If you’re going, you might fancy some of these. It’s my usual mix of stuff a million miles away from the 5-star hotel / homogenised / cocktail bar things you get in other guides.
Mummies, zombies, socialism, concrete, Burroughs, Trotsky, Diego, y Frida.
If you visit any of them, let me know, and please share if you know someone who is going. Or even if you just enjoyed reading it.
Gracias, mi amigo.
A few notes:
- I visited all of these places during the week. At the weekend, I just walked around Roma looking for cars, hung out in the shops and cafes and avoided anything with an entrance fee as those places are well busy at the weekend.
- Ticket price – not included here; I doubt you’re going all the way to Mexico City only to be thwarted at the last minute by the entry price. You’re going in whatever, right? Nothing’s that expensive anyway…
- I’ve grouped everything geographically – save you from running all over the place and wasting time on travel. Also, traffic isn’t much fun in Mexico City.
- Fuck, Ubers are cheap. My weekly bill was £40, including the journeys to and from the airport. Not surprising the traffics is terrible.
- I stayed in Condesa. It’s well nice. I wouldn’t stay anywhere else. Stay close to Hipodromo.
- I’m not a foody, I’m not a fan of gentrified food, and this is Mexico City – you can’t walk down the street without some excellent street-food opportunity so that you won’t starve.
DAY OUT 1: NEIGHBORHOODS: ATLAMAYA | SAN ANGEL | UNIVERSITY CITY
If you’re a fan of concrete, the macabre and Frida and Diego, this one’s for you.
Where you’re going:
- Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo
- Museum of El Carmen
- Ciudad Universitaria Campus
It takes about a day to visit all three places
Getting there:
Uber to Museo Casa Estudio, take a (pleasant) walk to Museum El Carmen and then Uber to the University Campus. All are located in a suburb, away from the city centre.
What, when:
Do the Museo Casa Estudio and Museum El Carmen first and then leave the mid-afternoon / teatime to do the University Campus. It’s a vast college campus with LOADS of buildings to look around.
Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo | Diego Rivera s/n, San Ángel Inn, 01060 Ciudad de México
What’s it about:
In 1931 Diego had his architect mate Juan O’ Gorman build him and Frida twin houses next to his own. Yeah, twin houses, as in separate houses. Even though they were married. (Probably because they were married.) Diego’s house was also his working studio, and Diego is linked to Frida via a (perilous) bridge – both figuratively and literally. Juan was totes down with working-class housing and the concept of socialised architecture. As if that wasn’t cool enough, they’re both gorgeous despite Frida’s house being entirely unsuitable for her needs. Felt a bit cross about that, tbh – what were Diego and Juan thinking? They seem to have put aesthetics WAY ahead of her mobility issues. Anyway, I had massive habitat envy – I’d do a lot of bad things to have a house like either of theirs. The Mexican climate would be crucial to your enjoyment of them though – no way you could live in a house like that in Britain.
(Btw, this place is not to be confused with Frida Kahlo’s family house. That’s a different place and coming up later.)
Getting in:
Pay on the door. Easy.
Busy?
Nope. Bonkers. Not only gorgeous architecture, but it’s where Diego lived. And Frida, occasionally though, only five years in total. It probably has something to do with those stairs.
Worth it?
DEFINITELY. Prioritise a visit here over Frida’s family home any day. Seeing Diego’s shower room and bedroom is worth the visit alone.
Museum of El Carmen | Av. Revolución 4 y 6, San Ángel, 01000 Ciudad de México
What’s it about:
MUMMIES. Fuck yeah, it is. It’s probably the most thrillingly macabre, other-worldly experience you can get outside of actual time travel back to a mid-19th-century funeral. I mean, they’re FULLY CLOTHED! As in their original 1860s clothing. Never before have 12 dead bodies made the 19th century feel more ironically ‘alive’. Long story short: they got shoved into a monastery crypt and forgotten about post-monastery closing its doors for good. The crypt had an excessively dry atmosphere, so very little flesh-eating decay of the bodies took place. They only got rediscovered when some tea leaves (thieves) were on a pilfering expedition and got a lot more than they were expecting.
Getting in:
Pay on the door.
Busy?
