Mexico
Mexico City on a budget: how much to plan?
Plan €1443 for 7 nights in Mexico City, return flight from London included, or €700 travelling cheap. On the ground that works out at €145 per person per day.
- From
- €48/day
- vs. London
- 64%
- Best month
- Apr
Your trip to Mexico City
Set the length, the number of travellers and the comfort level: the figures recompute here.
€1,443
per person, flight included
- on the ground
- €1,015
- flight from London
- €428
- per person per day, on the ground
- €145
InstantTripCost estimate
Full 7-night budget breakdown
Per-person estimate including flights from London, split across the six expense categories.
per person · Comfort
| Category | Budget | Comfort | Luxury |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flights | €364 | €428 | €642 |
| Hotel | €77 | €336 | €490 |
| Food | €168 | €378 | €945 |
| Transport | €56 | €126 | €315 |
| Activities | €21 | €98 | €378 |
| Misc | €14 | €77 | €252 |
| 7-night total | €700 | €1443 | €3022 |
Flight from London (annual median).
Unit prices
comfort
Enough to check the total yourself, line by line, at the comfort level you picked.
- €8
- Breakfast
- €15
- Lunch
- €31
- Dinner
- €6
- City ride
- €14
- Site admission
- €145
- A full day
Orders of magnitude derived from our measured ranges, not surveyed venue by venue. Prices vary by neighbourhood and season.
The three tiers
What a budget traveller, a comfort traveller and a premium traveller typically spend.
Budget
€43
per day, approx
- Hotel / night
- €11
- Meal
- €8
- Transit / day
- €8
Comfort
€120
per day, approx
- Hotel / night
- €48
- Meal
- €18
- Transit / day
- €18
Luxury
€250
per day, approx
- Hotel / night
- €70
- Meal
- €45
- Transit / day
- €45
Why visit Mexico City
Mexico City sits at 2,240 metres, in a basin ringed by volcanoes. That single figure governs everything else, starting with the climate: the city has no hot season. Across thirty years of records, the lowest monthly high is 20.1°C in January and the highest 25.3°C in April. Five degrees of annual spread, where most big capitals show twenty. You travel in a t-shirt twelve months a year, with a sweater at night, lows dropping to 6.8°C in January.
What changes is not the temperature but the rain. December gets 15.5mm over fewer than three rainy days, September 177.5mm over almost twenty-one. The dry season from November to April is the city's real window, and wet-season showers mostly fall in the late afternoon, leaving mornings clear.
The budget is that of a 9.2 million-person capital whose prices never tracked North America's. A well-rated hostel downtown starts at €5 a night, a mid-range hotel runs around €48, a comfortable four-star around €70. The metro costs 5 pesos a ride, whatever the distance travelled.
You pay in Mexican pesos, never in euros: a card with no foreign transaction fee saves the 2 to 3% you otherwise lose on every payment.
For two people at mid-range comfort, plan roughly €80 to €110 a day excluding flights. For comparable standards Mexico City comes out clearly below Cancún, the country's other major gateway in the comparison, whose beach hotels cost more than double at the upper end.
Weather & best time to visit
Average temperatures and conditions by month in Mexico City.
Best month to visitApril
Where to sleep in Mexico City
Choosing a district
The gap between tiers is wider here than elsewhere: €5 to €11 a night in a hostel, €48 mid-range, €70 for upscale. Moving up a comfort notch costs about ten euros, which changes how you weigh the trade-off. Mexico City being a very spread-out metropolis, the decisive criterion is proximity to a metro station rather than distance to the Zócalo.
Centro Histórico
The colonial grid built over the ruins of Tenochtitlan: the Zócalo, the Templo Mayor, the National Palace and its murals. Dense, noisy by day, quieter after 8pm.
Roma - Condesa
Two tree-lined Art Deco neighborhoods west of downtown, built around Parque México. Cafés, creative cooking, the most comfortable area for a longer stay.
Coyoacán
A colonial village absorbed by the city to the south, cobbled lanes, a covered market. Frida Kahlo's Casa Azul and Trotsky's house sit blocks apart. Residential and markedly quieter.
