalline lake that stretched immense before their eyes. They drained its swampy land and created floating gardens laced with waterways, and blessed it their new home Tenochtitlán, a pre-hispanic Venice of the Mexican skies. Then the Spanish arrived, and the rest is history; little is left to remind us of this glorious capital save for in its essence – Mexico City has retained its ancestors’ passions, ingenuity, intensity and warmth.

This is a city of countless cities. Twenty two million people flow amongst its patchwork; some live in ramshackle slums with dire access to water and nutrition, others in cosmopolitan colonias (neighborhoods) of majestic stone mansions, hip cafés and verdant park squares. It’s the city with the greatest number of museums in the world, the largest university in Latin America, and it’s also slowly sinking. The sheer amount of protests that take place along the main boulevard, Reforma, give the French a run for their money. Mexico City is also unexpectedly lush; avenues are lined with jacaranda trees whose flowers bathe the streets in carpets of bright purple during spring time, and palm trees whose trunks are so robust you wonder whether they outlived the Aztecs themselves. Each area bestows something special upon the visitor: in the chaotic center, sweeping colonial palaces have been built atop indigenous temples, and silversmiths bustle for space next to butchers and wedding dress makers. Down south lies the intellectual heart of the city. Names like Mathias Goeritz, Fridha Kahlo and Diego Rivera are on everybody’s lips and highways yield to lazy cobbled streets, bohemian cafés and canals: an oasis which reminds you that this is a metropolis at once with a foot in the future and another firmly rooted in the past.

Mexico City, or “DF” as the locals call it, is one of the most vibrant examples of renaissance urbanism. Young entrepreneurs are taking the reigns in the design and art scene and the city pulsates with exhibitions, film screenings, innovative architecture and new fashion labels. Gastronomical choices abound – on any given day you can choose between market stalls that source the freshest produce from all around the country, taco joints, gourmet bistros, traditional cantinas, artisanal mezcal bars and inventive remakes of local cuisine. The Mexican people display an unrivalled hospitality and they will throw their doors open to you and treat you with such courtesy you’ll wonder how you’ll ever go home. Nothing ever is “no” here, which doesn’t exactly mean yes either, but it’s a start. It’s a city palpable with energy, with ideas, an adventure and a nightmare, of stimulation and spontaneity. You’ll leave thinking you need to come back, soon.

