Mexico City’s Palacio de Bella Artes – Keep Calm and Wander

Mexico City's Palacio de Bella Artes - Keep Calm and Wander

Inside Palacio de Bella Artes, you will find the grandest arts in Mexico City, or perhaps, the whole country. Its lavishly-ornamented facade combines Neo-classical and Art Noveau. 

Murals and paintings that were created by Mexico’s finest artists like Jose Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera, and more are the most visible here.

From the outside, you’ll never find a building as beautiful as this all over Mexico. Its iconic colored dome has graced thousands of tourism promotion brochures, books, and travel blogs.

You can’t just look at it from outside and admire its marbled facade. You’ve got to go inside and discover the beauty that’s hiding there!

By Alain – Full Story at Keep Calm and Wander

Mexico City Gay Travel Resources

Mexico City’s Metropolitan Cathedral – Keep Calm and Wander

Mexico City's Metropolitan Cathedral - Keep Calm and Wander

Mexico City’s Metropolitan Cathedral is the oldest and largest cathedral in Latin America. Located right at the heart of the city, the church is an imposing structure that demands your attention.

For visitors, it’s just another tourist attraction, but for the locals, it is a symbol and soul of their faith. It’s also the seat of the Archdiocese of Mexico. Its complete name is Catedral Metropolitana de la Asuncion de la Santisima Virgen Maria a los cielos. That’s a mouthful, right?

In English, it is translated as Metropolitan Cathedral of the Assumption of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven. Even in English, that is still a mouthful to say.

By Alain – Full Story at Keep Calm and Wander

Mexico City Gay Travel Resources

Ecatepec and Its Colorful Houses – Keep Calm and Wander

Ecatepec and Its Colorful Houses - Keep Calm and Wander

A Mexicable ride through Ecatepec and its colorful houses on the hills was an experience to remember. It was also an interesting trip from the very start to the very end of our half-day excursion. 

Photos of Ecatepec’s colorful houses are all over the internet. Even before we arrived the Mexico City, Ecatepec was already in our itinerary. We just didn’t know how to get there yet. However, on our way to the Teotihuacan Pyramids, we passed along these colorful houses on the hills.

Ecatepec de Morelos: One of Mexico’s Dangerous Cities?

We asked our tour driver (to the Pyramids) on how we could go to Ecatepec. All we wanted was to ride the MexiCable, passing through those multi-colored houses. However, the look on his face perplexed us. He never had that question before, and as a tour bus driver, he never met anyone who was interested in visiting Ecatepec. Also, he warned us that it’s dangerous to visit the place for tourists. He strongly advised us not to go with our plan.

But, of course, we didn’t listen to him. We also asked our hotel receptionist on how to get there, but he was very adamant about letting us go there. Instead, he recommended a trusty driver to accompany us. We totally understood their worries – news of Ecatepec’s violence is not hidden online. “It is a slum where the poorest of the poor lives,” says the receptionist. The slum is also dubbed as one of “Mexico City’s most dangerous cities.” We read and knew all of these, of course. And it piqued our curiosity.

By Alain – Full Story at Keep Calm and Wander

Mexico City Gay Travel Resources

Mexico City’s Teotihuacan Pyramids – Keep Calm and Wander

Teotihuacan Pyramids - Keep Calm and Wander

The massive Teotihuacan Pyramids lie 40 kilometers outside Mexico City. Two of its biggest pyramids here are the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon. The former, however, is bigger than the latter. It doesn’t matter which one you explore first – but in our case, we chose the Sun Pyramid first.

How to Get to Teotihuacan Pyramids

There are three ways to get to Teotihuacan Pyramids. The easiest one is via a one-day tour that your hotel/hostel organized. This is what we did because we liked the tour itinerary that included Palacio de Ituberde, Our Lady of Guadalupe Cathedral, and a local handicraft (you don’t have to buy). Our last stop was the Pyramids, of course, and we were allowed to stay there close to 4 hours on our own! There was no planning and sweat on our part. TripAdvisor has some recommended tours.

The other way to get there is to take a taxi if you can afford it. This is the quickest way to get there but nothing educational happens on the road. Unless, of course, you will hire a private car with the tour guide as your driver, too. 

It is also possible to get to Teotihuacan by public transport. All you have to do is take a metro (line 5) and get off at Terminal Central del Norte. From there, buy your ticket and find the bus that says, “Piramides.” The bus will drop you off at Gate 1. Buy your ticket before you enter or else you’ll regret going back. It’s a long way from here to the Pyramids. So, pack water, a hat, and sunscreen! If you choose this mode of going there, make sure to start early.