Polanco - Chapultepec
Business district along Chapultepec park and the National Museum of Anthropology. The city's priciest, and the best supplied with international hotels.
The hotels we measured
Accommodation picks by price range.
Hostal Amigo
Hostel, standard (6.8/10) from 1,146 reviews.
CASA MX alameda
Hostel, decent (7.7/10) from 2,147 reviews.
Hostal del angel
Hostel, very well rated (8.9/10) from 25 reviews.
HOTEL GRAN VIA CENTRAL
Hotel, decent (7.9/10) from 2,198 reviews.
Hotel Conde Alameda CDMX
Hotel, well rated (8/10) from 758 reviews.
Econo Express Hotel by Nokte Inn
Hotel, rated excellent (9/10) from 2,021 reviews.
Viajero CDMX Centro Hostel
Hotel, very well rated (8.5/10) from 2,069 reviews.
Cadillac Hotel Boutique
Hotel, well rated (8/10) from 2,737 reviews.
Hotel PF
Hotel, very well rated (8.7/10) from 2,685 reviews.
All observed hotels in Mexico City
24 properties, nightly rate for a 2-night stay arriving 15 October 2026.
| Hotel | Category | Rating | From / night |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hostal Amigo | Budget | ★ 6.8 | €5 |
| CASA MX alameda | Budget | ★ 7.7 | €8 |
| Hostal del angel | Budget | ★ 8.9 | €9 |
| HOM Centro histórico | Budget | ★ 8.3 | €9 |
| HOM Roma | Budget | ★ 7.4 | €9 |
| ROOMIES HOSTEL Parque México | Budget | ★ 4.8 | €9 |
| Hostal CASA MX bellas artes | Budget | ★ 8.4 | €9 |
| Roomies Hostel - Roma | Budget | ★ 7 | €10 |
| Viajero CDMX Centro Hostel | Luxury | ★ 8.5 | €14 |
| HOTEL GRAN VIA CENTRAL | Mid-range | ★ 7.9 | €15 |
| Hotel Conde Alameda CDMX | Mid-range | ★ 8 | €32 |
| Econo Express Hotel by Nokte Inn | Mid-range | ★ 9 | €34 |
| Hotel Castropol | Mid-range | ★ 8.9 | €37 |
| Hotel Panuco | Mid-range | ★ 8.1 | €38 |
| Hotel Escala Central del Norte | Mid-range | ★ 8.4 | €39 |
| Cadillac Hotel Boutique | Luxury | ★ 8 | €42 |
| Hotel Palace México | Mid-range | ★ 8.2 | €43 |
| Hotel del Principado | Mid-range | ★ 8 | €46 |
| Hotel PF | Luxury | ★ 8.7 | €57 |
| Hotel Metropol | Luxury | ★ 8.7 | €58 |
| Hotel MX mas roma CDMX, Trademark Collection by Wyndham | Luxury | ★ 8.3 | €59 |
| Hotel Fontan Reforma Centro Historico | Luxury | ★ 8.4 | €60 |
| Hotel & Suites PF | Luxury | ★ 8.6 | €61 |
| Exe Alameda Reforma | Luxury | ★ 8.6 | €61 |
Eating in Mexico City
Concrete benchmarks to set your meal budget, from the morning coffee to dinner.
The local budget move is called comida corrida: at midday, neighborhood fondas serve a full meal, soup, main, drink and sometimes dessert, for 80 to 150 pesos, or €4 to €7. Two of those meals cost less than one night in the mid-range hotel recorded at €48. Cheaper still are the street stands: tacos al pastor are counted one by one, a few pesos each, and three or four make a dinner. Covered markets, Coyoacán's or San Juan's, have counters where you sit down and eat for the price of a coffee in Europe. The real spending line is the restaurants of Polanco and Roma, priced at international rates: alternating one ambitious dinner with midday fondas keeps the budget intact without giving anything up.
Moving around Mexico City
Transit, distances and the smart moves so you don't pay the tourist tax.
