A Perfect Day: Mexico City in One Day

When the sky over Mexico City lights up in the morning, the pots and pans are already steaming at the street stalls. The city is food crazy and street food includes breakfast: coffee spiced with cinnamon, steamed tamales made from corn dough and freshly baked pan dulce, all on the go. 

If I have time for a hearty breakfast, I like to go to Ojo de Agua, a café with a terrace where you can also buy fresh fruit to take away. The juice made from coconut milk and fresh passion fruit and the sandwich with avocado, egg and pine nuts taste particularly good here.

After breakfast, I like to look around one of the many markets in the city center. The Mercado de Coyoacán in the district of the same name, for example, has been around for over 100 years – an institution! I always find souvenirs here, such as small painted skeletons, spices or herbal oils. Before public holidays such as National Day or Day of the Dead, the stalls also sell everything you need for decoration, from piñatas to costumes. And of course there is also plenty to eat here. Whether it's sweet and spicy tacos al pastor or sugared churros, the temptations are far too great to simply walk on by. 

So before I head back to the hotel, I treat myself to a fresh mango, served straight to my hand with chili flakes and lime juice – one of my favorite snacks ever. You can find it at almost every stall here and nowhere else does a mango taste as good as in Mexico City.

In the early evening, I make my way to Polanco, a rather affluent district where you can find chic stores and elegant hotels and restaurants, including Sonora Prime. Among other things, the steakhouse serves the delicious traditional Mexican barbacoa, a slow-braised, succulent meat dish. You can easily spend a few hours here. And after the meal? There's dancing in one of the many bars in Polanco where live music is played.

Farah Benkassem has been a Lufthansa flight attendant since 2017 and enjoys flying to Mexico City to experience the diversity of the city and its inhabitants.