While my vacation memories are still fresh I wanted to share some thoughts about Mexico City. It was my first time in both Mexico and Mexico City but it was a great city with a ton of things to do and very helpful people. We’re all products of our experience and can’t help but compare the places we visit against the places we live. New York City and Mexico City have a lot in common: they’re both large modern cities with robust infrastructure and all the modern “millennial amenities” including ride sharing, bike sharing, various food delivery services, and a ton of bars and restaurants. In fact Mexico City also has electric scooters which still haven’t made it into NYC.

The architecture of Mexico City was great and felt less sterile than that of NYC. Similar to NYC, each neighborhood has a different feel but it felt that there was a much wider range in architecture styles and expression. I was also surprised by how many parks there were. It felt that no matter where you were there was always at least one moderately sized park, and often more than one, a few blocks away. They were all clean and well maintained and it was great being able to be able to sit down and take a break after tons of walking.

The other major difference was price: nearly everything in Mexico City was more than twice as cheap as in NYC. This included food, transport, and housing. I couldn’t tell whether the traffic was worse in Mexico City but given the much cheaper Uber prices we ended up relying on it heavily.

The one concern that stood out was the air quality. Mexico City is over 7000 feet above sea level so I didn’t expect the level of smog we encountered. Our trip was short so it didn’t have a significant impact but it would be a concern for longer-term living.

All in all I had a great time and definitely recommend it. The city is great with wonderful people, affordable and delicious food, and less than a 6 hour flight from NYC.