First Impressions

A March 2004 trip to Mexico City by perrytoo

Quote: In between jet lag and altitude sickness, it’s a bit difficult to judge such a huge place fairly. These are an English stranger’s first impressions.

First Impressions

Best Of IgoUgo

Overview

Quote:

It’s the world’s largest city, at around 25 million inhabitants, and it works! The inhabitants are practical, pragmatic, and considerate and helpful to foreigners. I’ve never felt more welcome or less threatened; you can make eye contact with anyone and get a wide smile in return. Don’t miss the fresh fruit juice stands on every corner, the Museum of Anthropology, the amazing Templo Major, right next to the cathedral, with a series of Aztec pyramids stacked inside each other, like a Russian doll.Quick Tips: You must take a good guidebook. There is no longer any National Tourist Office in Mexico City (any more than in London), only a few kiosks which provide little more than a smile and a s...Read More

Quick Tips:

Best Way To Get Around:

Cheer!
Flag

Juarez Hotel

Hotel

Quote:

Quiet pretty hotel in cul-de-sac off 5 Mayo, one block from the cathedral. Three or four floors of rooms surrounding a central paved courtyard with fountain. Rooms are clean, newly decorated, with rough-cast walls and heavy varnished pine furniture – large wardrobe, table, chair, as well as double bed. I couldn’t get the TV to work, but that may just have been jet lag. En-suite bathroom, clean and new, like the room. I thought there was only cold water, but just as I was finishing my shower, it started to run warm, so I had a second shower, high pressure, piping hot. The only drawback was that the room was completely windowless; plenty of ventilation whenever the light was turned on, but no natur...Read More

Member Rating 3 out of 5 on April 3, 2004

Juarez Hotel
1a Cerrada de 5 Mayo 17
Mexico City, Mexico
512 69 29

Cheer!
Flag

Buenos Aires Hotel

Hotel | "Buenos Aires Hotel, Mexico DF"

Quote:

This was a cheap hotel on three stories round a long wide courtyard. The small passage from the street was packed full with a fast food stall on one side, and chewing customers on the other. I only just missed sending the frying pan flying as I squeezed my backpack past. Single rooms were cheap at $11.80, including en suite bathroom and TV, and looked clean and adequate, but I wanted natural light; no rooms with a window were available, so I didn’t stay.

Member Rating 3 out of 5 on April 3, 2004

Buenos Aires Hotel
Motolinia 21
574
5518-2137

Cheer!
Flag

MonteCarlo Hotel

Hotel | "Monte Carlo Hotel"

Quote:

On a quiet street, about five minutes from the Zocala. Huge cavernous lobby, painted Pompeian red, with a sprinkling of palm trees to liven it up. With a massive marble double staircase sweeping up to the higher floors, it looks a bit like a Victorian government office, but was formerly an Augustinian monastery, before they were all privatized during the last revolution. Next door is the former church, a superb building, which is marked on the maps as the Biblioteca Nacional, but is now chained up and unused. The rooms are grouped around two sunny courtyards, with potted flowers. Mine was scruffy and comfortable, with carpets, curtains, and pictures, as well as TV (only local programmes), phone, ...Read More

Member Rating 3 out of 5 on April 3, 2004

MonteCarlo Hotel
Avenida Uruguay 69
Mexico City, Mexico 06000
(525) 521 2559

Cheer!
Flag

Zamora Hotel

Hotel

Quote:

This is a cheerful, friendly, scruffy hotel on the upper floors of an old block, surrounding a central courtyard. My room was small and badly laid out, with the bed across the room, rather than along one side, so you had to climb over it to reach the window or table. The bedside light switch ended up a good meter from the bed. There were plain cream-painted walls and a high, exposed wooden beamed ceiling. It was the small things that let it down: missing toilet seat, sagging mattress, and a balcony door that wouldn’t close. The en suite bathroom consisted of a loo and sink, with a showerhead above both, in the corner of the room, behind a half wall. There was a one-man band on the street ...Read More

Member Rating 2 out of 5 on April 3, 2004

Zamora Hotel
5 de Mayo 50
Mexico City, Mexico CP 06000
5512 8245

Cheer!
Flag

Mosquitoes

Story/Tip

Quote:

If anyone tells you that the altitude of Mexico City is too high for mosquitoes, they didn’t tell the insects themselves. There aren’t many, and they are a little sluggish, but they are definitely present. I heard, saw, and killed two, but not before being bitten on my first night, so am certain. I heard or saw a few most other nights as well. If you are attractive or allergic to them (I’m both), than take the usual precautions, but otherwise don’t bother. None of the hotels make any effort to keep them out, so they may be a recent development (global warming?).

Cheer!
Flag

International airport

Story/Tip

Quote:

Mexico City international airport is a microcosm of Mexico City itself: huge (the terminal building must be the best part of a kilometre long), crowded, logical to the locals, and a complete nightmare for foreigners. There are very few passenger trolleys for arrivals (and none for departures), no overall plans of the place, (only for individual sections), and long queues for immigration, customs, and taxis. There is also no tourist information that I could find, only a private booth selling guided tours and upmarket hotels. I was told that the metro station was closed when I arrived, and do not know if this was true. I had no trouble using it when leaving. It’s just to the left, outside the main e...Read More