Hi Thorn Treers,
I talked a friend of mine into going to Mexico City for 5 days, with her husband, and she is extremely hesitant and nervous about it due to stories that you hear about Mexico City (kidnappings, murder, robberies, etc).
I've been there a number of times myself, but only for a day or so, so I really don't know the city that well.
Can you infinitely knowledgeable people please help me to determine a great, safe area for them to stay in, as well as maybe recommend a nice hotel in the $50 range? Strategic location, walking distance to some points of interest.
Also (she'll be reading this), can some of you maybe describe your experiences there as far as safety is concerned? I have never felt unsafe in MC, but she doesn't trust me because I go to places like Haiti, Rwanda, India, Cambodia, etc.
Thanks so much.
I stayed at Casa Gonzalez when I was in Mexico City this past fall. It's a lovely hotel in what felt like a very safe area for around 45 dollars a night. It's about two blocks from the US embassy and a quick ten minute walk through the Zona Rosa to get to the nearest metro stop. I can't say I ever felt unsafe while in the city. I think the key is to be aware of where you are and use common sense, much like any other big city in the world.
Well I screwed that one up,lets try again...
About a block from the zocolo is the Hotel Catedral, many tourist points of intrest are located just a couple of blocks from the hotel....have fun
Bajadude -- that link didn't work, but I noticed it was too www.hotelcatedal.com, I tried adding an "r" to make it "catedral" and it worked... was that the place you were recommending? It looks nice.
Looks super nice Baja!
Bunny, Casa Gonzalez is cute. Thanks for the link.
Would you say that the Zona Rosa is a better area to stay in as far as nighttime activities (restaurants, bars, etc) and that the Zocolo area is better as far as daytime sightseeing?
mexico city is amazing. they will be too occupied with sightseeing to worry about safety. i spent about 6 days in the city and i, as a female, never felt unsafe. after you figure out the subway system, it's very easy to get around. just use common sense after dark and don't walk down a dark alleyway alone and you'll be fine. have fun! there is so much to see and do, i am jealous.
WHile like any huge tourist center, you have your occasional pickpocket, rowdy drunk, mentally disturbed individual (and, like every other North American city, the historical center is where a lot of very poor people live... rich people want houses built after the invention of indoor plumbing and electric lights, not retrofitted ones), no real problems.
In five years, I had only one incident... and it was in my own neighborhood (a junkie started throwing rocks at me. Alas she had a damn good pitching arm, and almost got me. I threw one back, and that was that). And... once doing a ... ahem... business transaction in a hotel room that I really shouldn't have been doing, the service provider took more payment than was called for by the informal contractual agreement. But that was to be expected). I don't think you're likely to run into either of those two scenarios.
Kidnapping are usually business or family disputes -- and tourists aren't part of anyone's local business or family, not to mention that long distance calls for ransom aren't worth the trouble. What you SOMETIMES hear are old stories about taxi robberies, but they were overblown years ago (for local political reasons -- the media being a different political party than the city administration) ... and sometimes tourists who haven't given clear directions and are taken the long way around from point A to point B claim they were "kidnapped."
As elsewhere, wandering around drunk and/or stoned is more likely to land you in trouble than otherwise.
People who spend their lives expecting problems, though, usually aren't disappointed. Relax and enjoy.
We stayed at the Hotel Catedral for 5 days a couple of years ago and am trying to arrange another DF stay in '08 with the Catedral as our first choice. This is because of what we considered to be good value, good service and a great central location. Others can recommend different hotels. We prefer staying in centro of any city we visit for only a few days.
DF Centro is quiet at night but there some very good restaurants close by. (We really enjoyed La Sirena facing the back of the Metropolitan Cathedral on Guatemala I think.) We noticed a large number of police around the neighbourhood at night. We went on a rather circuitous 45 minute search for milk and pan dulce about midnight one night and found a noticeable amount of security in the neighbourhood. As we are early risers we saw a uniformed guy at each corner within a few block radius of the zocalo that had obviously been on the beat all night. I assumed they were cops and not private security guards because their uniforms said policia and not seguridad privada. They had guns and batons but then so do most private security guards.
As for restaurants and a nice street scene we quite liked Condesa as the neighbourhood to go to. Radio cabs can be arranged from the hotel or restaurant.
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