Imagine you’re designing a friend’s 2-week honeymoon. Where might you send them?
I would start with a stay in Mexico City at a hotel like Octavia Casa, Circulo Mexicano or Ignacia Guest House. My friend Rocio runs an incredible business called Eat Like a Local. She hosts my favorite gastronomic tours of the city in the best markets, and she’s a walking encyclopedia of the country’s food diversity. And you can’t miss dining at places like Meroma by chef Mercedes Bernal and Maximo Bistro by Eduardo Garcia. I also suggest tours of a variety of Mexico’s cultural gems: Casa Gilardi by Luis Barragan, Casa Luís Barragan, El Nido de Quetzalcoatl by Javier Senosian and Museo Anahuacalli by Diego Rivera. But by far my favorite museum in the city is Museo Nacional de Antropología. If you write them directly, you can arrange a private tour of the museum at night. It’s so magical! After some time in the city, I would suggest heading to Oaxaca, with the first in Oaxaca City for a stay at Hotel Sin Nombre, Grana B&B or Escondido Oaxaca. I would tap Thread Caravan for private textile tours, mezcal tastings and ceramics classes and enjoy dining at breakfast spot Boulenc Pan and Enrique Olvera restaurant, Criollo (unpopular opinion: I think Criollo is better than Pujol). Then I would head to the Oaxacan Coast on a quick, 45-minute charter flight (don’t drive—trust me). There are tons of options here, from hotels like Hotel Escondido positioned right on the water to private homes with their own rooftop observatory like Casa Cosmos.
What is your favourite building in Mexico City?
I adore the architecture in Mexico City, especially the explosion of modernism that took place in the early 1900s. Entire neighborhoods such as La Condesa are a time capsule to styles like Art Deco, while the work of Mexican architects Luis Barragán and Mario Pani, and foreign transplants such as Felix Candela and Mathias Goeritz can be seen in many neighborhoods throughout the city. But if I had to choose one of my favorite buildings, it would be Casa de las Brujas in Colonia Roma. It was built by British architect Robert Pigeon in 1908, and is a great example of eclectic architecture, a mix of both Romanesque and Gothic Revival. But the real reason I love the building so much is for its spooky history. It’s rumoured to be cursed, as it was once the site of the infamous ceremonies of Barbara “Pachita” Guerrero, a shaman who claimed to perform rituals and psychic surgeries while inhabiting the spirit of Cuauhtémoc, the last emperor of the Aztecs. Now the ground floor is home to two of my favorite establishments bar and eatery: the cocktail bar, Brujas, and European-style bistro, Pigeon.