3 Weeks in Mexico City, San Miguel de Allende, and Riviera Maya

Coffee

Our local spot was Chiquitito Café in Condesa: great cold brew, solid Wi-Fi, outdoor tables, but limited snacks. There are a few Blend Station locations around Condesa and Roma Norte—the one on Avenida Tamaulipas is big, with indoor and outdoor seating, and it was normally fairly full with people working during the day. I thought the cold brew was outstanding, but it was a little on the bitter side for Cat. I like bitter. Enhorabuena is a café to sit outside at, and here, we went for the cappuccinos (I’m a leche de almendras girl, and Cat usually goes for avena). Buna in Roma Norte has homemade macadamia nut milk. Cicatriz is a cute café in Juarez with interesting shops next door. Almanegra is a small chain, and its cold brew can take you to the moon.

See

You don’t necessarily have to go out of your way to see art in CDMX—there are galleries throughout the city to pop into. We went to a handful in San Rafael and Santa María La Ribera: Galería Hilario Galguera and Casa Wabi were our two favorite spaces. If you make it to Santa María La Ribera, walk around the main plaza, Alameda de Santa María. And omg, Biblioteca Vasconcelos. I dragged Cat to this bonkers big library even though it wasn’t open because I needed to drop my jaw from the street.

Mercado El 100 is a Sunday farmers’ market in Roma Sur where I would absolutely go every week.

Architect Luis Barragan’s touch can be seen around the city, and there are certain spaces you can make a reservation to tour. Casa Barragan is the house he lived in. We visited Casa Gilardi, which was the final house Barragan completed, in 1978. The family who commissioned the house still lives there, and the son gave the tour on the day we went. There are so many aspects of the space that whisper genius. There’s a huge jacaranda tree in the interior courtyard that feels like it’s a part of the walls. The way sunlight bounces through a hallway, the appearance of an indoor pool at the end of a corridor, how the color of a wall changes throughout the day: all spectacular.

In Coyoacan, you can visit Casa Azul, a fairly intimate space where Frida Kahlo lived most of her life. (You need to get tickets in advance.) I got chills while looking at her easel set up with her wheelchair before it. After Casa Azul, pick a stall at Mercado Coyoacan to eat at (don’t stress over which one). There is also a large bookstore nearby, part of the Centro Cultural Elena Garro.

And if you’re in the historic city center, walk through Alameda Central and go inside the museum at the end to see one of Diego Rivera’s most famous murals, Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Central. It survived the 1985 earthquake and a move to its current location.

For safety, a few more bookstores to star on Google maps: Centro Cultural Bella Época (great pastries across the street), Cafebrería el Péndulo (the best location of the chain is in Polanco), Librería Ático (in Roma Norte, my preferred form of chaos with rare and used books), Hallazgo Librería de Paso (same but in Condesa), Casa Bosques (get your postcards and gifts here), Clarice Café y Literatura (get a tea here).

Hotels

We spent the first few days here at the small, unfussy Casa Delphine, which has five suites and is airy, bright, and gracefully worn-in. The staircases leading up to the suites are stunning (just be careful when they’re wet). Cat’s room had a thin wrought-iron four-poster with main-character energy, and mine had an arched doorway with an idyllic view and another staircase leading up to a private balcony with a bathtub and a more-panoramic view of the town. We predictably fell for the varied blue-patterned tiles in the bathrooms (we also both love tiles). During our stay, they served breakfast from La Tertulia, and it was so bright and fresh that even I managed a decent food photo for once.

The last three nights in San Miguel de Allende, we were at Casa de Sierra Nevada, a Belmond hotel, which comprises a handful of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century buildings. There are thirty-seven rooms and suites, but it’s really the spaces around them that are special—terraces, gardens, courtyards tucked into corners, stucco walls, the serene pool with a stone front, the garden with rows of lavender, the lobby open to the sky (the couches here are also an excellent place to not work too hard while eating food from the hotel restaurant, Andanza). The staff was incredibly knowledgeable about the property and the area—and just so nice.

Because Cat and I are also united in our appreciation for reading poolside, we got a day pass one Sunday afternoon to Hotel Matilda, where we lounged near the waterfall end, in front of a colorful mural by artist Claudio Limon. Hotel Matilda is clean and eclectic with a playful collection of art, particularly contemporary Latin art. The spa is delightful—the Lineal Mezcal body treatment includes an agave inulin body scrub, getting wrapped up in an infusion of mezcal and rosemary, and then a massage. Can you even? We also had the pleasure of meeting the very entertaining GM Bruce James, who introduced us to his own mezcal (Lineal) and to Casa Dragones, a small-batch tequila producer with roots in San Miguel de Allende and a woman cofounder and CEO, which is not common in tequila world. (James agreed with Cat’s assessment that he was like a kid in a candy shop—if you go to Matilda, you’ll see how he’s gathered together so many different pieces of décor and art, plus drinks and food, that have caught his eye over time.)

Local Spots

We took a more laid-back approach to touristing after CDMX. We wandered aimlessly, went into whatever shop piqued our interest, and allowed for pastry detours. (Okay, there were pastry detours in CDMX, too.)

Mercado Sano is a treasure trove of organic fruits and vegetables, gluten-free snacks, and the kind of groceries one aspires to buy. For sure go to the farmers’ market there on Saturday, which brings in more crafts (jewelry, knives, ceramic table sets, blankets, etc.) and prepared foods (oh, the slice of quiche that got away).

Many of the restaurants are set in grand courtyards and go heavy on the farm-to-table copy. For example, The Restaurant, in an eighteenth-century Moroccan-style courtyard. The chef’s focus here is on local, sustainable, and organic ingredients. My focus here was on finally getting Cat to go in on a round of espresso martinis—and I was victorious.

Cumpanio is known for its baked goods—croissants, raspberry cruffins, cinnamon rolls, palmiers, gorgeous loaves of sourdough and ciabatta. It has three bakeries in San Miguel de Allende and a restaurant with a solid breakfast menu.

Rooftop bars galore. Many center around the prime landmark Parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel. La Azotea has one of the clearest views and great people-watching.

Our local bar, though, was on the ground, and it didn’t have a name (yet) while we were there. It’s on Calle del Dr Ignacio Hernandez Macias, near the corner of Umáran, in the space that was previously La Sirena Gorda. Ask Alan for his mezcal cocktail with rosemary and bitters spray, and if you’re fortunate, his mom will be sitting at the bar next to you.

For coffee: Ki’bok, Buen Día, and Lavanda. For everyone who makes fun of me for ordering almond milk, I did have straight-up cream at some of these places, thanks.