Mexico city

Mexico City, one of the world's largest and most populated cities, forms a rough oval of about 60 by 40 kilometers, on the dry bed of lake Texcoco, surrounded on three sides by tall mountains. It's a massive urban sprawl, stretching from the state of Mexico in the north, through the federal district (Distrito Federal), and into the state of Morelos in the south. Estimates place the population of the full metropolitan area at somewhere between 25 and 30 million people.

The Distrito Federal part of the city, which is where most tourists will spend the majority of their time, is divided up into 16 delegations, similar to the boroughs of New York, which in turn are divided into "colonies" (colonias), of which there are about 250. Knowing what colony you're going to is essential to getting around, almost all locals will know where a given colony is (however, beware that there are some colonies with duplicate or very similar names). As with many very large cities, the structure is relatively decentralized, with several parts of the city having their own miniature "downtown areas". However, the real downtown areas are Centro, the old city center, and Zona Rosa, the new business and entertainment district.

Mexico City has a (partly undeserved) bad reputation, both in terms of crime statistics, air pollution, and more contrived issues, such as earthquakes. However, crime levels are drastically down over the last decade, and were never much higher than that of large cities in the United States. Today, crime rate is about that of cities in the US, but skewed away from violent crime and homicide. As in most large cities, there are areas that are better avoided, especially at night, and precautions to take, but Mexico City is not a particularly dangerous city. As for air pollution, levels vary greatly, but the average is far better than that of Los Angeles. Pollution is at its worst in the hot, dry season in spring, from February to May, when there are days when it becomes bothersome even for people without respiratory conditions, but during the rest of the year, it is hardly noticable.

Mexico City's night life is like all other aspects of the city; it's huge. There is an enormous selection of clubs, bars, restaurants, cafes, and variations and combinations thereof to choose from.

Many places travellers will enjoy the most tend to be dominated by the middle and upper classes, which might be a good or bad thing, depending entirely on your outlook. The more upper-class places have an unwritten dress code, and discriminate rather blatantly by social and economic class at the door. Looking like a foreigner (meaning, being white) will usually get you in, if you're dressed right. This is a common thing in Mexico, as a foreigner, you can get away with a lot more, and people will tend to look favorably or forgivingly on you almost no matter what you do. It's worth considering the moral implications of implicitly supporting or taking advantage of this practice, however.

Also, when going out, check the date, since this is an important indicator of how full places will generally be, and how long you might have to wait to get in. Salaries are usually paid twice per month, the 30th/31st-1st, and the 14th-15th. On or right after these dates is when most Mexicans will go out, especially if pay day coincides with a weekend (Mexican weekends, in the sense of when it's common to go out drinking, are Thursday night to Sunday morning, and sometimes throughout Sunday).