Coming to Mexico City? Why not let me show you around?
Let me be your go-to girl and customize a Mexico City tour for you that will include everything you want to see in the city. Whether you are coming from Los Angeles, Mumbai or Fargo, North Dakota, I can guarantee you sounds, sights and tastes that you never knew you were missing.
Customized tours can include local kick-ass restaurants, market extravanganzas, meeting organic farmers or having a history lesson. C’mon, go ahead, stump me with a wild request for a baseball memorabilia tours or 24 hours of Luis Barragan.
Depending on length, complexity and whether you want an “all-inclusive” package, these tours can run from 60usd to several hundred dollars. You choose your budget and I will come up with an itinerary to please.
Want to visit Frida Kahlo’s house, see the Pyramids, and tour the Museum of Anthropology? I have three expert guides that I work with and can highly recommend for these tours that I don’t do. Send me an email and we can schedule it!
Besides customized tours I have a few awesome standards that I have crafted over the past several years in Mexico, here are your options:
Day of the Dead market tour
Starting October 20th until the 2nd of November we are celebrating the dead at Jamaica market! How? By gorging ourselves on holiday treats, purchasing stuff for our DOD altars, taking in the melee as we eat delicious market snacks and of course, visually feasting on the tons and tons of copper marigolds, feathery white nube (cloud) flowers, and velvety purple cockscomb. Come ready to shop, there will inevitably be something you can’t live without. See the Day of the Dead in Mexico City at its most colorful! This tour is generally between 2.5 to 3 hours and includes 5-7 stops for food and drink of the season.
Cantinas & Tacos
Cantinas and tacos, no two things are more representative of Mexico City’s classic food and drinking culture. Come with me on a tour through the Centro Historico where we will start and end in two of the city’s most iconic cantinas and in between each ourselves into oblivion with delicious tacos on the streets right in the middle of city’s beating heart. This tour starts mid-afternoon and finishes up early evening so you can go out afterwards if you haven’t had enough. This tour is generally 3-4 hours long and includes 3-5 stops for food, and 2 stops at local cantinas. This tour is not appropriate for vegetarians and vegans.
Trolling for Tacos
This 3-hour evening walking tour includes all of my favorite out-of-the-way, blow-your-mind, eat-till-your-eyes-bludge-out taco stands. I promise you will dream about these tacos months after you have left Mexico City. We hit up between 5-7 stands along with a beer or two and other drinks. Think you can handle it? Put on your eatin’ pants and come on. This tour is generally 3-3.5 hours long and includes 5-7 stops for tacos, as well as drinks (including beers) along the way.
Lunch on the Street
On this lunchtime tour we rub shoulders with the office workers, nurses and hispters, all out to hunt down some lunch or a snack at Colonia Roma’s delicious daytime food stands. We will sample from the vast variety of daytime fare popular with the lunch crowd in Mexico City, stop by the market, and get an on-the-ground feel for the daily motion of the streets. This is a great tour for vegetarians and anyone who wants to experience the everyday of the capital. We end with something sweet and a nap (at our respective homes of course!). This tour is 2-3 hours long and we make 5-7 stops for food along the route. This tour is great for vegetarians.
Have Mercy!
The city’s second largest bulk market, Mercado la Merced, is an overwhelming blend of sights, sounds, smells and tastes. If you have ever dreamed about mountains of mangos or torrents of tomatoes, you need to see this massive market labyrinth. We’ll spend 2 hours exploring the market and eating, then see some of the barrio — one of the most important to Mexico City’s history. This tour is 3-4 hours long and involves a lot of walking. We make 5-7 stops for food and drinks.
Chinampa Mornings
Maybe you’ve been on a marimba-and-Corona laced trip through the Xochimilco canals, but you haven’t yet experienced the chinampas. This half-day tour takes us into the backwater labyrinth of one of the world’s oldest agricultural systems. We’ll spend the morning gliding along the canals’ serene waters, and meet an incredible family that has turned their family island farm into a fully sustainable paradise. This tour may or may not include breakfast from one of THE BEST fondas in the city… that’s up to you. This tour includes breakfast and an afternoon snack with drinks. The tour usually lasts 5-6 hours.
Want a sneak peak?
La Lagunilla
One of the oldest, shadiest, and most outrageous markets in the city. In three hours we will wander the rows of antique collectibles, drink our weight in micheladas and maybe even get a tattoo. What begins as a leisurely Sunday stroll ends with pot-smoking minors and pulque all around. If you are ready for some deep urban adventuring, this is the place to be. This tour is generally 3-4 hours and includes about 5 stops for food and drink in the market.
Roaming La Roma
After writing my book “Mexico City Streets: La Roma,” and countless other articles on my neighborhood, I am pretty much an expert on Colonia Roma. It helps that I live here and love every. single. inch. of the neighborhood. This tour is a little bit of everything: famous Roma residents, best taco shops, historical landmarks and the most recent street art. On this 3-hour walking tour we roam the Roma, learning past, present and future, as well as stopping at the local market for some eating and several street stands along the way. This tour is generally 2.5 to 3.5 hours and includes a lot of walking. We make 4-5 stops for food and drink.
Women of Roma
Of Roma’s most fascinating characters, my favorites are all women. Surrealist powerhouses Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo, tragic heros like Joan Vollmer, witches, assassins, even a first lady. This 3 hour walking tour looks at how these incredible women shaped the hood and Mexico at large. We will stop for coffee or drinks and make sure you go home with something sweet in your pocket. This is a historical walking tour that last between 2.5 and 3 hours and includes a stop at the end for a beverage.
