Four smiling people take a selfie on a vast paved square under a clear sky; a tall flagpole with a Mexican flag, a cathedral bell tower and colonial buildings are behind them. — On the Zócalo on the morning of November 25, the cathedral behind us.

Thanksgiving 2025 · Mexico City

Pyramids Before Lunch

Thanksgiving week in Mexico City, from an early climb up the Pyramid of the Moon and lunch in the House of Tiles to a morning in Coyoacán, Chapultepec Castle on Thanksgiving Day and a last night in Roma Norte.

When: November 23–28, 2025
Route: Polanco → Teotihuacan → Zócalo → Coyoacán → Roma Norte
Length: 6 days, 5 nights

For a while this was going to be a Thanksgiving in Amsterdam. Instead we spent the week in Mexico City, four nights at the Hyatt Regency in Polanco and one at the Four Points in Roma Norte.

We got around by Uber and on foot: out to Teotihuacan and up the Pyramid of the Moon before lunch, then the Zócalo, the cathedral and the murals at Bellas Artes, a morning in Coyoacán and a long lunch in Polanco, and Chapultepec Castle on Thanksgiving itself. The weather was kind all week, mostly in the sixties, and we filmed a good deal of it.

The route

Drive Ferry Flight

1PolancoNov 23–27
2TeotihuacanNov 24
3ZócaloNov 25
4CoyoacánNov 26
5Roma NorteNov 27–28

Day 1Sunday, November 23

Dinner above the city

1Polanco

Dinner that first evening was at a window table in the Regency lounge, with the whole city laid out below in the last of the light. Our room was high enough to look out over the treetops of Chapultepec Park across the road.

A man and a girl sit at a small marble table by a wide window high above a city that spreads to the hills under a pale evening sky. — A marble table, a wide window, and a city that spread out to the hills.

The day had begun before dawn. We flew American through Phoenix, where we had breakfast between planes, and landed in Mexico City that afternoon after a long line at customs.

A smiling man in a blue sweater and headphones sits in a dark leather airplane seat, a jacket on his lap, other passengers behind him. — Headphones on for the first flight of the day.

A girl in a cream knit sweater sits at a long wooden counter lined with agave plants, a glass of orange juice and a half-eaten pastry in front of her, big windows behind. — A pastry and orange juice at a counter lined with agave plants.

After dinner came a walk around Polanco in the mild evening and a first try of the new DJI camera and its microphone, one of the fun memories of the trip.

The practical bits American from Sacramento through Phoenix. Uber from the airport to the Hyatt Regency on Campos Elíseos, across from Chapultepec Park; four nights there.

Day 2Monday, November 24

Up the Pyramid of the Moon

2Teotihuacan 1Polanco

Soon after nine we were at Gate 2 of Teotihuacan, and minutes later we were squeezed into a selfie on the Avenue of the Dead with the sun flaring in the lens.

Four people smile in a selfie on the stone-paved Avenue of the Dead under a deep blue sky, the sun flaring above; a great stepped pyramid rises behind them and low stone platforms line the avenue. — Sun in the lens, a great stepped pyramid behind us.

We walked around the Pyramid of the Sun, then up the avenue to the Pyramid of the Moon, and took pictures in front of it before we climbed. At the top we took another selfie, the valley and the Sun pyramid behind us, and filmed the view. We decided to skip the Temple of the Feathered Serpent at the far end.

Two girls stand arm in arm on a wide gravel avenue under a cloudless sky, with a large stepped stone pyramid and a crowd of visitors behind them. — Arm in arm, with the crowds already gathering behind them.

A man holding a selfie stick and three women and girls smile on a wide stone summit crowded with visitors, a flat valley, a smaller pyramid and hazy mountains far behind under a blue sky. — Everyone at the top, with a selfie stick and the valley far below.

Four people walk past a tall red and dark sign reading Teotihuacán with an arrow and the number 5; a large stepped pyramid is behind them and stone steps rise at the right. — A Teotihuacán sign with an arrow, and the pyramid still looming.