No, and why in the hell not? Who doesn’t want to go and look at dead Victorian bodies?!! Also, the former monastery has a great collection of colonial religious artworks that were just as spooky – if not more. The buildings are really cool too.
Worth it?
FUCK. YES. I have never seen anything like it in my entire life.
Ciudad Universitaria Campus 1950 – 1954 | Cto. Interior S/N, C.U., 04510
What’s it about:
An orgy of mid-century concrete delights. I could have fainted. Includes UNAM – the central library by Juan O’ Gorman (him again). Other travel guides seem to stop short at this building. Still, I spent the entire afternoon wandering around the grounds looking at other absolute bangers – including the Olympic Stadium – so don’t just get out the Uber, take a few photos of UNAM and clear off again. I also sat on the grounds under a tree, people-watching – very pleasing. (I’d write more about the other buildings, but that’s too much research for now and a whole other post.)
Getting in:
Get out of the Uber, and wander on in. It costs nothing – it’s a university campus.
Busy?
Well, yes – but busy with students. Zero tourists. Just general student hustle and bustle.
Worth it?
Another massive FUCK YES.
Heads up:
The toilet situation. Some of the buildings you can’t just wander into without a student pass, so you’ll have to ask pretty please if you can use the bathrooms, which isn’t easy if you don’t understand Spanish.
DAY OUT 2 & 3: NEIGHBORHOODS: GUERRERO & THE HISTORICAL CENTRE
Bit tricky this bunch as they are all in the historical centre – aka downtown – but too much to do in one day, so pick them off over a couple of days in whatever order you fancy.
Where you’re going:
- National Palace – (Diego Rivera murals)
- Palacio de Bellas Artes – (Another Diego Rivera mural)
- Diego Rivera Mural Museum (More Diego Rivera)
- San Fernando Pantheon (Cemetery)
- Cine “Opera” (Art Deco Cinema)
- Biblioteca Vasconcelos (Library)
It takes about two days to see all these, walking from one to the other.
National Palace | Plaza de la Constitución S/N, Centro, Cuauhtémoc, 06066
What’s it about:
It’s a Colonial, conquistador-feeling building that’s now a government office. Now I know the Three Musketeers are French, but you’d swear they’ll jump out from behind a wall at any moment. That’s the vibe of the place. Anyway, you’re not there to experience the building – as lovely as it is with its cactus gardens. (It’s a natural oasis amongst the almost medieval-feeling hustle and bustle of the historical city centre.) You’re there to drool and marvel over the Diego Rivera murals. Mexico City loves a mural. Diego’s are the best – half of them being in a heavily stylised Communist-era USSR aesthetic complete with loads of navy-workers-unite outfits, flat-caps, banners, welders and portraits of Karl Marx, and the other half being a folk-art romp through the history of Mexico: Maya, Aztec, the slave-trade and colonisation.
Getting in:
A bit of a ball-ache. Queue up for ages and say No, Gracias, loads of times to guides who will offer to show you around inside. I’m pretty sure they are the Palace’s official guides (they all had legit-looking badges) and were perfectly charming (isn’t everyone in Mexico). Still, I don’t want to share my experiences with others – they interrupt my ability to conjure up any sense of the place before we visitors turned up.
Busy?
Not so much once you’re inside, which is surprising.
Worth it?
It’s another one of those mandatory things – you can’t go all the way to Mexico City and not stand for hours in front of at least one of Diego’s murals – and these are his best.
Heads up:
TAKE YOUR DRIVING LICENSE! You HAVE to leave your ID to get in – they ask for your passport, no way. So, have something else you can give them instead. DON’T get caught out – imagine standing in the queue for ages and then not getting in because you didn’t have an ID.
Palacio de Bellas Artes | Av. Juárez, Centro Histórico de la Cdad. de México, Centro
What’s it about:
I went for an eyeball of another one of Diego’s murals. Still, I was so BLOWN AWAY by the palace’s over-the-top but spectacular Art Deco marble interior I forgot all about the mural. It was like a cross between the film Metropolis and New York’s Grand Central Station—a pink and black decadent face full of the 1920s.
Getting in:
Stroll on in.
Busy?
Yes, but people are constantly moving around, so there are no annoying bottlenecks, and the hustle and bustle add to the lively station/theatre excitement of the place. These places are/were meant to be busy, so it only adds to the atmosphere.