TO EAT

1. Rosetta Bakery: The Juarez locale of this renowned bakery is set inside an old town house with high ceilings, a vintage wooden balcony and an intimate garden on the side. Pastries and breads are made fresh every day with natural yeasts and feature a selection of conchas, peasant breads, focaccia, cinnamon rolls, bollos and baguettes. Their coffee, arguably the best in town, is sourced from organic small scale Mexican producers. In a city that’s still catching up to other capitals in terms of coffee culture, this is one of your best options to linger, work, meet for lunch and then stroll around the surrounding You’ll be guiltily sweeping off the crumbs.
2. Havre 77: A restored mansion in upcoming colonia La Juarez is home to two of the city’s newest culinary hotspots. Wandering up the stairs on the left you’ll find Havre 77, the latest gastronomic adventure from esteemed chef Eduardo García (his other restaurant in La Roma, Maximo, is a must). A chic French bistro with a copper bar and fresh décor, Havre 77 also has an oyster bar in an adjacent room, and in the back is Kyo Sushi-ya, a tiny space with only a few tables – reservation only – and a menu of Edomae style Japanese sushi, focusing on fresh daily catch and simple, original flavours.
3. Lardo: On a sunny street corner in La Condesa, Italian restaurant Lardo serves up delicious healthy breakfasts, juices, pastries and gourmet coffee. For lunch and dinner, hearty tapas such as tomato and herb-filled calamari, zucchini blossoms with ricotta and baked pasta are to be shared between friends. We recommend sitting at the bar and watching the chefs bustle about the open kitchen, stealing glances at the dishes being prepared in front of your eyes and ordering one too many a plate, just because.
4. Ojo de Agua: In one of Condesa’s most atomospheric spots, boasting quiet canopied streets, dog walkers, joggers, fountains and yoga studios, Ojo de Agua has become somewhat of a mecca of healthy eating. Their juice menu spans every possible combination of rejuvenating local fruits and vegetables, their lunch salads and wraps can be taken to go and eaten on a park bench and the restaurant also serves as a market for organic produce, granolas, ingredients and health products. The young, professional hip crowd of the city are the regular customers here and the place is often filled from sun up to sunset.
5. Contramar: If there’s one classic place to go in Mexico City for seafood, it’s Contramar. From its dedicated old-school Mexican service to elegant white tablecloths, Contramar is understated elegance done best. It became staple in the area before La Roma even became a trendy place to go visit. Two dishes that must not be missed are the tuna tostadas with chipotle mayo, caramelized onions and avocado (which have been copied everywhere around the city, but none are quite the same as the originals) and daily fish prepared “a la talla” with various seasonings. It’s lunch only and their loyal clientele means they are full every day, so book early.
6. Parnita: To get a glimpse of the city’s hipster subculture, this is your place. Busy, chaotic, see-and-be-seen, Parnita fills up with the local creative crowd socialising and networking over the low key tables. Its menu is mainly composed of Mexican snack foods such as tacos, chile rellenos, ceviches, and tlacoyitos. The idea here is to share the plates, order mezcal after mezcal and indulge in the very Mexican ‘sobre-mesa’, which translates into ‘over-the-table’, a custom of chatty lunches that stretch hours into the early evening.
7. El Mercado de San Juan: This local food market near Centro is where all the gourmet, exotic, imported and rare foods of the city can be found; top chefs, restaurateurs and purveyors arrive at the break of dawn to secure their pick. The market has its origins in pre-Hispanic open-air markets called tianguis where produce would be laid out on the floor. If you wander the aisles, you’ll quickly pick up on the many customs and quirky nuances that compromise the Mexican palette, along with stranger ingredients such as crocodile, ostrich, kangaroo, stingrays, and chicatana salsa made from Oaxacan flying ants. Indispensable stops are at Delicatesen La Jersey Gourmet, Las Tapas de San Juan, and Productos Oaxaqueños to try everything from the country’s gastronomical south.
8. El Cardenal: Timeless traditional Mexican restaurant El Cardenal has several locations aroud the city and each guarantees excellent quality and service. Its founders were originally from Veracruz and Northern Mexico and hailed from a family of cooks, who experimented in combining Mexican staples with innovative new ingredients. Their tortillas are made fresh every day and for the culinary tourist, dishes such as huitlacoche (corn smut), gusanos de maguey (maguey worms) and seasonal chiles en nogada are classic local dishes not to be missed. Its breakfasts are especially tasty – try the chilaquiles and huevos rancheros.
9. Limosneros: The name Limosneros dates back to the late 16^th Century, where limosnas (charitable donations) of different types of stone were made necessary in order to build the country’s convents, hospitals, houses and palaces. The restaurant’s own walls date back to these times and represent the architecture of the time, and on the ground floor one enters a romantically lit grotto with a golden bar that glows at the end of the room. In the airy upstairs level, multi-coloured beaded artworks made by the Mexican Huichol tribe line the walls. The food is exquisite, and gives a contemporary twist on Mexican gastronomy along with an extensive mezcal choice.
10. San Angel Inn: This 500-year-old hacienda has gone from being a Carmelite monastery to even a pulque (cactus alcohol) factory in its day. Its enigmatic gardens, patios and ballrooms still retain a colonial aura and seep with memories of the famous artists and characters that would frequent the restaurant over time. It’s a perfect place to stop by whilst in the south of the city and have a tamarindo margarita, and to relax in its peaceful courtyard whilst soaking up the area’s charm.

