8 Awesome Free Things To Do In Mexico City

Since we've been quarantining as much as possible during this pandemic, we've been learning about places we want to travel when we're able to again. We've added some places to the ever-growing list, including Mexico City. We've been to other places in Mexico, but I'd love to visit a more metropolitan area on my next visit South. 

While Mexico isn't that expensive to begin with, you can go even more budget-friendly by enjoying free things. To me, that means more money for eating out and/or splurging on things we might have wanted to do and thought we couldn't or for spontaneous things we find out about while there. Here are 8 cool things to see and do in Mexico City for free. 

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Explore the Juárez neighborhood

I love a funky neighborhood. Juárez is full of cute little boutique shops and quaint cafés and restaurants. While you may wish to spend money on souvenirs or a meal here, just strolling through the neighborhood and taking pictures is totally free. You also get exercise while out and about. Stop in an artisan chocolate shop, sip some locally-made wines, relax in a beautiful park, or come back in the evening to hit up a bar or nightclub.

Check out the Gran Hotel Ciudad de México

You don't have to stay at the hotel to enjoy things it has to offer, like the amazing architecture. Originally a department store, the lobby of this hotel is topped by a dazzling Tiffany stained-glass ceiling and is home to an antique iron and concrete elevator, and a replica curving staircase of the one of Le Bon Marche. 

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Visit Palacio Nacional

Head into this government building to view Diego Rivera's famous mural The History of Mexico. The mural depicts the Aztec era all the way to the development of industry. It's a beautiful way to learn about the history of Mexico, and also people watch at the same time.

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Browse the Mercado Roma

This three-story upscale market is a great place to browse and pick up fancy snacks for a picnic or to take back to your room. There's a rooftop beer garden, but you also a vegan taco joint, wine bars and tapas cafés. 

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Walk through Mercado Coyoacan

If you've been following me for a while, you know how much I adore a market. I will go out of my way to plan a day around a farmers' market. It's pretty much the only thing I'll get up extra early for. Bring a reusable bag if you are planning to shop this amazing market that sells, pretty literally, everything. It's a very authentic Mexican shopping and cultural experience. I'm a huge fan of bringing home local spices from my travels.

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Enjoy Plaza Garibaldi

Do you like live music? Roving mariachi bands frequent this plaza in order to solicit patrons. You can visit any time, but it's most lively after 11pm. I would suggest bringing along some cash to tip or buy a song with. It's worth it to make at least one trip in the evening to see this important part of Mexican culture. 

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See the skyline from Torre Latinoamericana

Technically, this isn't free, but if you time it with lunch, it's almost like it is. Instead of going all the way to the top of this 44-story skyscraper, ask to visit the bar of the 43rd floor instead. It has the same views as the observation floor above it. Not only is the building useful for seeing the city from the top, but it's also a marvel of engineering, having withstood an 8.1 magnitude earthquake in 1985 and a 7.1 in 2017, a pretty phenomenal feat for a building built in 1965.

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Museo Soumaya

One of the most iconic museums in Mexico, the Museo Soumaya is a big silver building that is a piece of art in itself. Inside, you'll find over 60,000 works of art, many by famous Hispanic artists like Diego Rivera, as well as internationally famous artists like Matisse.

Bonus: Eat some churros

With all that money you saved, you'll have plenty left over for churro-time! Order your churros and watch the chefs make and dip them while you wait in a gorgeous white and blue tiled café at El Moro Churerría. It's touted as the best churro restaurant in Mexico City and it's open 24 hours per day. 

If you've been to Mexico, what was your favorite place or thing you did there?

Experiencing Mexico from Home

It's been a few weeks since Halloween, but we wanted to make a real destination date out of Mexico, so we swapped out our Day of the Dead backdrop for this lovely Mexican neighborhood backdrop and kept the ruins of Teotihuacán background. I went whimsical with my tablescape and added a few cactus to match the backdrop, the cutest little llama piñata you've ever seen, and a tiny sombrero that came as a set (we wore the other two).

If you've been to Mexico, you know it's very colorful and vintage looking, most places you go. I had this wonderful hot pink tablecloth from a party I had a few years ago (clearly, I have a lot of tablecloths that I've purchased over the years for different themes - this one was from my 80's 40th birthday party) that I knew would go great with everything. 