Worth it?
What a great surprise – it was worth discovering.
Heads up:
You don’t get to see the Diego mural unless you have a ticket to a show, but as mentioned above – I wasn’t arsed about seeing it once I was in the main lobby.
Diego Rivera Mural Museum | Balderas 202, Colonia Centro, Centro, 06000 Ciudad de México, CDMX
What’s it about:
The hermetically sealed home for Diego’s mural: Sueno de una Tarde Dominical en la Almeda Central. I wonder if Peter Blake took inspiration from it for his Sargent Peppers album cover. There’s plenty to look at, and I spent hours doing so. There’s a handy guide as to who’s who.
Getting in:
Pay on the door.
Busy?
So, so. Mas O Menos.
Worth it?
Meh. Sort of. It’s a cracking piece of work, but that’s all in there. If you’re passing – sure.
San Fernando Pantheon (cemetery) | Calle San Fernando 17, Centro Histórico de la Cdad. de México
What’s it about:
OK *rolls up sleeves. Let me get started on this. It’s a grand old cemetery – which I love. The world-wide-web will tell you this place is open, even that it’s ‘free’ to get in on Wednesday nights. The world-wide-web is lying. It’s not been open for years – not since the earthquake – and it shows NO SIGN whatsoever of opening again anytime soon. Moreover, it’s an absolute fucking death march getting to it, hands-down the roughest part of Mexico City. They have the same right as anyone, but picking through the zombie apocalypse to get there only to find it closed pissed me right off.
Getting in:
You’re not.
Busy?
Yeah. With zombies.
Heads up:
Don’t go and don’t walk around this area on your own or at odd times of the day or night. Ever.
Cine Opera|Serapio Rendon 9, San Rafael, 06470 Ciudad de México, CDMX, Mexico
What’s it about:
I was really excited about visiting this now abandoned, grand old Art Deco movie house. Partly because it’s got that intriguing derelict building vibe but mostly because it once hosted the Bauhaus. It turns out it was the post-punk-gothic-rock band Bauhaus. NOT the German art school and their Triadisches performance Ballet. I should have twigged – the Bauhaus Ballet was in 1922, and the Cine Opera was in 1949, but I let my imagination run away with me, as usual.
Getting in:
You’re not – it’s abandoned and boarded up.
Heads up:
It’s Art Deco, but built-in 1949? Weird because Mexico City WAS NOT backward when it came to Art Deco architecture – Condesa has some of the best Art Deco residential buildings to be seen, all built bang-on period correct in the 1920s and 30s. So, all very odd. 1949 is way too late. There’s a story there somewhere.
Biblioteca Vasconcelos | Eje 1 Nte. S/N, Buenavista, 06350 Ciudad de México, CDMX
What’s it about:
Holy crap – you’re about to enter the Borg ship, something out of Blade Runner or some other Ridley Scott film set. Honestly – this is an INCREDIBLE building – 21st century, too, by architects Alberto Kalach and Juan Palomar. It’s so complicated; there were numerous construction defects, and many people got done for it.
Getting in:
Walk on in.
Busy?
Well, it’s a library, so not really – they rarely are these days.
Worth it?
Fuck yes. Love it or hate it, it’s mesmerising. It’s like someone removed all the walls, ceilings and floors and left only the bookshelves – it’s as though they’re floating in a never-ending vertical science-fiction space.
Heads up:
You cannot take photos with a camera, but you can with an iPhone. This is an odd decision, but hey, rules are rules.
DAY OUT 4: NEIGHBORHOODS: XOCO | DEL CARMEN
Where you’re going:
- Frida Kahlo Museum
- Leon Trotsky House
See both of these together; it’s walking distance between the two.
Frida was MASSIVELY aligned with the ideology of communism, so I’m tempted to be flippant about Trotsky and Frida popping round each other’s houses for tea and cake. But after visiting Trotsky’s house, I now understand there would have been NO WAY he’d have ever left it. I’ll say no more than that, save spoiling things.
It takes about a day to visit both places.
Getting there:
Uber. Costs fuck all, despite them being in a suburb far away from the city centre. Walk between the two; the walk is through a charming neighbourhood.