TO DO

1. MARSO Gallery: An elegant mansion in La Juarez is home to contemporary art gallery MARSO, an initiative that promotes Mexican and international artists alike. They go further than just being a gallery however, and engage in everything from collaborations with cultural institutions to running residency programs and publishing their artists’ books, propelling the Mexican art scene onto the global stage. MARSO represents rising talents such as Virginia Colwell, Michael Conrads and Jong Oh and their salaseis room is an experiment in interdisciplinary arts and the exchange of ideas between design, architecture and inventors.
2. Museo El Eco: Founded by renowned architect Mathias Goeritz in the 1950s, El Eco still upkeeps his original philosophy — the necessity for an experimental meeting space for the arts, of a gallery that mixes visual arts with dance, music, poetry, and theatre. Those who know Barragan will recognise his play on light and space within the building’s walls and corridors, his signature emotional architecture in which visitors experience the space as a penetrable sculpture and are asked to interact with it. Annual architectural competition Pavillon Eco provides rising architects with the opportunity to design an intervention in the museum’s central patio.
3. Cordoba 25: The brainchild of branding agency Savvy Studio, this building in La Roma is home to the Casa Bosques bookstore (boasting the city’s largest selection of international press and magazines) and the Machete art gallery. Just redecorated, its feel is at once cosy and yet industrial. It also has several in-house stores including the Naked Boutique, a venue for emerging Mexican fashion designers, and Avery, a concept store with brands such as Arquiste, Simple by Trista, Parabelum and Ruiz Musi.
4. Cine Tonala: A neighbourhood favourite, Cine Tonala is an independent cinema which holds daily screenings of rising Mexican talent, productions and directors as well a rotating selection of international films. In the cinema’s dimly light antechamber, vintage Jodorowsky posters line the walls along with popcorn machines, an in-house café serving up delicious pizzas and communal tables where you’ll frequently find people debating and discussing the latest screening. Tonala also holds concerts, workshops, comedy nights and other events, so check their calendar to see what’s on when you’re in town.
5. El Palacio de Bellas Artes: This stunning white marble palace is the city’s main concert and arts hall. It has several quirky architectural details as it was built in various phases by different architects and of different nationalities. Its exterior is principally Neoclassical and Art Nouveau (interlaced with indigenous mythological symbols and characters, such as depictions of Tlaloc and Chaac, the Aztec and Maya deities of water) and yet on the inside Art Deco and Carrara marble reigns. On the top floor you’ll find sweeping murals by Rufino Tamayo, Diego Rivera, Siquieros and others, and if this manages to pique your interest in Mexican mural art then head to the Secretaría de la Educación Pública and the Colegío San Idelfonso for more.
6. La UNAM: Located in southern Mexico City, la UNAM is Latin America’s largest university and houses some incredible architecture (it’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site) as well as the MUAC museum and a somewhat unkempt sculpture garden forged by some of the country’s greatest artists. Its main campus was built during the 1950s on an ancient solidified lava bed and is almost a separate region within Mexico City, with its own regulations and councils. Whilst here, wander the university passages and stare up at the thought-provoking murals which illustrate different strains of intellectual thought. Check out their website for the latest concerts and events, as MUAC often holds some of the best exhibitions in the country and the Neza concert hall has the best acoustics of the entire city.
7. El Museo Anauhacalli: An imposing structure towering over a hill in the city’s south, el Museo Anahuacalli epitomises the magnetism and force of its founder, artist Diego Rivera. Made from dark volcanic stone, the museum almost resembles an Aztec temple and was indeed constructed to form a teocalli (god-house) influenced by the Teotihuacan culture with Maya and Aztec touches, which you will see represented in the hexagonal and rectangular arcs that serve as entrances to the different showrooms. Amongst the 50 thousand pieces of pre-Hispanic art are funerary urns, masks and sculptures and an exhibition of papier mache sculpture relating to the Days of the Dead.
8. Onora: This is the store to go to for high quality Mexican artesanías. Founder Maggie Dalton has spent years immersing herself in local culture and in developing close ties with many indigenous communities all around the country. Working intimately alongside local artisans, she has produced items such as woollen throws, embroidery, beadwork, pottery and wooden objects, each with a contemporary finish which makes the items truly unique.
9. El Museo Nacional de Antropología: Designed by architect Pedro Ramírez Vázquez, this museum is a rich journey through the vast tapestry of cultures and history which make up Mexico. The twelve ground-floor halls are each dedicated to a different pre-Hispanic region or culture, while the upper-level showcases contemporary Mexican society. As you wander the rooms, you’ll enter gardens with full scale replicas of tombs and the famous Aztec sun stone that was discovered under the city in 1970. You could spend days here and still have more to see, and anyone planning to understand Mexico or indeed travel around it should come to gain a basic understanding of the dynamics that animate the country.
10.  El Museo Jumex: A contemporary art museum designed by David Chipperfield, el Museo Jumex exhibits part of one of the largest private collections of contemporary art in Latin America belonging to Eugenio Lopez (works include the likes of Jeff Koons, Andreas Gursky, Olafur Eliasson and Gabriel Orozco). The museum’s unique saw tooth roof is made from exposed white concrete and was designed to imbue the upper levels of the museum with natural light. The museum’s spaces are adapted in exceptionally original ways every time a new curator intervenes, and funnily enough the terrace overlooks onto its neighboring museum, Carlos Slim’s Tamayo.