I picked up these green-splash plates on a super sale, some Jarritos Mexican sodas they sell at our closest Grocery Outlet (because why not). I also searched for a great traditional drink, which I'll show you below.

The main point of these dates is to try something new, bring in travel to our Quarantine lifestyle, and have fun together. Nothing says fun to me like hats, and little hats are hilarious, so I jumped on these that come as a set of 3 with removable headbands. We never hesitate to wear hats or other accessories for our Sunday morning Zoom brunches either, so we bring whimsy to others as well. 

I knew I didn't want just any Mexican food from one of the many cookie cutter restaurants around here. They pretty much serve all the same things, so instead, I looked at a cool restaurant sort of near us that specializes in a bunch of different international dishes (Salvador Molly's) and picked a few that were Mexican/South American. In the front are beef tacos, which had a ton of lovely greens on them. We aren't fans of cilantro, but it's always pretty on food. The other greens were crunchy cucumber shreds. Behind that, in the box, is something called a Yucatan Sunshine Bowl, and it has spicy shredded chicken, pickled red onions, yellow rice, black beans, cotija cheese, lettuce (because it's technically a salad), tomatoes, and a few other things, like those deep fried tortillas that are shaped like the sun. 

In the front of this picture is the third dish I ordered, which was a spicy chicken tamale with a side of rice. It also came with beans and a little cabbage salad. They also have this tamale as a veggie one with artichokes, and also a verde pork option. 

Cheers! I love a good traditional drink. I could have gone with a margarita or sangria, but instead found a recipe for something called a sangrita. It is said to have been invented by pouring off the extra juices from pico de gallo, a fruit salad, and then had spices added. The base of the drink is pomegranate juice, tomato juice, and orange juice. You can add Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce and salt to spice it up. To save the trouble, I used bloody Mary mix that included all those extras and tomato juice, then did a 1:1:1 ratio of that, pomegranate juice and orange juice. I used bloody Mary spices to rim my glasses, and then added a lime and a golden straw to complete it. 

If you use bloody Mary mix, like I did, I wouldn't suggest using as much as I did (maybe one par t to two parts of each of the other two liquids), because it was mighty spicy. We both enjoyed it, but if spicy isn't for you, you might just forgo the mix altogether and just use straight tomato juice and no hot sauce.

As usual, we enjoyed the view and then took a tour. We did two short walking tours of Mexico City and then one of the Mayan pyramids/ruins of Teotihuacán. Both city tours were just people walking around the city. There was no commentary, so you just saw life as it was happening, which is how I like to travel for the most part. 

Because this date was a lunch, we didn't do dessert. If we had, I would have probably found a place to buy churros. You could do flan, but I'm very much not a fan of that, so we skipped it. 

Are you looking to do your own Mexico "journey"? It's easy, because there are so many things you can do to make it cool, unique, or extra special. Here are some things I suggest:

Backdrops:

Old town street view  

Teotihuacán 

Cactus and hills

Door and cactus

Mini sombreros

Mini piñata

Colorful tablecloth

add a sarape table runner

Pretty napkins

Chip & dip bowl

Taco Carousel

Taco spoons 

Mexico cookbook

Guidebook

Loteria bingo game

YouTube playlist

Here's mine

If you've been to Mexico already, choose a new place to learn about, or make a slideshow of your pictures and relive your favorite memories with your significant other and/or your family. 

Are you planning a trip for when we're allowed to travel again? If so, where to?

Disclaimer: This post includes affiliate links, and I may be compensated should you choose to make any purchases through them. This allows me to keep this blog running for you. Thanks in advance! 

Why You Should Be Staycationing Now

A lot of the country is seeing rising Covid numbers and many states/cities are locking down or partially locking down again, including Portland/Oregon. Yes, we're all sick of staying in our houses (I mean, not me, but I am a complete introvert), because we haven't seen friends or family in person for months, but there are people out there ruining it for everyone and making this last longer, so plan yourself a relaxing staycation and try to unwind and de-stress. 

If you've been following along, you know we try to do a mini staycation every few weeks. We're doing one this weekend, probably as you're reading this. Plan one, or several. your mental health will thank you.