You're at 2,240m — go easy day one
Mexico City is high, and it sneaks up on you: you'll get winded on stairs and one mezcal hits like three. Drink way more water than you think you need, take day one slow, and don't schedule the pyramids-and-a-big-night on your first 24 hours. The hangovers up here are legendary for a reason.
Cheap rides beat the haggle and the late crowds
Uber and Didi are everywhere, cheap, and show the price upfront — use them after dark and anytime you're carrying anything. The metro is fantastic and a few pesos by day, but it's brutally packed at rush hour and I'd skip it late at night. Women: the front cars are reserved for you at peak times, use them.
Walkable, leafy, and safe to wander at night
Stay in Roma Norte, Condesa, Juárez or Coyoacán — tree-lined, café-and-taquería dense, and genuinely nice to walk after dinner. They're central enough to reach everything and calm enough to come home to. Skip basing near the airport or the far edges; the whole point of this city is spilling out of your door into it.
