Mexico City recommendations: cool 'hood, what to do, etc
August 22, 2013 1:17 PM Subscribe
I'm going to Mexico City in late October and have a bunch of questions!
- I'm staying for two weeks - should I try to travel within Mexico a little?
- I'm be doing all "top attractions" of travels guides. But I have particular interests: queer culture (including bars and dancing, preferably lesbian), independent publishing (zines, artist's books), contemporary art. If you know anything interesting in these areas, do let me know.
- What's a cool neighbourhood to stay? Is near the Cuauhtémoc subway station good? And San Cosme station?
- Roberto Bolaño is my favourite writer. I never did the "writer tour" thing, but I wouldn't mind doing a little of this with The Savage Detectives or anything else he wrote, really - do you know places I could go or know of an online guide?
- I'll be there in the Day of the Dead. Cool thing to do that day?
- Crazy about music, probably will need a separate Ask for that!
- If you live there I can take you for a drink! Memail me!
- I'm staying for two weeks - should I try to travel within Mexico a little?
- I'm be doing all "top attractions" of travels guides. But I have particular interests: queer culture (including bars and dancing, preferably lesbian), independent publishing (zines, artist's books), contemporary art. If you know anything interesting in these areas, do let me know.
- What's a cool neighbourhood to stay? Is near the Cuauhtémoc subway station good? And San Cosme station?
- Roberto Bolaño is my favourite writer. I never did the "writer tour" thing, but I wouldn't mind doing a little of this with The Savage Detectives or anything else he wrote, really - do you know places I could go or know of an online guide?
- I'll be there in the Day of the Dead. Cool thing to do that day?
- Crazy about music, probably will need a separate Ask for that!
- If you live there I can take you for a drink! Memail me!
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- I'm staying for two weeks - should I try to travel within Mexico a little?
Yeah, there are many places you can visit: big colonial cities like Puebla, or small towns near the city: Tepoztlán, Malinalco, Huasca de Hidalgo or Xochicalco. Acapulco, if you want to go to the beach, is about 5 hours away by bus. ETN and ADO are good bus companies. Are you interested in any specific places?
- Queer culture
I asked around and was told about some clubs: Living and Kinky (has women nights on Thursdays), Envy and Guilt. Those two last are posh and might need reservation.
La Zona Rosa was known as a LGBT-friendly zone, but according to my friends, many places have closed and the zone has lost much of its appeal.
- Independent publishing
You might like Conejo Blanco bookstore (Condesa) and Vertigo Gallery (Roma).
There are some independent publishers events, but there aren't any on October.
- What's a cool neighbourhood to stay?
Most people would say Condesa. The San Cosme zone is a bit sketchy, Chapultepec is better, pretty centric and close to the aforementioned Zona Rosa and the Condesa/Roma zones. Feel free to mail me any hotels you're considering and I'll give you my thoughts on the zone.
I'll be there in the Day of the Dead. Cool thing to do that day?
The towns of Mixquic and Ocotepec have nice Day of the Dead festivities. I recommend going early because they are very popular. In the city, the Museo Dolores Olmedo places a nice altar every year.
Music
Mexico City is a great place to see live music. You can look for tickets for mainstream concerts on Ticketmaster.
posted by clearlydemon at 4:02 PM on August 22, 2013 [2 favorites]