The afternoon was Polanco. Lunch was the food court at Antara (KFC, gyros and a taco from El Turix), and next door was the Museo Soumaya, with its white sculpture hall on the top floor. We walked down to Parque Lincoln and were back at the hotel for a nap.

A smiling girl stands in a bright white gallery with a curving ceiling and white marble statues, including a copy of Michelangelo's David, behind her. — A copy of Michelangelo's David stands among the white marble behind her.

A girl in a polka-dot top and a white ruffled skirt stands on a shady park path between clipped hedges and tall trees. — A shady path between clipped hedges in Parque Lincoln.

Dinner was in the Regency lounge, and afterward a gelato shop on Emilio Castelar turned out a gelato shaped like a rose.

The practical bits Breakfast at the hotel, then an Uber to Gate 2 at Teotihuacan, about fifty minutes out. Uber back to Antara on Ejército Nacional in Polanco. Dinner in the Regency lounge.

Day 3Tuesday, November 25

Police, a cathedral and blue tiles

3Zócalo 1Polanco

The Zócalo was full of police that morning, gathered ahead of a protest planned for the afternoon. Even so, we took our selfie in the middle of the great square, the giant flag and the cathedral's bell tower behind us, and then went inside the Metropolitan Cathedral. The Templo Mayor next door was closed, so we didn't get to see it.

Three people stand on black-and-white checkered paving in front of a carved stone doorway with tall wooden doors and a statue of a saint in a niche. — A checkered floor at a side door, and a saint in a niche above.

We left the square on foot and walked west through the Centro Histórico, along a busy pedestrian street of old stone buildings, to the Palacio de Bellas Artes, where we went in to see the murals.

Two smiling girls take a close selfie on a wide pedestrian street lined with old stone buildings and shops, with people walking behind them. — Shops and passers-by crowd in behind their selfie.

Lunch was at Sanborns in the Casa de los Azulejos, the old house covered in blue and white tiles on Madero, a beautiful building inside and out: chicken taquitos and a fish we shared. Afterward there was a balcony across from the gold-tiled dome of Bellas Artes, in bright sun.

Two girls pose on a balcony with an iron railing in bright sun; a building with a golden-tiled dome rises behind them. — Iron railing, bright sun, and the golden dome behind them.

That evening we walked over to Xinú, a perfume shop in Polanco, along Avenida Presidente Masaryk, Polanco's main shopping street.

The practical bits Uber from the hotel to the Zócalo; the traffic made it slow. Picked up on Calle López in the early afternoon and taken back to Polanco to rest. Mostly cloudy and in the sixties.

Day 4Wednesday, November 26

Coyoacán and a very rare steak

4Coyoacán 1Polanco

Coyoacán spells out its name in big painted letters in the Jardín Hidalgo, in front of the bandstand. Mostly we walked: around the squares, through a neighborhood market full of trinkets (most likely the Mercado de Coyoacán), and on through a few more small parks, with a Starbucks along the way.

Large brightly colored letters spelling Coyoacán stand in a sunny plaza with people posing among them; a bandstand with a red roof, palm trees and a hanging gold ornament are behind. — Bright letters, a red-roofed bandstand and a crowd posing among them.

Lunch back in Polanco at Blanco Castelar was long and slow in a lovely room: wagyu and ravioli to start, an artichoke, and a steak ordered medium-rare that came out very rare.

A girl in a white dress with blue flowers stands in an arched wrought-iron doorway between potted plants, a chandelier and a bright dining room behind her. — An arched iron doorway, a chandelier glowing in the dining room behind.

Then we walked off lunch, through Polanco and into Chapultepec to the Museo Nacional de Antropología. We stood in front of the model of the temple precinct of Tenochtitlan and then went out into the museum's garden, though we didn't stay long. The walk back to the hotel was along a wide, tree-shaded avenue in the late sun, on a day cloudier and warmer than the others.

A large tabletop model of a walled temple precinct with pyramids, and behind it a wall-sized painting of an island city in a lake ringed by mountains. — The temple precinct in miniature, with a painting of the island city behind it.