By Alain – Full Story at Keep Calm and Wander

Mexico City Gay Travel Resources

Vibrant Gay Mexico City – The Washington Blade

gay Mexico City

Feelings run strong in this administration about foreign countries. During the campaign, one country – and its people – especially stood out. We had to wonder: what is Mexico really like? I decided to take a leap of faith and travel from our nation’s capital to that one to find out. As my plane glided over the border, nothing much changed, though this was at 40,000 feet up. The dry, sun-baked landscape below did not turn into some kind of crime-infested morass, and there was certainly no wall. It remained to be seen what ground-level looks would be like, but regardless, I was on a journey to discover and explore gay Mexico City and its culture, nightlife, leisure activities, and yes, gay scene.

As the waning days of President Barack Obama’s term came to a close, so did my time working for that administration. I had life decisions to make. Should I stay in the capital city and become part of the opposition? Find an opportunity in the private sector and forget about politics? Leave the city entirely and live on the beach? Most importantly, where should I take my post-administration vacation? After nixing New York (too close!), Montreal (too cold!), and London (I’m on a budget here), I decided on the biggest close city that, until recently, many had overlooked — Mexico City.

Having served the government in our capital city, I felt it only logical to visit our neighbor’s. A sprawling metropolis of 25 million people, Mexico City’s enormity is hard to fathom, even more so coming from our cozy town of less than a million residents. But landing on the New York Times list of 52 places to visit in 2017, and having friends willing to lend a couch, I decided to set off south of the border.

While the previous administration had promoted “pivot to Asia” policies, the current administration has been laser-focused on revisiting our relationship with Mexico, having called Mexicans “criminals” and vowing to separate our two countries with a wall it wouldn’t pay for. Firsthand research was the only way to dig to the bottom of what gay Mexico City is really like.

By AUTHOR – Full Story at SOURCE

Mexico City Gay Travel Resources

Puerta Alameda Suites – Gay Mexico City Apartment Rental

Puerta Alameda Suites

Periodically we’ll feature one of our properties here to let our readers know about some great gay friendly places to stay:

Puerta Alameda suites is a very modern, comfortable place with the best personalized service in the City Center.

If you are looking for a place that combines comfort, fun and the best location in Mexico City, Puerta Alameda Suites is the place.

See the Puerta Alameda Suites Expanded Listing on Purple Roofs Here

Gay Friendly Bed and Breakfasts, Hotels, and Vacation Rentals in Mexico City

Gay Mexico City for Beginners

Gay Mexico City - David Hudson When it comes to visiting Mexico, many tourists opt first for its coastal resorts, with destinations such Puerto Vallarta known as being very LGBTI-friendly. However, for a very different sort of break, don’t overlook the country’s huge capital, Mexico City. With a population of approximately 9 million, this sprawling dense, bustling city offers centuries of history, over 180 different museums and more street food than you’ll possibly be able to sample. I made my first visit in late October, in part to report upon the annual LGBT Confex, a business forum on LGBTI diversity and inclusion. It also happened to coincide with the city’s Day of the Dead celebrations. Is it safe? A little alarmingly, the first thing people said to me when I told them that I was going to ‘Ciudad de Mexico’ was usually along the lines of, ‘be careful!’ Yes, the city has a reputation for crime, and the heavy presence of armed police on the streets would suggest it’s not a reputation wholly unfounded. At the same time, it should not be blown out of proportion. Mexicans I met told me the city is much improved, particularly in relation to LGBT visibility. Others pointed out that many confuse Mexico City with the neighboring Mexico State, where crime is more common.

By David Hudson – Full Story at SOURCE

Mexico City Gay Travel Resources

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Frida Kahlo's Casa Azul – Globetrotter Girls

Frida Kahlo’s Casa Azul in Coyoacan, Mexico Last week, I was supposed to take another trip and visit a town I’ve been wanting to visit for a while now – San Miguel de Allende – and an old favorite, Oaxaca. However, somehow I never made it out of the city. I had too many projects to finish and didn’t want to rush through these places – you know I like to take my time in each place. And in hindsight, staying in Mexico City was the best thing that could’ve happened to me. Even though I spent weeks here, I only ever felt like I scratched the surface instead of getting a real feel of life in Mexico’s giant capital. On this past visit, I finally got to know the city like a local, stayed with friends, discovered off-the-beaten-path places, found a local coffee shop for me to work in every day, visited my favorite bakery several times, found a local market I went to for tapas, fresh fruit and vegetables, explored neighborhoods that I didn’t know well before, like Doctores, Roma and La Condesa, let my friends take me to their favorite Cuban bar (the live music was amazing) and checked out a pulqueria popular with Mexicans in their mid-20s that was recommended to us on a night of bar hopping.

By Dani – Full Story at Globetrotter Girls

Mexico City Gay Travel Resources

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