One thing that really caught my attention during our last trip in Mexico is the huge marketing campaigns to stimulate domestic tourism. There were ads not only talking about Mexico in general but also about specific destinations within the country (paid for by local tourism councils).
We spent a couple of weeks in Mexico for our holidays. I am currently uploading and tagging all the pictures and videos that we took during the trip, and as soon as I’m done I’ll share with you my observations there.
In my recent trip to New York City I stayed at the Hudson in 58th street, as the location fit my needs to the T. The experience, however, was not that pleasant even if the staff were really attentive: basically, that architect (renowned Philippe Starck) should have been fired as the place is absolutely not user-friendly even if it is designed to be chic. Don’t get me wrong, I am not against good design (after all, I live in Finland, cradle of Alvar Aalto where the touch of the Nordic movement can be seen almost everywhere) but in my book good design has to be both aesthetically pleasing and functional.
On arrival (at midnight and completely jetlagged) I couldn’t find the hotel as there is no sign with its name at the entrance, only a “hole” with two lamps made to look like torches on its side. Going inside there are no signs, so I had to guess that the check-in was to be performed in the big desk that looked more like a bar. On reaching my room, I realised it was not small by NY standards but positively tiny as there was only space for the bed and my luggage didn’t even fit, and noisy to boot. I asked for a change due to the airplane-grade noise coming from one of the machines outside and got to a less noisy location, where I realised that the sound insulation was terrible anyway and I could hear pretty much everything (and I mean everything) coming from my neighbouring rooms and walkways.
With that I fell asleep, but my surprises continued in the morning when I realised that my legs were too long to be able to sit in the loo (and I’m only 183 cm./6 ft. tall!). That was too much for me and I asked for an upgrade or a change of hotel. Later that week I found out that the lobby bar is a favourite location with the hipsters of the city, which means there is a lot of noise every weekend before you escape to your room. The hotel does have a couple of very nice bars, even if beers are 9 bucks a pop.
+ Location, staff, chic factor (for those who care)
– Design user-friendliness, noise, room sizes
Recommended for: teenagers and young adults.
Not recommended for: business travellers, families
Would I stay there again? Only for the right price as now I know what is the catch.
I’m currently in New York on business. Plenty of what passes as insight in this blog will be available as soon as I have time to write. In the meantime, you can see what I see.
After a week and a half of having declared the emergency, everything is slowly going back to normal in Mexico City now that the government has declared that the worst has passed (at least in Mexico itself, as the virus is still being reported in the U.S.). Tomorrow people will go back to work and in a few days schools will reopen. There are a couple of diplomatic incidents still ongoing, and I for one am not planning to go to China nor Argentina anytime soon (both suspended flights, and Mexicans without symptoms are .
I really hope that the Mexican tourism industry recovers once this emergency is over, as the economic cost of this emergency runs in the billions. At least it’s not the main news item in international media anymore at the time of writing.
Lots of friends have asked me for tips for going to Mexico. The first thing that comes to mind is the route. Coming from Europe, I would recommend you to take a non-stop flight from Europe rather than transit in the US. All non-stop flights are listed below (recommended transit points from Helsinki in italics).
Air Comet from Madrid
Air France from Paris Charles de Gaulle
British Airways from London Heathrow
Iberia from Madrid
KLM from Amsterdam
Lufthansa from Frankfurt am Main
Mexicana from London Gatwick
Aeroméxico from Barcelona, Madrid, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Rome Fiumicino
Paris Charles de Gaulle is a nightmarish airport where they always lose my luggage, so I wouldn’t go there (which is unfortunate since I like Aeroméxico’s long-distance flights, but they don’t have a Finnish alliance partner yet) .
Finnair unfortunately co-operates with Iberia, whose long-haul flights to Latin America should be avoided like the plague unless of course price becomes an issue. There’s a reason why we nickname Iberia “Siberia”.
What to see
Take into consideration that Mexico is huge in European terms: almost 6 times the land area of Finland, and the largest state is slightly larger than the UK(there’s 31 and a Federal District). Furthermore, large swathes of the country are very abrupt terrain, so no wonder distances are usually measured in hours, not kilometres. That’s why it’s probably a good idea to divide the country in different sections and try to tackle it piece by piece rather than in one gulp like most guidebooks do: Central Mexico, Yucatán Peninsula & Chiapas, Gulf coast, Western Mexico and the North.
