With a week of our Mexico trip already under our belts, my parents and I were ready to continue to our next stops on the tour, Morelia and Mexico City. This included four nights in Morelia and four more in Mexico City for New Year's. Our Uber in San Miguel took us straight to the San Miguel de Allende bus station to jump on our three-ish hour, fairly comfortable, Primera Plus bus to Morelia. Once there, we took an Uber directly to our hotel, Suites Concepto, which wasn't glamorous at all but was situated just a few blocks off of the main plaza.
Morelia
Morelia is a pleasant enough city with a beautiful main square. It is less touristy due to the high crime in the region. In fact, one American we met asked if we had heard of the travel advisory not to be in the area. Clearly, we had not. But luckily we didn't experience any issues and were able to enjoy some of what the city had to offer.
Food (Likes/Dislikes)
LU Cocina: We ate here a few times because we didn't find as many food options as we did in San Miguel de Allende. Luckily, it was delicious and open for all meals. We particularly enjoyed the breakfast of chilaquiles with chorizo. It's part of a nicer hotel right in the main square.
Cafe Michelena: A quaint bookshop-like cafe with delicious green juice and excellent breakfast/pastry options. We went here several times.
Pulcinella: This took a bit of walking, although we could've certainly taken an Uber. It was a traditional pizza place that was recommended to us by my dad's friend who had traveled extensively through Mexico. The owner was originally from Italy and he previously owned a pizza joint in Denver, CO. It was a good change to the type of food we had been eating, but don't compare it to your favorite pie back home.
La Inspiracion de 1809: I highly recommend NOT going here. The staff was rude and the food wasn't great. It had good reviews so we were thoroughly disappointed in the outcome.
Drink
Hotel Los Juaninos: This place was excellent and we went back several times. It's on the rooftop of a fancy hotel overlooking the beautiful square and cathedral. They have a great margarita and a nice little charcuterie board. Plus check out this view...
La Brebajaria: We briefly stopped here because the drinks looked wild. They were indeed. The food wasn't any good so just stick to the drinks.
Activity
Walk around Centro Historico: This is the main square of the city and a great place to walk around. There are many vendors with kids toys and those creepy costumed-people that occupy much of Times Square. But the main church is unbelievable and the center of it all.
Take a Trolley Tour: Even though our tour was in Spanish, it was a great way to travel around to the parts of the city we would not have been to. Although it was a tad slow at times due to the traffic and small streets. We purchased very cheap tickets right at the booth in the main square.
Shop at Mercado de Dulces y Atesanias: This was a great place to walk around and see some cool handicrafts and a lot of garbage you wouldn't want to actually buy. Save your money for buying crafts in Mexico City!
Take a day Trip to the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary: One of the most popular day trips from Morelia (or Mexico City) is to Santuario de la Mariposa Monarca "El Rosario".
The Monarchs migrate down each winter from the United States and happen to congregate all in the same location, thus creating a popular tourist trap. I say trap because it was wildly overcrowded and you couldn't really get close to getting any type of good picture or viewpoint. But these clusters show you the thousands of butterflies covering the trees once you walk up a very long and steep stairway.
Obviously this was for butterfly protection, but it made for a less than optimal viewing experience. Luckily, we found a tour that was fairly inexpensive because it certainly wouldn't have been any different had we paid more money. The only downside is the driver didn't speak English. Luckily the other family in the tour spoke some and was able to translate whenever I didn't understand. Coincidentally, my parents happened to see this same family again in a restaurant a few weeks later in Oaxaca.
Mexico City
Once again we chose the Primera Plus bus as our means of transportation, and again it was quite easy and inexpensive. We had made some last minute travel changes so we ended up staying one night in the Basic Hotel until our AirBnB was ready. The AirBnB we stayed in for the majority of the time looked really nice in the photos, and it was fine, but for some reason we were a bit underwhelmed with it. But hey check out this view!
However, I really enjoyed the city and the many food, drink and activity options it had to offer.
Food & Drink
Go on a TACO TOUR: This is the most important and delicious thing we did in Mexico City and it was booked directly through AirBnb Experiences. Our guide, Arturo, was stellar and took us to the most delicious, and sometimes famous, taco spots. And of course there was a wildly delicious variety of salsa. I won't give away the specific spots we went to because I highly encourage you to take a tour with Arturo if given the opportunity.
Rafaello Ristorante Zona Rosa: We were feeling some good old fashioned Italian food after our journey from Morelia. This fit the bill and was a moderately tasty meal that consisted of a lot of pasta in our bowls.
Cafe Toscano Polanco: A random find off of Google Maps that I would highly recommend. It had a cool atmosphere and some tasty food. It's a short walk from the Museo Nacional de Antropologia.
Parilla Leonesa: This place was quite delicious, and I don't think it was only because I was terribly hungry upon our arrival. We had salsas, guac, and a variety of items to make our own tacos. Oh, and of course some delicious margaritas.
Lardo: This seemed to be the only place we could find open on New Year's day. We were terribly hungry and truly enjoyed our meal of eggs and pastries. Once again, I've learned not to trust bacon in other countries because it's really what I think of as Canadian bacon.
Mercado Roma: A casual food market with many different options to choose from. We ended up getting some extremely delicious tacos along with some mescal drinks and churros.
Churros Porfirio: After our Morelia churro experience, we were big on the churro game. This was a small and quick stop we made on our way home one night.
Aleli: Unfortunately we experienced this gem toward the end of our time in Mexico City. Had we gone here earlier, we probably would've been at this place for breakfast every single day. Boy was that french toast delicious.
Activity
La Ciudadela: We went here twice because we kept wanting to explore the arts and crafts. I really enjoyed this market and all of the colorful stalls there were. We ended up getting a bunch of decorations for my apartment, glass drink stirrers, and my dad got this gem...
Bosque de Chapultepec: A wonderful and giant park to explore. We went through here several times to enjoy the gardens and one of the museums it had to offer.
Museo Nacional de Antropologia: I'm really not a big museum fan, but the architecture at this place was cool. We went later in the day and I quickly walked through the indoor exhibits in order to spend most of my time in the center courtyard.
Take the hop on hop off bus: We found this to be the easiest and cheapest way to get around to all of the major destinations we wanted to see. This included a drive-by of the Frida Kahlo Museum because it was fully booked. Plus it's relaxing and pleasant to sit on top of your "convertible" and see more than you would be able to see walking.
Explore the Historic Center and Zocalo: This was done best while on foot as it got quite crowded down the main street. We explored the main square and this was where a lot of the good taco spots we found were!
Sadly that wrapped up my time in Mexico. My parents continued their trip and went to Puebla and Oaxaca, both of which they enjoyed. Perhaps one day I'll get there, but until then I'll dream of those mouthwatering tacos...
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