I was wondering if anyone could suggest an itinerary for first time Mexico travelers starting in Mexico City in February. What are the must sees? Could you suggest clean and safe hostels/backpacker's
I was wondering if anyone could suggest an itinerary for first time Mexico travelers starting in Mexico City in February. What are the must sees? Could you suggest clean and safe hostels/backpacker's lodging along the way?
First off, you need to decide do you want to do mostly cities, or city/country or city and beach. i'd say if you are starting in Mexico City, you should find a good hostal there for a few nights and ask the other visitors where they came from.
In Mexico City, consider the Hostal Mund Joven Catedral. I've only eaten there in the restaurant, but my daughter stayed in the hostel and found it safe and clean. Dorms are about $12 US a night. They have a deal right now for 2 nights and a tour of the must see pyramids at Teotihuacan for $ 43. In there lobby is the stand for a travel by van company, Wayak, that will take you to affiliated hostels in other towns, Puebla, for example.
The hostal also runs tours, some free walking tours or low-cost evening trips to Lucha Libre Wrestling. For a first-timers, I'd say these organized tours make sense as you get your bearings. The National Palace on the zocalo has great Rivera murals. There are free multilingual volunteer guides near the steps leading up to the murals in the palace courtyard.
If you meet a UNAM university student, see if they can lead you to the campus to try the Azul y Oro (Blue and Gold) cafe, lunch is about $5 U.S and it is great.
Journalist David Lida has an amazing blog site about Mexico city : www.davidlida.com
His book First Stop in the New World would make a good counterpoint to the the Frommer's Guide. Frommer's Mexico guides are actually quite good, and have some cultural advice that is worthwhile.
If you go to Oaxaca, some 6 hours by van or bus, I've stayed at Hostal Don Nino and it is fine, walking distance from the bus station.
There are lots of free, or near free concerts in Oaxaca, and the ruins of Monte Alban are worth a look.
It used to be museums were free for all on Sundays, guidebooks often state this, but more museums are insisting this free day is only for Mexicans. That's understandable. But the peso is around 13 to a dollar, it was down to 11 and 12 in recent years, so will you get good value for your dollars. enjoy
Intercity first class bus service in Mexico is your best bet for getting between the places you want to visit. However if you are planning to travel far, check into some of the new domestic low-cost air carriers in Mexico. And Volaris airlines to Toluca may offer a cheaper alternative to get yourself to Mexico City; they have a bus service from TLC airport to the Santa Fe metro station.
Especially if you stay in a hostel - make sure to protect your valuables. That gets a little tricky - as if you have everything with you while you are walking around and get pickpoketed - or even in some rare cases - robbed - you lose it all - but if you leave it in the Dorm room - you could also lose it.
In any event - I always put my valuables in a little billfold type holder - and put it as deep in my front pocket as I can - and also don't recommend the ladies carry purses - which are easy to snatch.
Same thing goes for riding the buses - or trains - or being around any high volume tourist area where the pickpocket/thieves hang out.
On our first trip to Mexico we went to Mexico City, Oaxaca and Puerto Vallerta for a total of two weeks. We flew between the cities to save time. It was a great introduction to the many sides of Mexico and we have returned several times since then.
My daughter and I bused around the northern Baja a few summers ago. Great efficient and affordable way to travel Mexico. The only problem we ran into was on the bus ride back from Ensenada to Rosarito Beach, the bus driver literally dropped us on the side of the divided highway instead of pulling back into the town at the designated bus station (the driver was travelling on to Tijuana). We were left high and dry on the wrong side of the divided highway with our bags - thank goodness there was a rest room, and two travelling American women living in Mexico, took pity on us - loaded our bags into their already full van and drove us the 10 minutes into Rosarito to the designated bus station so that we could catch our connecting bus. They told us that this should not have happened, it was just a bad attitute on the part of that one bus driver! Have a great time, we did, despite this one glitch which we laugh at now.
