Mexico City

Getting there

US passport required, valid at least six months past your return date. No visa for stays under 180 days. On arrival by air you'll fill out the Multiple Digital Migratory Form (FMMD) — do it online before you fly and save yourself a line. Print it. Keep it with your passport the entire trip. If you lose it, the airport has a process and it is not fast.

Flying in: DFW to Mexico City is 2.5 hours — easily the shortest Mexico haul. Two airports:
– MEX (Benito Juárez / AICM) — the main one, downtown-adjacent, 30–45 minutes to Roma/Condesa depending on traffic. Chaotic but familiar.
– AIFA (Felipe Ángeles) — the newer airport, 35km north in the state of Mexico. Budget airlines, Viva and Volaris, plus some Aeroméxico Connect. Much quieter, much easier through customs, but a 60–90 minute Uber into the city center that can spike to 2+ hours in traffic. Fine if your flight is priced right; not fine if you're arriving late.

Getting around: Uber and Didi (Latin America's Uber) are everywhere, cheap by US standards ($3–8 for most city rides), and the way locals in Condesa/Roma/Polanco move. Do not hail a street taxi. Metro is huge, cheap (5 pesos), and efficient but overwhelming your first time and uncomfortable at rush hour. Metrobús (the BRT) is a better starter option for visitors.

To Azteca: The stadium is in Coyoacán, 15km south of Centro. Metro Line 2 to General Anaya and transfer, or — much simpler — take an Uber and budget 45 minutes from Condesa, 75 from Polanco on match day. Rideshare surge on match days will be real.

Phone: Buy a Telcel SIM at any OXXO convenience store (about 200 pesos, plus a top-up) — the coverage is unbeatable and it's the move if you're here more than three days. Or use T-Mobile's international day pass ($5/day) or Verizon TravelPass. AT&T Mexico works on some plans; check.

Money: Mexican pesos (MXN). ~17–18 MXN per USD. Take cash out at a bank ATM (BBVA, Banamex, Santander) — not the blue "Euronet" or "CashX" ATMs at the airport, which have brutal fees and rates. Tap-to-pay works at most restaurants and stores. Street food and tianguis markets are cash only.

The altitude conversation: Mexico City sits at 7,350 feet. Coming from sea-level Dallas, your first 48 hours will feel like someone turned your lungs down 30%. Headaches, shortness of breath climbing stairs, worse hangovers than usual. Hydrate aggressively. Don't crush mezcal on night one. Consider easing into the heavier food. You'll acclimate by day three.

Safety: The tourist neighborhoods — Centro, Roma, Condesa, Polanco, Coyoacán, San Ángel — are safe. The usual city-common-sense rules apply. Stick to Uber/Didi. Don't walk alone through unfamiliar neighborhoods at 3am. The stadium area (Coyoacán) is fine. Don't flash expensive stuff. You'll be fine.

The fan zone

The Zócalo is the fan fest. That's the headline. Mexico City's central square — one of the largest in the world, technically Plaza de la Constitución — becomes the FIFA Fan Festival from June 11 to July 19. Giant screens (the largest of any 2026 fan fest, over 500 square meters), concert stage, cultural programming including a Mesoamerican ball-game exhibition (the pre-Columbian ancestor of all modern team sports with a ball), and food. Entry is free, no registration or wristband required, with a managed daily capacity around 55,000. Note: it's the one host-city fan fest with no alcohol sold on site.

The Zócalo flanked by the Cathedral and the National Palace, packed to its tens of thousands when Mexico plays, is going to be one of the defining images of this tournament. Even if you're not remotely into soccer, go see it once. Take the Metro to Zócalo station — it exits directly onto the plaza — get there early on El Tri days because it fills, and bring water.

Note: all 16 municipalities of CDMX are planning designated viewing areas as well, so every neighborhood will have its own scene. Condesa and Roma will have the expat-and-hipster version; Coyoacán will have the family version; the Zócalo will be the national one.

Where to watch without tickets

CDMX is not a "soccer bar" city the way London or New York is — Mexicans mostly watch matches at home or on the street with family. But these bars will be showing every game, loud, with the right crowd.

• El Depósito (Condesa, Av. Yucatán 84) — Beer hall, craft taps, communal tables, screens everywhere. The easiest first-stop for Americans. English menu. Walkable from most Condesa hotels.
• Búfalo Bar (Roma, Av. Álvaro Obregón 186) — Roma Norte dive, great for Mexico's less-hyped matches, mixed local-expat crowd. Order a michelada and don't leave.
• Pulquería Los Insurgentes (Roma, Av. Insurgentes Sur 226) — Three floors, rooftop, screens, draws a young-Mexico-City crowd. Order the pulque (fermented agave sap — an acquired taste, the oldest alcoholic drink on the continent) or don't. Either way the vibe is right.
• Café La Blanca (Centro, 5 de Mayo 40) — 1915 cantina. Not a "sports bar" at all, but on big match days the old men turn the TV up and it becomes one. Historical, cheap, correct. Order the enchiladas suizas.
• Xampú (Roma) — Smaller neighborhood bar, serious football crowd, takes itself just the right amount seriously. For anyone playing Argentina or Brazil, this is where it'll be.
• La Belga (Condesa) — Belgian beer bar with every European league on. The Europhile expat move, with good frites.