Getting around is easier by plane or bus. There’s only a few railroads.
Since you’ve already arrived in Mexico City, that’s the first place you should explore first. Tales of impending Apocalypse due to crime, high-altitude and pollution are highly exaggerated. Although you do have to be careful at night and always take a taxi from the marked “sitios” rather than the street, if you’ve survived New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Paris or Shanghai you’ll definitely do at least the same here. Below a recommended itinerary (if that’s not enough, there’s always Monocle’s recommendations)
1st day: rest, it’s a long way and the high altitude will take its toll if you’re already tired.
2nd day: Turibus in Mexico City, great way to discover downtown and start to get oriented.
A lot of people also want to visit the beach when they go to Mexico, and with coasts in both the Atlantic & the Pacific there’s plenty of places to choose from. I’m only listing the big resorts here, there’s plenty of smaller towns to choose from.
Western Mexico:
Acapulco is the closest from Mexico City and great for the nightlife. The beach is so-so (I’d only stay at a hotel at Revolcadero beach outside of the bay).
Ixtapa is great for relaxing, but there’s not much more there. Two hours away from Acapulco by car.
Manzanillo is also a very beautiful, relaxing place. I haven’t been there in some time so I can’t say really how it is now.
Puerto Vallarta is quite nice as well, but for some reason it has never been one of my favourites.
Oaxaca:
Huatulco has great nature and is the one beach resort in Mexico I think fits European tourists best, but would recommend flying unless you do a tour of Oaxaca as well which happens to be my favourite city in Mexico.
Northern Mexico:
Los Cabos is very scenic. It is also a little bit more expensive than other beach resorts.
Mazatlán is probably the only famous beach town in the country where I have never been, so can’t say much.
Gulf coast:
Some people go to Veracruz for the beach, but I think that’s not a reason to go there. The old city itself is much better than the beach.
Yucatán Peninsula:
Cancún has great nightlife and the beach is beautiful, but it’s like going to the States. I’d rather stay in one of the smaller places in the area.
If you’re interested in history Mexico is the place to be. For starters, there’s plenty of Precolumbian Mesoamerican sites around the country besides Teotihuacán. Some of my favourite include:
Being such a huge and varied country, there is defnitely nice landscapes and natural attractions to be enjoyed. Those that I’ve seen or have been recommended include:
Gulf coast: Texolo waterfall, Jalcomulco rapids near Xalapa.
What to buy
Mexican handcrafts are a must, with varied textiles, pottery, silverware, glass, woodcarvings, and the like (I recommend buying direct from the crafters or at Fonart stores) but with the emergence of modern design in the country there is also some interesting stuff going around. Monocle had a couple of interesting local designers in their Mexico report.
If you speak Spanish (not essential, but it does make life much easier), books are also a good idea. Music, either traditional or modern, might also be interesting.
Wash it down with a good Mexican beer, fruit juice or wine. Or a good tequila (the stuff they sell in Europe is crap, give a good tequila like Don Julio or Maestro Tequilero a chance).
When to go
Any time is a good time as long as you give yourself some slack to do what you want to do. Might be good to check the local festivities. Just take into consideration that the summer is usually rainy and the hurricane season runs from June to November, so check your weather forecast.
If you’re a Finn, I also recommend checking the information provided by the Finnish embassy in Mexico City before going there. It does solve quite a few doubts from the Finnish perspective:
We were in Lapland for holiday last week (pictures here), and it was very interesting to realise how massified has tourism in Lapland has become (even though of course we were going during the high season). Our flight from Helsinki was using one of the big Airbus 340s that are normally servicing Finnair’s intercontinental routes, and the plane was completely full.
Furthermore, on the way back we saw that there are flights to Kittilä arriving from Manchester & London besides Helsinki. That’s welcome news for the economy of those northern regions.
I visited Barcelona again a couple of weeks ago to attend an important industry conference. Besides working very hard (so much so that when I came back to Finland I went down with the flu), it was very nice to meet some good people I hadn’t seen in a while.
Speaking Spanish and having some jamón de jabugo were also very much welcome. The pictures of the trip are here.
