The first day is the altitude. Mexico City sits at 2,240 meters. Expect a dull headache, a short breath on stairs and a poor first night’s sleep. Drink water all day, eat a light lunch and keep Teotihuacán off day one. By day two it passes.
Water and ice. Do not drink from the tap. Hotels, cafés and restaurants serve purified water from the big garrafón and make ice from it, so restaurant ice is fine. At street stands, take aguas frescas from a busy stall and skip the jugs sitting in the sun.
Street food. The rule is the line. A stall with office workers in line at 2 p.m. or taxi drivers at 10 p.m. is turning its food over fast, which is the whole safety test. Tacos cooked in front of you beat anything kept warm.
One card for the Metro and Metrobús. Buy a Tarjeta de Movilidad Integrada for MX$15 at any Metro machine and top it up; paper tickets ended in 2024, and since December 2025 the card also lives in the CDMX app. The Metro is MX$5 a ride, flat, the Metrobús MX$6. Both are packed from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Uber over street taxis, and tips. Uber and DiDi are how the city moves, cheap, with the price agreed before you get in. Do not hail a cab on the street; use a sitio stand or the authorized counters inside the airport. Tip 10 to 15 percent in restaurants, MX$10 to MX$20 for the person who packs your groceries or fills your tank.
Monday closures and timed tickets. The National Museum of Anthropology opens Tuesday to Sunday from 9 a.m. and is closed Monday, as are the Frida Kahlo Museum, Templo Mayor and most other museums. INAH now charges visitors double what Mexicans and residents pay at its big sites, so budget around MX$200 for Anthropology. The Frida Kahlo Museum sells timed tickets online only, dearer for foreign visitors and on weekends; book two or three weeks ahead. Sunday is free at INAH sites for nationals and residents with ID, not for visitors.
Teotihuacán. Open every day, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. with last entry at 4:30 p.m., so it is the natural Monday. MX$210 for visitors, MX$105 for nationals and residents. There is no shade: be at the gate at 8 a.m. with a hat and a liter of water and be done by 11 a.m. About an hour by Uber or by bus from the Terminal del Norte.
On the day. Waystop’s hours check will flag an Anthropology stop on a Monday; swap it for Teotihuacán. Carry small notes for stalls and tips and keep the Metro card topped up.