Eat & drink

You are in the greatest food city in North America. We are being brief because a full list would be an entirely different document. A few non-negotiables.

Tacos al pastor: The five-a.m. trompo of glory. El Vilsito (Narvarte) is a mechanic shop by day, a taquería by night, and the pastor is the reference standard. El Huequito (Centro) is the old guard. Los Cocuyos (Centro, Calle Bolívar) for tacos de tripa and campechano after midnight. If you eat one thing in CDMX, make it a pastor taco with pineapple and salsa verde.

Chilaquiles for breakfast: El Cardenal (Centro) is the tourist-famous option and actually lives up to it — tortillas made in front of you, chilaquiles in green or red with a fried egg. Fonda Margarita (Del Valle) is the local move — open from 5:30am to 11:30am only, cash only, no frills, a religious experience for anyone hungover. Line at 8:30am. Worth it.

Mole: Azul Histórico (Centro, inside a 17th-century courtyard) serves mole poblano that's worth the pilgrimage. Save room.

Street corn (esquites, elote): Any street vendor with a cart. Mayonnaise, cotija, chile, lime. Transcendent at 10pm.

Mezcal: La Clandestina (Condesa) is the small, serious cave-like bar that takes mezcal as seriously as you want it taken. Bósforo (Centro) is the hidden speakeasy version — no sign, tiny room, the mezcal selection is a tour of Oaxaca.

Markets: La Merced for a full-sensory Mexican market experience, massive and overwhelming. Mercado de Medellín (Roma) is the friendlier, Latin-American-focused version. Mercado Roma is the food-hall version catering to people exactly like us.

Drinking: Mezcal is the serious answer, tequila the crowd-pleaser, pulque the historical one. Michelada (beer + lime + hot sauce + clam juice) is lunch, aguas frescas (hibiscus, tamarind, horchata) are the non-alcoholic move. Don't drink tap water; bottled everywhere.

Things to do

Frida Kahlo's Casa Azul (Coyoacán). Her actual cobalt-blue house, where she was born, lived, painted, and died. Book tickets online weeks in advance — they sell out. The combo ticket with the Diego Rivera-Anahuacalli Museum a few blocks away is the move.

Teotihuacán pyramids. One hour north of the city. The Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon. Two thousand years old, pre-Aztec, still somehow underrated. Get a private driver for the day ($80–100), go early before the crowds and the midday sun, eat at La Gruta inside an actual cave on the way back.

Chapultepec Park + Museo Nacional de Antropología. The Anthropology Museum is genuinely one of the great museums in the world. Give it a full afternoon. The Aztec Room alone is worth the flight.

Coyoacán on a Saturday. Wander the neighborhood, eat in the market, grab a coffee at El Jarocho, walk the plaza, do a lucha libre match if one's on.

Lucha libre at Arena México. Tuesday and Friday nights. Masked wrestlers, over-the-top theatrics, family-friendly chaos. The greatest 300-peso ticket in North America.

Xochimilco. The trajineras — painted wooden boats — floating on centuries-old canals, with mariachi and food boats circling yours. Do it Saturday afternoon, don't do it hungover. Book with a reputable operator.

Chapultepec Castle. On a hill in the middle of the park, the only actual castle in North America, stunning views of Paseo de la Reforma all the way to Centro. Easy two-hour visit.

Altitude and heat

Altitude: Said it above, saying it again. 7,350 feet. Water, water, water. Ease into day one. The matches themselves will be affected — players coming in from sea level will be noticeably labored in the first 20 minutes of their first game. That's a real factor.

Weather in June: Mild by Dallas standards. 70s daytime, 50s at night, afternoon thunderstorms roll through most days between 3–5pm and clear out. Not humid. Bring a light jacket for evening and an umbrella or rain shell.

The opener: June 11, 1pm local (3pm ET), Mexico vs South Africa, with the opening ceremony from about 11:30am. The Azteca will be louder than it has ever been, which is saying something given what happened there in 1970 and 1986. The Zócalo will be packed by mid-morning. The whole city will effectively stop. If you're here for this: get to wherever you're watching it well before kickoff. Bring water. Remember to eat. You will not eat after kickoff and you will not sleep early that night.