TO DRINK

1. Parker and Lennox: A speakeasy jazz bar that’s entered through a secret door in the back of a retro diner. If you turn up early before a show, you should tuck into their heavily addictive truffle fries and famous cheeseburger before heading into the dimly lit 30s-inspired bar with burgundy leather armchairs and stools. They’ve kept the cocktail menu classic, with Martinis, Manhattans, Old Fashioneds and Negronis smoothing you into the night.
2. Maison Artemisia: Run by a young group of French expats, cosy restaurant and cocktail parlour Artemisia hosts live music (think jazz, folk, blues) every Tuesday night. Its French Mediterranean restaurant is illuminated by romantic candlelight, and after savouring their delicious dishes you can head up to the lounge upstairs, one of the only bars in La Roma with an intimate vibe and plush sofas where drinks are served in vintage Cristal ware. Try the Zacatecas Old Fashioned (bourbon, homemade sugar syrup, Angostura bitters and burned oranges) and absinthes sourced from around the world.
3. MN Roy: The afterhours club of Mexico City, often hosting visiting DJs and famous artists. Everyone ends up here, somehow, so try your best to get here before 3am to avoid the usual chaotic pavement scenes. The building once belonged to Mexican communist party founder M. N. Roy and was converted into a nightclub by French architects Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy. Its nondescript street entrance doesn’t betray the singular design of the inside chamber, featuring a sliced timber pyramid, puuc art, and maya arches as centrepieces which surround the DJ booth and a double-height dance floor. Time fades away here and you’ll be hard pressed to realise that the sun has risen and it might be time to go home.
4. Baltra: The only cocktail bar that’s really worth going to in La Condesa, Baltra is inspired by Darwin’s exploration of the Galapagos islands in the 19^th The team behind it is the group from Limantour, another cocktail bar in the city which has made it to the lists of the world’s best bars. When we went, it was their Apium O Opium that stole the show, a mix of mezcal, citrics and celery bitters. The atmosphere here is warm and mellow, and often friends join tables together below sketches from Darwin’s travels, mummified butterflies, ostrich eggs and other antique discovery-themed artefacts.
5. Bosforo: A small, clandestine dive bar in the Centro, Bosforo has slowly made a name for itself through its rare mezcal menu and off-the beaten track ambiance. In this part of the city, different streets and areas sell specific wares and its here on the street of lamps and lights that you enter through a rusty metal door into this sombre, mysterious world of smoky mezcal apprentissage. Try an Espadin if it’s your first time, or for more robust flavours enquire about the Tobalá or Tepextate. Their blue maize quesadillas are known to be some of the best in town, too.
6. Zinco: The city’s best jazz bar is hidden away underground, inside a former bank vault in the Centro. Entering it feels like something from the latest James Bond movie, set just a few blocks away. Its crowd is filled with bohemians, students, intellectuals, businessmen – anyone who enjoys a good tune, really – and hosts live acts every night ranging from Mexican jazz bands to swing, soul and blues. It’s a sophisticated venue and a popular evening plan amongst locals.

TO STAY

1. Hotel Carlota
2. La Valise: A small boutique hotel in La Roma with its own concept store below, set inside an early 20th century French mansion. Stay here if you’re looking for intimacy and a perfect location inside of La Roma. As a nod to the signature style of their founders, the duo behind design team Chic by Accident, main accents in the hotel are wood, velvet and metal. A little secret: try to rent the top floor room, as the king size bed rolls from inside the bedroom to the exterior rooftop terrace under the open sky…
3. Chaya B&B: Next to the emblematic Alameda park, this B&B sits atop a recently renovated building which houses some of the city’s coolest new brands, art galleries, projects and eateries. A hotel “for travellers by travellers”, Chaya’s philosophy is that they see traveling as a way of live and give you all the tools to make your stay in Mexico City as adventurous and special as can be. Their nine spacious rooms and two suites have a simple décor which feels like a home away from home, and from their top floor you can spot the tower of a colonial church rising from the building.
4. Habita Downtown: The Habita group was the first boutique hotel chain to expand across Mexico; from locations on the coast of Veracruz to southern Oaxaca and even a hotel in New York, these guys were first in the game. Each hotel has an individual spice tailored to the specific location, and for their hotel in downtown Mexico City they chose an ornate colonial building with an impressive stone staircase and bohemian chic elegance. From the interior patio featuring the famous Azul restaurant to their corridors filled with Mexican luxury design brands and stores, this is a destination in the city for people who don’t even plan to stay in the hotel. They also have a lovely rooftop pool for hot summer days and sometimes host parties there until the early morning.
5. Los Alcobas: Your best bet for an intimate boutique hotel in Polanco, Los Alcobas is ideally placed right next to the heart of Polanco with the area’s most sought out restaurants and bars. Its design is sleek and contemporary, an advocate for understated elegance, and it has two delicious in-house restaurants Anatole and Dulce Patria. The property’s namesake, “the alcoves” in Spanish, is seen in the fine white goose down bedding and custom-made rosewood furniture, a touch from design duo Yabu Pushelberg whose client base includes Prada, Louis Vuitton, Four Seasons, W Hotels, and Thompson Hotels.