The Mexico City metro charges a flat 5 pesos, about €0.25, with no zones and no distance bands: crossing the whole metropolis costs the same as one stop. Ten rides come to €2.50, less than a single night in the cheapest hostel recorded at €5. This is where savings are most mechanical, provided you pick lodging within walking distance of a station. The Metrobús, running in dedicated lanes, fills the gaps for 6 pesos and its line 4 links Benito Juárez airport to downtown for around 30 pesos, against several hundred by car with a driver. At rush hour, the first metro cars are reserved for women and children. One last thing, the altitude makes itself felt: 2,240 metres turns long uphill walks into harder work than elsewhere, so plan on the metro even for distances that look short on the map.
Things to do in Mexico City
Recommended activities and tours.
National Museum of Anthropology
The National Museum of Anthropology (Spanish: Museo Nacional de Antropología, MNA) is a national museum of Mexico. It is the largest and most visited museum in Mexico.
National museum
Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe
The Basilica of Santa María de Guadalupe, officially called Insigne y Nacional Basílica de Santa María de Guadalupe (in English: Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe) is a basilica of the Catholic Church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary in her invocation of Our Lady of Guadalupe, located at the foot of the Hill of Tepeyac in the Gustavo A. Madero borough of Mexico City.
Architectural landmark
Templo Mayor
The Templo Mayor (from Spanish: 'Main Temple') was the main temple of the Mexica people in their capital city of Tenōchtitlan, which is now Mexico City. Its architectural style belongs to the late Postclassic period of Mesoamerica.
Archaeological site
National Palace
The National Palace (Spanish: Palacio Nacional) is the seat of the federal executive in Mexico. Since 2018 it has also served as the official residence for the President of Mexico.
Museum
Frida Kahlo Museum
The Frida Kahlo Museum (Spanish: Museo Frida Kahlo), also known as The Blue House (La Casa Azul) for the structure's cobalt-blue walls, is a historic house museum and art museum dedicated to the life and work of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. It is in the Colonia del Carmen neighborhood of Coyoacán in Mexico City.
Art museum
Angel of Independence
The Angel of Independence, most commonly known by the shortened name El Ángel and officially known as Monumento a la Independencia ("Monument to Independence"), is a victory column on a roundabout on the major thoroughfare of Paseo de la Reforma in downtown Mexico City. El Ángel was built in 1910 during the presidency of Porfirio Díaz by architect Antonio Rivas Mercado, to commemorate the centennial of the beginning of Mexico's War of Independence.
Monument
Plaza de las Tres Culturas
The Plaza de las Tres Culturas ("The Three Cultures square") is the main square within the Tlatelolco neighborhood of Mexico City. The name "Three Cultures" is in recognition of the three periods of Mexican history reflected by buildings in the square: pre-Columbian, Spanish colonial, and the independent nation.
Square
Monument to Cuauhtémoc
The Monument to Cuauhtémoc is an 1887 monument dedicated to the last Mexica ruler (tlatoani) of Tenochtitlan Cuauhtémoc, located at the intersection of Avenida de los Insurgentes and Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City. It is the work of Francisco Jiménez and Miguel Noreña in the "neoindigenismo" (academic indigenismo style), and was proposed to promote the new government of Porfirio Díaz.
Monument
plaza Garibaldi
Plaza Garibaldi is located in monumental downtown, Mexico City, on Eje Central (Lázaro Cárdenas) between historic Calle República de Honduras and Calle República de Peru, a few blocks north of the Palacio de Bellas Artes. The original name of this plaza was Plaza Santa Cecilia, but in 1920, at the conclusion of the Mexican Revolution, it was renamed in honor of Lt.
Square
Historic Synagogue Justo Sierra 71
The Historic Synagogue Justo Sierra 71 (Spanish: Sinagoga Histórica Justo Sierra 71), formerly known as Nidjei Israel Synagogue (Spanish: Sinagoga Nidjei Israel), is an Orthodox Jewish congregation, synagogue, and cultural center, located at Justo Sierra 71, in the historic center of Mexico City (Spanish: Centro Histórico de la Ciudad de México), in Mexico. The building was completed in 1941 and serves both as a synagogue and cultural center of the Ashkenazi Jewish community.
