What Mexico City Costs

Four lines make up a day here, and only two of them move. Entries are fixed and cheap; the room is the biggest single line and the easiest to control by district. The two that swing a budget are transport after dark and where you eat.

The pattern worth internalising: the sights are the cheap part of this city and the restaurants are not. A visitor who eats at market counters and rides the Metro spends less here than almost anywhere comparable; one who takes cars all day and books tablecloths spends European money. Where to eat has the shape of the eating day, and getting around sets out when a car is actually worth it.

One person, seven nights, mid-range. A Condesa or Centro room at the median — $68 to $78 a night — is about $500 for the week. Entries for a full sightseeing week, including Teotihuacán and the Casa Azul, come to about MX$1,600, roughly $94. Transport on the Metro with a few evening cars, about $60.

Food at a mix of market counters and one restaurant meal a day, about $210. That is roughly $865 before flights, which answers the question: yes, $1,000 is enough for a week, with room to spare.

Two people on the same standard come to about $1,210 for the week, because the room is shared and everything else doubles — so $1,000 for two is tight but possible if you eat mostly at markets and stay in the Centro. Backpacker level, hostel beds and street food throughout, runs closer to $450 a week for one. Comfortable, a Polanco or Roma room and restaurant dinners, is $1,800 and up.

Cards work in restaurants, shops and museums; cash rules everything else. Markets, street stalls, the Xochimilco boats, small taquerías and most of Coyoacán's counters are cash, and small notes matter — a MX$500 note is useless at a taco stand at eleven at night.

Tipping is 10 to 15% in restaurants and is often not included; check the bill for propina. A few pesos for a supermarket bagger and for the person who watches parked cars is normal.

ATMs: use ones inside bank branches or shopping centres rather than street machines, decline the machine's own currency conversion, and expect a withdrawal fee. Currency: prices here are in pesos, MX$, and the dollar figures in this guide are our conversions at US$1 = MX$17.0 for orientation only — the checkout is in pesos.

Works: eating lunch as the main meal at a market or a menú del día; using the Metro in the day and cars only after dark; visiting the free things — the Basílica, the Soumaya, the Zócalo and the Palacio Nacional murals; going to Bellas Artes on a Sunday when it is free to everyone; and sharing a Xochimilco boat, which is priced per boat, not per person.

Does not work: waiting for the free Sunday at the federal museums, which applies to Mexican nationals and residents only and costs a foreign visitor MX$210 plus the year's biggest crowd; and buying 'skip the line' tickets for sights that have no line — a platform entry at Teotihuacán is more than double the gate price for the same turnstile.

Pick the district first — it is the biggest line and the one that changes the rest of the trip, and where to stay compares the five on more than price. Then decide how you will move after dark, because a week of evening app cars is roughly the cost of two extra nights in a better room.

Everything else follows the plan rather than the wallet: the three-day itinerary costs about MX$2,500 to MX$4,100 a person in entries, transport and food, and the whole trip is laid out on the Mexico City city guide.