COLONIAS (neighborhoods – contact me for itineraries for each one)

La Juarez, San Rafael y Santa Maria La Ribera – These three colonias began as wealthy enclaves in the late 1800s and later were populated by creatives and writers, becoming home to the city’s most iconic theatres and cinemas. Today, after suffering a period of neglect after the 1985 earthquake, their magnificent buildings are being repossessed as people are priced out of “trendier” areas further south. It’s a fascinating stroll here between stately mansions, small local businesses, markets, all sorts of repair shops and a re-emerging art scene.

Colonias La Condesa and La Roma – Arguably the hippest colonias and the heart of the city’s culinary, creative and going out scene. La Condesa’s leafy streets and colourful, quirky homes house a wide range of cafés, studios, independent boutiques and vintage locales, a far cry from when the area belonged to a countess as a horseracing track. La Roma’s majestic stone mansions were fashioned after popular turn-of-the-century styles and now are an eclectic smorgasbord of Art Nouveau, Gothic, Art Deco, Moorish and European architecture. Its design agencies, restaurants, cocktail bars, art galleries and picturesque plazas are populated by the city’s young and international crowd. You’ll be hard pressed to run out of something new to see and do here.

El Centro – Bustling, chaotic, loud, vibrant, beautiful if a little crazy– the historic center of DF is an adventure in and of itself. Packed with over 1500 historically classified buildings, a wealth of museums, cantinas, churches built atop Aztec temples, shops selling pretty much everything under the sun (including a street dedicated to black magic), the “Centro” as the locals call it will have all your senses tingling. Festivals and protests often flood the main Zocalo square with thousands of people so make sure to check before you go, but this is a part of the city which is not to be missed if you are hoping to understand Mexican culture and history.

San Angel and Coyoácan – To understand what the city was like before the metropolis took over, head south to Coyoacan and San Angel. You’ll feel like you’ve stepped back in time – narrow colonial streets, cobbled pavements, colourful stone houses, birdsong, musicians, and bohemian cafés imbue this area with a peaceful and welcoming atmosphere. Back in the day, this was where the intellectual crowd gathered (think Trotsky, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Mattias Goeritz). It’s great to come down on a weekend for the San Angel arts and crafts market, and then to stroll through Coyoacan and if adventurous take a trajinera boat onto the canals and floating gardens in Xochimilco.

Polanco – A chic and affluent neighbourhood of Mexico City. Polanco’s main avenue Presidente Masaryk is dotted with global luxury stores and designer names, and many of the best restaurants have set up shop here along with international names like Entrecote, Nobu and Cipriani. It’s right next to El Bosque de Chapultepec, Mexico City’s central park which covers more than 1600 hectares. You can spend an entire day roaming the park’s attractions, between museums like the El Rufino Tamayo, El Museo de Arte Moderno, La Casa del Lago, the Castillo de Chapultepec and even a zoo.

TIPS AND TRICKS

• Markets, markets, markets: As Pablo Neruda put it, “Mexico is in its markets”. You would miss a large part of the magic and enigma of Mexico if you didn’t spend some time scouring the aisles of chiles, pasillas, moles, gusano de maguey, camote, of mounds of colourful fruit and harking vendors, as Mexicans are intricately linked to the food they cook and eat. Some families claim to have been selling their produce since the time of Tenochtitlan! Go to the El Mercado de San Juan for gourmet produce, El Mercado de Sonora for all sorts of crazy objects, costumes, instruments, even dark magic and medicinal herbs… The Jamaica market has all the flowers under the Mexican sun, and in La Lagunilla you can hunt for incredible vintage furniture and objects.
• In recent years, getting around Mexico City has become much more manageable. Uber works like a charm, and combine it with traffic-avoiding application Waze to bypass those bottlenecks. The city recently installed a network of urban bikes called EcoBici, which are a convenient (and scenic) way to move around all the colonias mentioned earlier.
• From the middle of June to September is rainy season – this means gorgeous sunny mornings, and then at five pm, religiously, the sky clouds over and rains plummet from above. It’s maybe best to try and schedule your trip right before or after this time, although there is something very bewitching about the powerful thunderstorms.
• The city can get a little hectic sometimes, and if you’re seeking to escape there’s a whole host of charming towns and destinations only a few hours drive away: San Miguel de Allende, Tepoztlán, Malinalco, and even a national park where you can go camping, Mineral del Chico.