Mexico - The Basics

Money

As of this writing (March 2025), the exchange rate is 20 Pesos to the US dollar. While sit-down restaurants and most stores accept credit cards (particularly contactless), street vendors of all types (food, apparel, etc.) generally only accept cash. As we typically do, we got money from an ATM after we arrived. We saw branches of at least one US bank (Citibank; note that Citibanamex used to be a subsidiary of Citibank but now is a standalone Mexican bank), a number of other foreign banks (HSBC, Santander) and many local Mexican banks. Using our Schwab debit/ATM card, we were able to access cash, fee-free (well, fee refunded at the end of the month) at two Mexican banks and Santander.

Transportation

We are big fans of public transit. If you plan on taking the Metrobus or Metro, you'll need a Movilidad Integrada CDMX card. You can purchase and load cash on the card at most Metrobus stations and all Metro stations. The card costs 15 pesos, so if you put in 100 pesos, you'll have 85 pesos in value. With the bus only costing 6 pesos per ride and the metro costing 5 pesos, that actually lasts a while. We almost exclusively rode the Metrobus, though there were other buses with similar coloration and signage that indicated different routes. There are also green and purple buses that appear to be municipal as well, plus privately run buses that are typically smaller and have their route on a piece of paper taped to the front windshield.

Though the metro and Metrobus can be convenient, they are often packed (particularly at commute times) and, with the buses, can have lines waiting to board. After Sarah and I almost couldn't get off a bus in time and then Dan got left behind because there was no room on board (we signed to each other to meet at next stop; then the doors miraculously reopened and I pushed my way in), we started using Didi.

Didi (this is the Apple app link; the app is also found in Google store) is a ridesharing app, very similar to Uber. Uber is also popular in Mexico City but we found Didi prices both lower and with more choices for what to ride. We typically paid no more than US$6-7 to take a Didi across the city. Our longest trip from our place north of the Zona Rosa to Coyoacan (about 14 km) cost 173 pesos (~US$8.65).

Food and Water

In Vietnam, we started a routine of eating local yogurt with active cultures plus prophylactic Peptobismol tablets (double strength, twice daily). That got us through 6 weeks of almost non-stop street food and tap water without any issues. We continued that regimen in Mexico.

Restaurants in Mexico City are required to offer tap water (sometimes they push you towards bottled water) and we had no GI problems through the trip. Water often came with ice, and we don't know if that was filtered or not. At our hotel, we used tap water to brush teeth, but did not drink the tap water. Our hotel provided filtered water spigots on every floor and refillable bottles, so we relied on that.

We ate a lot of street food, particularly tacos, tlacoyos and related dishes, as well as a lot of cut, fresh fruit. Probably not the most sanitary conditions, but again, we didn't have any issues.