Mexico City: A Destination of Design, Food and Culture

Aug 10

4 min read

Mexico City doesn't give up its best side easily. It's vast, loud in places, and easy to get lost in, but slow down for a few days or a week and a different city reveals itself, one of quiet residential streets, incredible architecture, unmarked restaurant doors and neighbourhoods that reward a wander. It's a destination that rewards those willing to look past the obvious.

We recently created and hosted a tour for a corporate group in Mexico City and our guests and we were blown away by how great a city it is.

A Base to Come Home To

For a stay that feels like a design magazine come to life, Casa Izel is hard to beat. Tucked into a quiet pocket of Roma Norte, it's the kind of boutique hotel where the architecture, art and hospitality all pull in the same direction, warm, understated and deeply considered. After a big day out, you don't need to go far for dinner either.

The in-house restaurant, Xuna, turns out refined, produce-led Mexican cooking without ever feeling like a hotel restaurant afterthought. Michelin-starred head chef, Jonatán Gómez fuses indigenous ingredients and ancestral techniques with a modern twist.

Breakfast, Sorted

Start the day at Panadería Rosetta, the bakery arm of one of the city's most celebrated restaurants. Get there early as people start queuing prior to opening. The guava rolls sell out, and rightly so, they're one of those simple things that somehow become the highlight of the whole trip. Coffee in hand, a pastry in the other, and the city still waking up around you, it's the ideal way to fuel up before whatever the day holds.

If you are looking for a slower start, take a seat and enjoy baked eggs, pastries and coffee in their street-side al fresco dining space. Whilst in the area, check out the boutique shops of local designers that are dotted along Calle Collima.

Sunday Streets, Just for Bikes

If your visit lines up with a Sunday, get out early. Every week, Mexico City closes over 30 kilometres of its major roads to cars for Muévete en Bici, one of the largest recurring open-streets programs in the world. Paseo de la Reforma, one of the city's grandest boulevards, becomes a rolling carnival of cyclists, families, runners, roller bladers and food stalls from sunrise until early afternoon.

Bikes are easy to hire for the morning, and there's no better way to get your bearings in a new city than rolling down its main artery with zero vehicle traffic to dodge, monuments and murals passing at an easy pace.

It's not a race, it's simply the city, on wheels, for a few hours each week, and one of the most local things a visitor can do.

Lunch with a View, and a Design Pilgrimage

Head south to Tetetlán, a restaurant built into the rock of a former volcanic rock quarry, designed by architect Luis Barragán's studio and later reimagined by his protégé. The food, centred on wood-fired cooking and a beautiful market table of vegetables, is reason enough to visit, but the setting is what stays with you.

While you're in the neighbourhood, don't miss Casa Pedregal next door, Barragán's own residential masterpiece, a masterclass in light, volume and colour that changed the course of Mexican architecture. Pair the two and you've got one of the best half-days in the city.

Our tip, book ahead for both. Tetetlan is very popular with locals and as Casa Pedegral is a private home, it’s not always open to the public.

Dinner, the Local Way

For a proper local dinner, book a table at Fonda Fina. It's the kind of restaurant Mexico City locals recommend to each other rather than to tourists, deeply rooted in traditional cooking but with a level of precision that puts it among the city's best tables. Go in hungry, order widely, and let the mezcal list do some of the deciding for you.

We dined there on Father’s Day and it is was quickly clear that this is a special restaurant for locals.

Culture in Coyoacán

No trip to Mexico City is complete without a slow afternoon in Coyoacán. Cobbled streets, plazas shaded by jacaranda trees and a genuinely different pace to the rest of the city make it an easy place to lose a few hours.

At its heart is Casa Azul, Frida Kahlo's family home turned museum, an intimate, colour-soaked window into her life and work. Combine it with a wander through the neighbourhood's markets and cafés, and you've got a full, unhurried day.

Make sure to find the statue of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera for a great photo opportunity.

Getting Around

Mexico City's metro is one of the most extensive and least expensive in the world, and it's genuinely the easiest way to cover ground between neighbourhoods, restaurants and museums without fighting traffic. It looks intimidating on a map, but it isn't in practice. A few key lines will get you almost anywhere you need to be.

More to See

Set aside time for the Museo Nacional de Antropología in Chapultepec Park, widely regarded as one of the finest museums in the Americas, home to the Aztec Sun Stone and a collection that spans the country's entire pre-Hispanic history. And for something a little different, the Biblioteca Vasconcelos, the city's striking central library, is as much an architectural experience as it is a place to read, a cavernous, suspended structure that's worth the trip on its own.

A City That Rewards Slowing Down

Mexico City isn't a place to rush. Eat well, wander through Coyoacán, take in the architecture and museums, and if a Sunday falls during your stay, get out on a bike while the roads are quiet. It's a destination that mixes design, culture and cuisine as well as anywhere we send guests. Make sure to spend time getting lost in the Roma Norte and La Condesa neighbourhood and be sure to stop for street tacos along the way.