We Want Beer
Mexico’s craft beer scene has BLOWN UP and sampling some local brew on your trip to Mexico City is obligatory. On this tour we will hang out with brewers, get back-end tours of local breweries, and sample some of CDMX’s finest. It’s a slow and leisurely crawl and closing time is up to you. We will stop for a taco or two along the way and I’ll make sure you get a designated (Uber) driver to get you home. This tour includes 5-7 stops alternatively for beer and tacos, and usually last between 3 and 4 hours.
Mexico 101
First time in Mexico City? Little nervous about it? We’ve got you covered. On this tour we ride the metro and metrobus, talk taxis and tips, learn to order street food like a local, and refine our market shopping skills. Along the way, we will see a few of the city’s quirkier attractions, eat some delicious food, and have plenty of time to go over all your questions and quandaries. Seriously… anything at all that you want to ask we got your answer. This tour is generally 2.5-3 hours long and includes 2-4 stops for food and drinks along the route.
A few notes on food restrictions:
- It’s important to let us know in advance if you have severe food restrictions so we can steer you to the right tour.
- Celiacs: We have developed a weekend daytime street food route that works well for Celiacs, all other tours visit locations where cross-contamination is possible as they are street food stands that sell both wheat-based and corn-based products. If your group wants to go on a non-Celiac tour just know there will be stops where you will not be able to eat.
- Gluten-free: As long as you are not Celiac (meaning allergic) you can come on any tour and easily avoid gluten.
- Non-pork eaters: Pork is very much king in Mexico City. A daytime tour is much better for folks who do not eat pork, so please consider this when you are deciding on a tour. The evening taco tour and the Cantinas tour can be adjusted with advance notification, but may imply a customization cost.
- Vegetarians: The evening taco tour is not vegetarian-friendly. While several taco stops have veggie options there will be many that you can’t eat at. If you are the vegetarian in the group and willing to go without eating at several stops we are happy to give you the tour, if not we strongly suggest a daytime street food tour or a market tour, both of which are more flexible.
- Pescatarians: The evening taco tour is not pescatarian-friendly. While several taco stops have veggie options and there is the possibility of adding a seafood stop, there will be many stops that you wouldn’t be able eat at. If you are the pescatarian in the group and willing to go without eating at several stops we are happy to give you the tour, if not we strongly suggest a daytime street food tour or a market tour, both of which are more flexible.
- Vegans: None of our regular tours are vegan-friendly. We can arrange a vegan food tour for you but it will come with a customization cost and will only be available during certain times of the day.
- No spice/ no cilantro / no onion: If you have any of these preferences you can still come on any tour, all three items are avoidable but we would warn that tacos without salsa are sad.
- Chicken tacos are not a thing here. You may find a milanesa (like a schnitzel) once in a while or a chicken with mole or chicken tinga during the day, but plain chicken tacos is not something on the menu at taco stands.
- Nut allergies: If you have a severe nut allergy a food tour might not be the best idea for you. In general you should steer clear of longaniza or chorizo, both of which sometimes have nuts in them, moles which always include nuts, and some salsas which can include peanuts. If you come on a tour with us we will do our absolute best to make sure you don’t ingest any nuts, but you will be ultimately responsible for the things that you choose to eat.
- A final note: The places we take our clients are street stands, fondas, and market stalls. These are not sophisticated restaurants with the knowledge and capacity to deal with complex food restrictions and allergies. We must remember to be flexible and courteous about what level we expect them to cater to us and act accordingly.
100% of the price of your tour stays in the local economy as my guides and I are all full-time residents of Mexico City and all our vendors are local businesses.
What do my clients have to say about my tours?
“There couldn’t have been a more thoughtful and well-planned two-and-a-half-day tour of one of the great cities of our modern world. From street food; to markets; panoramic skyscraper views at dusk of a city that stretches out endlessly; and the magical gardens of Xochimilco. All are done in an intelligent, fun, and accessible manner. Hope I have an opportunity to visit Mexico City again with Mexicocitystreets.” -Marc
“Lydia’s tour offered a unique mix of history, architecture, and amazing food. We sampled tacos from a nearby market and walked around the Roma neighborhood learning about the many fascinating women who’ve resided there over the years. In addition to great insights, Lydia provided a local’s perspective that gave us a real sense of the neighborhood and city. “ – Drew
“I was traveling solo and had a two-day layover in Mexico City. Not speaking Spanish or knowing the city at all, I didn’t want to venture out on my own so I booked with Lydia for some city walking tours. That turned out to be a great decision. Over the two days, Lydia showed me a side of the city that few tourists see or experience. From all the various food stalls to places of worship, market stalls, shops, homes, and parks, I really gained an insight into Mexico City as lived by a local. I would recommend Lydia as a tour guide anytime.” – Monique
“My family and I took a tour with Lydia through the Lagunilla Market and we had a great time! She is an awesome guide and extremely knowledgeable. If you’re looking to get to know Mexico City on a deeper level, then I’d definitely recommend her services.” – Andrew
“Lydia guided me on a tour of a number of craft beer bars in the area. Lydia is the perfect blend of fascinating local insight, good company, and fun conversation – I learned loads, visited places I would never have found, and tried some fabulous beer and food. A brilliant evening, Will definitely repeat next time I’m in Mexico City” – Mike
** By booking a tour you are agreeing to the Mexico City Streets Cancellation Policy — check it out