A man in a blue T-shirt and a girl in a flowered dress stand in front of old stone steps and hedges, a carved stone figure behind them. — A carved stone figure looks on in the museum's garden.

Two girls walk away from the camera along a wide paved sidewalk under tall trees, with traffic lights and cars to the left. — Heading back to the hotel under tall trees.

The practical bits Uber from the hotel to the Jardín Centenario in Coyoacán; picked up on Avenida Miguel Ángel de Quevedo and dropped on Emilio Castelar beside Parque Lincoln. Walked from lunch to the museum, then back to the hotel. Around 21°C.

Day 5Thursday, November 27

Thanksgiving with a castle

1Polanco 5Roma Norte

Thanksgiving morning began in Chapultepec, a short walk from the hotel, with a photo inside the giant bronze CDMX letters beside the lake. Then we climbed the gentle hill to Chapultepec Castle, half palace and half museum, with its stone courtyard in front of the arcades.

A man and two girls stand inside giant dark-bronze letters spelling CDMX beside a lake with a stone balustrade, trees and a few tall buildings behind, under a cloudy sky. — Letters taller than any of us, the lake and a cloudy sky behind.

A girl in jeans stands on a large stone-paved courtyard in front of a pale stone palace with arched arcades and balconies, two modern towers beyond under a blue sky with white clouds. — A stone-paved courtyard, pale arcades and two modern towers beyond.

From the terrace we looked out over the treetops to the towers on Paseo de la Reforma. Inside, in the Museo Nacional de Historia, was the gala carriage of the Emperor Maximilian and the Empress Charlotte.

A wide view over a green forest canopy with a small lake to a line of skyscrapers and distant mountains under a big sky of white clouds. — Treetops, a small lake and a line of skyscrapers under white clouds.

An ornate gilded carriage with red panels, glass windows, carved cherubs and large red spoked wheels on display in a museum hall, with information placards in front. — Gilded, with carved cherubs and big red wheels.

Lunch was a fish-taco stand on Reforma near the Ritz-Carlton, with a good bowl of shrimp consomé, and sandwiches in an office-tower food court. That afternoon we moved across town to the Four Points in Roma Norte and set out on foot into the neighborhood under a gray sky.

Thanksgiving dinner was early, at Fishers, a seafood place in Roma Norte: a sizzling grilled platter, a little salty, then pasta with shrimp and shrimp tempura rolls. On the walk back there was gelato, and we all had churros, which were very good. The traffic and honking outside our room went on all night.

A sizzling black platter of seafood, sliced meat, grilled chicken, mushrooms, peppers, corn and avocado on a restaurant table, with a bowl of salsa and orange drinks around it. — The sizzling platter: sliced meat, chicken, mushrooms, corn and avocado.

The practical bits Walked from the hotel to the park after breakfast. Uber from Reforma back to the hotel, then another to the Four Points on Álvaro Obregón in Roma Norte; one night there. Cloudy, about 14°C.

Day 6Friday, November 28

Rosetta and home

5Roma Norte

A paper cup of coffee in a brown sleeve and a small packet on a saucer sit on a wooden table in a quiet café, with glass walls looking out on a tree-lined street. — Coffee in the Four Points café, the hotel's name reflected in the glass.

After that noisy night the morning began with coffee in the hotel café and a walk of a few blocks to Panadería Rosetta, which had a line inside.

Two girls in sweaters stand close together in front of a bakery doorway under a hand-lettered sign reading Panadería Rosetta, with vines above and customers inside. — A hand-lettered sign, vines above the door and customers inside.

We spent the rest of the morning walking around Roma Norte, cool and partly cloudy, had lunch at a seafood restaurant, and then it was the airport. The flight left Mexico City in the late afternoon, connected in Los Angeles, and put us in Sacramento late that night.

The practical bits Coffee at the café off the Four Points lobby, then a few blocks on foot to Panadería Rosetta. Uber to the airport in the early afternoon; home through Los Angeles. About 10°C.