Stay Here: Mexico City 🇲🇽
Hey there, Stay Here readers! We’re back after an extended break full of big life things. Today marks a special milestone — it’s our 20th newsletter! Thank you so much for being here.
In honor of this, we’re venturing out of the USA and going global for the first time. Today, we’re doing a deep dive into Mexico City, a favorite getaway for Californians. Ophelia and Michelle have both spent time in CDMX, and are in love with the food, architecture, and culture. There are incredibly designed stays around every corner in this city, not to mention the super reasonable prices for longer stays!
As always, you can browse through all our newsletters if you're looking for other cities to travel to. Thank you for being a subscriber!
Octavia Casa
La Condesa, Mexico City
Starts at $156/night
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This stunning 7-room hotel was designed by PPAA, an architecture firm based in Mexico City. Octavia Casa is a hotel that is an offshoot of OCTAVIA, a Mexican women’s clothing brand founded by Roberta Maceda. According to this dezeen article, PPAA decided to “transport the clothing brand’s values into a 3D space.”
We love the soft, neutral tones, and the textured walls.
Casa Dovela
La Condesa, Mexico City
Starts at $190/night
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This 1940s inspired casa with iron arched windows and vaulted ceilings perfectly contrasts traditional Mexican design with more contemporary furnishings. Plus, there’s a soaking tub and a 24/7 doorman.
Brick Hotel
Roma Norte, Mexico City
Starts at $252/night
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We love a hotel with range, and 17-room Brick Hotel in Roma Norte certainly has it! See the sun-soaked, leafy patio and rooftop, and the quieter, dark-toned lobby.
The floral light fixture is so much unique!
Honorable mentions
This Roma Norte triplex with a leafy back patio (starts at $258/night, sleeps 4).
This loft in Roma Norte with amazing soft natural wood paneling (starts at $145/night, sleeps 4).
This Condesa apartment with a beautiful rooftop terrace (starts at $99/night, sleeps 4).
Do this
Get ready for a long list here, there’s really so much you can do and eat in CDMX!
Frida Kahlo Museum — Would highly recommend visiting Frida’s studio and home. Buy tickets in advance, and know you have to pay an additional few dollars for photography (FYI, paying extra to take photos is pretty common in CDMX).
Barragán Architecture Tours (book early!):
Casa Gilardi — The famed architect Luis Barragán has many works in Mexico City. This was my favorite tour since it was a smaller, private, tour and at the time, the family who gave the tours actually lived in the house.
Casa Luis Barrágan — This is the most popular Barrágan house, but compared to Casa Gilardi, the experience was less personal. There are large groups on the tour, but it’s still worth a visit.
San Cristobal stables — This rec is not in Mexico City, but looks absolutely stunning.
Eat this
The food choices are endless, and you can definitely eat the best tacos of your life from a random stand… but here’s a list from us!
Pujol — There’s a lot of hype around Pujol and it lived up to all of it! This beautiful restaurant was made popular by the Chef’s Table episode on Enrique Olvera. If it’s nice weather, they end with dessert out on the garden patio — which was just so beautiful. This was the most memorable part of our trip and everyone we know who’s visited says the same thing!
Tostadas Coyoacan — Amazing tostadas stand near the Frida Kahlo museum. The octopus one was our favorite.
Contramar — One of our favorite meals of the trip was here. You must get the tuna tortas and Pescado fish!
Taquería Orinoco — The best tacos we had here, don’t miss out!
Dooriban — Amazing modern Korean restaurant. If they still have the perilla leaf ice cream, you cannot miss out on trying it.
Panderia Rosetta — Our favorite pastry and sandwich stop. The pesto ham sandwich and guava cheese pastries were amazing!
El Moro — The classic churro place with a bunch of locations.
Cancino San Miguel — This coffee shop/cafe is right next to Casa Gilardi —would recommend it if you need a quick bite/want cool garden vibes.
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Next up on Stay Here: Bali, Indonesia! Let us know if you have any recs or favs (reply to stayhere@substack.com). We'll be sure to give you a shout-out. :)
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