Notable place
Places referenced on Wikidata. Admission prices vary by season - check each venue's official site.
Paying less in Mexico City
What moves the needle
What each decision takes off the €1458 total, strongest lever first.
- − €679
Travel cheap rather than mid-range
Hostel or entry-level hotel, local canteens, public transport. Accommodation is where the gap opens up.
- − €290
Stay five nights instead of seven
Two fewer nights also removes two days of meals, transport and sightseeing.
- − €168
Travel as a pair
The room is shared, nothing else is. Travellers themselves name this as the strongest lever.
Differences computed from our own measurements, for a 7-night mid-range stay, excluding flights.
6 tips on the ground
- The flat 5-peso metro fare, about €0.25 whatever the distance: ten rides cost €2.50, less than one night in the cheapest hostel recorded at €5.
- The midday comida corrida, a full fonda meal for 80 to 150 pesos (€4 to €7), is a fraction of an à la carte dinner in Roma or Polanco.
- The Zócalo, the National Palace with its Diego Rivera murals, the Basilica of Guadalupe, Chapultepec park and the Plaza de las Tres Culturas need no ticket: several days of sightseeing cost nothing.
- Frida Kahlo's Casa Azul in Coyoacán is the city's priciest admission, around 300 pesos (close to €15), more than a hostel night: online booking is mandatory, and it is a real trade-off on a tight budget.
- Sunday free entry to federal museums, including the National Museum of Anthropology, applies to Mexican residents only: foreign visitors pay every day of the week, so do not build the itinerary around it.
- Travel November to April, the dry season: 15 to 32mm of rain a month against 150 to 180mm from June to September, with highs almost identical year-round.
FAQ
FAQ - Mexico City
- How much does a week in Mexico City cost?
- For seven nights, plan roughly €336 per person on a budget (hostel at €5 to €11, comida corrida, 5-peso metro), and around €1,015 at mid-range comfort with a hotel near €48 a night, excluding flights. The flight is the dominant line from Europe: it often outweighs everything spent on the ground.
- What's the best month to visit Mexico City?
- November to April, the dry season. December gets just 15.5mm of rain over fewer than three days, against 177.5mm in September over nearly twenty-one. Temperature does not settle it, with highs staying between 20.1 and 25.3°C all year: March and April are the mildest months and still dry, with lows of 9 to 11°C.
- Is Mexico City an expensive destination?
- No. Across a full trip, Mexico City ties Lima at the lowest level in the Americas in our comparison, and sits well below Rio de Janeiro. A hostel night starts at €5, a mid-range hotel runs around €48, and the flat 5-peso metro fare makes getting around almost painless. The only line that reaches European levels is upscale dining in Polanco and Roma.
- Do you need cash in Mexico City?
- Partly. The currency is the Mexican peso, and hotels and established restaurants take cards without trouble. But the metro, taco stands, neighborhood fondas and covered markets run on cash: carry small notes. A card with no foreign exchange fee avoids the 2 to 3% lost on every payment, and airport ATMs, always the worst rate, are best skipped.
At a glance
Wikidata, Wikipedia and Open-Meteo data
- Population
- 9.2M
- Area
- 1,485 km²
- Elevation
- 2240 m
- Language
- Yucatec Maya, Nahuatl, Spanish
- Currency
- $
- Time zone
- UTC−06:00
- Founded
- 1521
- Avg. July temp.
- 16°
- Avg. Jan. temp.
- 13°
- Rainy days / year
- 143
inhabitants
Mexican Peso
12° - 21°
7° - 20°
About
Mexico City in brief
Mexico City is the capital and largest city of Mexico, as well as the most populous city in North America. It is one of the world's leading cultural and financial centers and, according to the Globalization and World Cities Research Network's 2024 ranking, is classified as an Alpha world city. Located in the Valley of Mexico on the high Mexican Central Plateau, the city sits at an altitude of 2,240 meters. It is divided into 16 boroughs, or alcaldías, which are further subdivided into neighborhoods, or colonias.
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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