Mexico City on a budget

Having lived year-round in Mexico for the past 10 years and during the 10 winters before that, I was delighted to read Marvin Delavan’s appreciation of Mexico City (officially, Mexico, D.F.) in his article (April ’14, pg. 46). I regard it as one of the grandest of the 49 capital cities I’ve visited around the world.

Mr. and Mrs. Delavan paid $18 for a taxi from the airport into the city and $160 per night for their hotel, but travelers on a tighter budget can also enjoy the city. 

The Metro, for example, can transport you very cheaply from the airport to the Historic Center, where the Delavans stayed, and to every other place tourists may want to visit. (I’ve never used a taxi during my many visits to the city.)

Going to Teotihuacán by private car is doubtless much more convenient and comfortable, but getting there by Metro and bus is infinitely less expensive and, considering the city’s horrific traffic congestion, probably faster.

Very comfortable rooms are available at the 4-star Hotel Catedral (Donceles No. 95, Col. Centro, Mexico City, C.P. 06020, Mexico; phone [55] 5518 5232 or, in the US/Canada, 866/291-2312, www.hotelcatedral.com), in back of the Cathedral, at less than half the cost of the Gran Hotel, where the Delavans stayed. 

(As I write this, in early April ’14, the hotel is offering, through the Internet, a double room for $74 and a single from $58, which I can attest will include an ample buffet breakfast.)

You can’t see the Zócalo, the city’s central plaza, from Hotel Catedral, but you can view it for as long as you wish for the price of a beverage in the rooftop restaurant/bar of the Best Western Hotel Majestic. Less expensive (though still comfortable) hotels are available a short walk away.

Finally, I suspect that the “stuffed pepper” Marvin enjoyed at Hostería de Santo Domingo was chiles en nogada, a signature dish of Mexico that the hostería offers daily as its specialty, which is otherwise available only on special occasions. (In Chapala, the expat mecca where I live, south of Guadalajara, we’re lucky to find them once a month.)

KENNETH CROSBY, San Antonio Tlayacapan, Jalisco, Mexico