How long:
Give yourself a whole day to do both. Trotsky’s house is small and quiet and won’t take much time, while Frida’s house is mega-tourist-hell, so the earlier you get there, the better. I would do that one first. If you’ve got time after seeing them, walk into Coyoacán centre for food and a mooch around.
Frida Kahlo Museum – La Casa Azul | Londres 247, Del Carmen, 04100
What’s it about:
Well, it’s the family home of the Kahlos, isn’t it. It’s Fridaland. Upstairs is where she slept and worked and has been left like a time capsule, her paints and easel, wheelchair, and knick-knack’s all over the place and decor intact. Downstairs is a bit more contrived; I don’t think the kitchen and living areas looked like that when she was there. You get more of a sense of her upstairs. (if you can get a sense of her at all amongst the maelstrom of visitors and selfies.)
Busy?
You bet. Crazy. Packed. Mega-tourist spot. Cheese and annoying humans all over the place. People dressed in Day of the Dead costumes as though they were at comic-con.
Here’s a tip:
With the entrance behind you, head over to the far, far-right-hand corner of the grounds (as far as you can go), and there is a little hole-in-the-wall café that hardly has anyone in it. It’s a place of calm and peace away from the crowds. Also, it has Wi-Fi and power sockets for iPhone re-charges.
Getting in:
BOOK YOUR TICKET IN ADVANCE, ONLINE – AND QUICKLY!! Entry slots are every 30 minutes (once in, you can stay as long as you like, though), but they only have a certain amount of tickets per slot, and slots sell out quickly. I had to wait a couple of days for one. You can always turn up on the day – they hold some tickets on the door, but that queue is huge and frustrating because you’re not sure which 30 min slot still has tickets available. You might be waiting for hours for the next one…
Worth it?
You can’t go to Mexico City and not visit Frida Kahlo’s family home, so that’s that. You could, but what would be the point of not going?
Leon Trotsky House | Av. Río Churubusco 410, Del Carmen, 04100 Ciudad de México
What’s it about:
Trotsky was in exile due to a ‘difference of opinion’ between him and the mentally-unsound Stalin. Mexico was the only place that would accommodate him. He lived here with his wife and entourage. And some chickens.
Busy?
Not at all. Plenty of peace and quiet with which to conjure up some sense of him going about his day-to-day business there.
Worth it?
TOTALLY. Apart from his fascinating and compelling story, his house is rustic, austere and traditional and tbh I’d love to live in it for the decor and furniture alone. And if you’ve got a bit of a fetish for socialism (as I have), how can you not go? Way more authentic and atmospheric than Frida’s house. Not that it’s a competition.
OTHER RANDOM STUFF, WELL WORTH GOING TO
Void – Vintage Clothing Store | Calle Parral 5, Colonia Condesa, 06140
Perfectly and expertly curated vintage – nothing you wouldn’t find in any decent high-end vintage store, and certainly no bargains, but well worth it. In fact. It was pretty expensive…
Some 1960s concrete animals in a playground | Parque Espana – street-side of the adventure playground
I think they’re 1960s? They certainly look it. Some really, really charming but now sadly unloved animals now finding themselves on the wrong side of ‘elf and safety.
Dulceria Celaya: An old-school Cake / Biscuit shop | Orizaba No. 37. Col. Roma Norte, 06700
Nope. I had no idea what any of the biscuits were, but it was A LOT of fun pointing to random biccies and asking for uno mas, mucho mas, and gracias. And then eating them.
Where Burroughs ‘accidentally’ shot his wife in the head | 122 Monterry, Colonia Roma
It happens *shrugs shoulders.
(no photo as there is nothing to see, just a door)
Café Habana | Av. Morelos 62, Juarez, 06600
Castro and Che would sit here in 1951, plotting the Cuban revolution. They’d do so over stomach-stripping coffee and cigars, the smoke of which would be displaced by the cafe’s heavy, enigmatic ceiling fans. They’d speak in hushed tones, safe in the knowledge that the booming acoustics caused by the coffee house’s mid-century concrete ceiling would mask their talk of murderous revolution. It’s still a coffee house, and it looks exactly the same today as it did then. Go. It’s ace.
All words and photos by me as usual (Sarah Feeney)
@under_rocks_sarah_feeney (CARS)
@under_rocks_sarah_feeney2 (CONCRETE)
Next up: Bugs of Mexico City
The Drift 