On our recent visit to Mexico City, we took a private tour with the Traveling Beetle, which…read moreprovides private and small group architecture, design, and art tours in Beetle vehicles (ours was in a bright orange VW bus) in and around Mexico City. The tours are guided by architects who can teach you everything you want to know about the spaces you visit. They offer a range of tours focusing on individual architects (Luis Barragán, Alberto Kalach, Félix Candela, Juan O'Gorman, Mario Pani), specific neighborhoods (Pedregal, UNAM), or particular architectural styles (Modernism, Sacred Architecture). We took their Organic Architecture Tour, which allowed us to visit Conjunto Satélite, Nido de Quetzalcóatl, and Parque Quetzalcóatl. It was a 4 1/2 hour tour. They picked us up at our hotel in Coyoacán and were kind enough to drop us off in San Ángel, where we planned to spend the rest of the day. The Organic Architecture Tour focuses on select works of Javier Senosiain, and the sites we visited really blew my mind. I've never seen anything like the buildings and sites we visited on this tour. They are places that I will continue to think about and be inspired by for a long time. Our driver was Luis, and our tour guide was Pamela. They were lovely - helpful, friendly, informative, and made our day incredibly fun. They made our tour very special. If you are interesting in learning about Mexican architecture while on vacation in Mexico City, I highly recommend the Traveling Beetle. It's a little pricey (but they offer small group tours that are less expensive than private tours), but it's worth it. Our tour with the Traveling Beetle was absolutely one of the highlights of our visit to CDMX a few weeks ago. I am planning on taking another of their tours when I'm back in Mexico City with my family next year.

Wow ! From initial contact to actual Barragan Tour, Our experience was fantastic! Organized, easy…read moreand just plain fun. Our guide: a young architect, Martin, was the best. His breadth of knowledge and enthusiasm for the subject was infectious. We had a great time , learned much and....when was the last time you were in a VW bus ( Woodstock for me!)

The days where we had Leo from Mexcity Tours were definitely the highlight of our trip!…read more The first day Leo picked us up on time and was super friendly. We went to Teotihuacán which was about a 45 minute drive. During the drive, Leo gave us a quick history lesson about the pyramids and the different gods. It's a quick prep to the tour once you get to the sites. (Just a friendly reminder, wear sunblock! I forgot and my shoulders are still burning haha). After the tour, which you will learn SO much, Leo took us to a small shop where you learn more about tools that were used back in the day, a quick mezcal tasting, then shopping. Lastly, we dropped by and had a meal at one of the little restaurants nearby. Our second tour with Leo was to Coyoacán, Frida's Casa Azul, and Xochimilco. This was so fun! Tickets to the Frida museum aren't included, but Leo will still give you some history about Frida and her life (would hate to ruin it for you, but she had a very sad life and Diego ain't shit lmao). After the museum, Leo picked us up and we headed to the embarcadero to get on our trajinera. This was the best part! Leo comes prepared to make it a good time! He has a great speaker and you can DJ what you want to listen to, but is also respectful if you want to hire some of the musicians that pull up. All in all, if you can, book all tours with Leo! You will not be disappointed! He's very professional, accommodating, great sense of humor, knowledgeable, and his English is great. We had an even better time since we were able to joke in both English and Spanish with him. We definitely left Mexico City with a new friend!

Leo was perfect and professional in every way! He was so considerate and accommodating for my mom…read moreand me. Great way to learn about the history and culture of the area. Great teacher Leo!

Sofía was an excellent tour guide! super knowledgeable and made the tour engaging and fun.read more

My friend and I literally just finished The Original Walking Tour Historic Downtown. I am THRILLED…read morewe did it. I learned SO much from our amazing tour guide, Diana. She showed us and taught us so much. It was real, historic, and honest about the past, present, and future of Mexico. I really feel like I learned so much and my trip to Mexico City would not have been as enjoyable without this. Thank you, Diana!!!

I had a fabulous experience with Marisa and Alejandra! We came to Mexico City for the San Diego…read morePadres baseball game, and heard great things about Bikes and Munchies, so we booked a bike/food tour. We had the best time exploring Roman Norte... this is truly an exceptional area in Mexico City with lots of cute coffee, shops, bakeries, variety of foods, and Mexican originals.:) One opportunity for improvement would be getting a microphone or stopping in areas that aren't so loud... At times it was hard to hear the tour guides. But they were very knowledgeable, kind, and fun. They made sure we were very safe on the roads while bicycle riding, too. Anyone can do it! One recommendation for tourists is to bring padded spandex // etc for your bum. The bicycle seats are not in great shape. The bikes are totally safe (I work for a bicycle manufacturer); brakes and chains are intact. However seats are not comfortable, handlebars can be narrow or wide, and helmets are not the best. It would be awesome to get a few upgrades with bike seats and helmet when possible! Thank you very much ladies for making the day so memorable. We will definitely see you next time!! Xoxo

This is a great experience! Andrew and Amistad were fantastic guides, historians, hosts, and…read moreguardians of our safety on the ride. The food was delicious and timed well between riding and eating. My only regret was not doing this sooner in our trip. Shout out to Miranda for keeping us company after the tour with kind and fun conversation.

My partner and I had an educational and insightful tour of Centro Histórico with David in December…read more2023. His deep appreciation of the peoples and cultures that have made Mexico City a thriving metropolis for seven centuries was evident in each interaction he had with a local citizen and in every choice he made regarding where to visit and what to point out. With a deep understanding of what makes a city great, and keeping in mind our particular interests, David was able to put together a perfect tour for us. We really enjoyed spending the day with him. Fellow travelers will benefit from his deep curiosity and his keen eye for the nuance and detail of this sprawling city- his home for the past thirty years. We highly recommend David as a tour guide and look forward to exploring the city further with him the next time we visit.

We spent 6 hours with David walking through the Condesa and Roma neighborhoods. Throughout the…read moretour, David pointed out interesting historical and architectural details, and made sure to include visits to several neighborhood markets. He also recommended a wonderful restaurant where we took a break and enjoyed a delicious Yucatecan lunch. We had been a bit apprehensive and even intimidated to go on a neighborhood tour with a published author, no less, but as soon as we began our walk our fears melted away; David is a lovely and charming person, a real pleasure to hang out with. Before we traveled to Mexico City, we read David's book, "First Stop in the New World," which painted vivid and evocative vignettes of the Mexico City of 2008, when the book was published. Walking the Roma and Condesa streets with David made the book come alive. David's deep knowledge of the city, gained over 25 years of living and working there as a journalist, was very evident during our tour. His curiosity about the city and its people is infectious. From everything we'd read about Mexico City, we knew we were going to love it once we traveled there. Spending the day with David walking the streets of this great city made us love it even more. We look forward to taking another tour with him when we visit next, perhaps in the Centro Histórico or Coyoacán/San Ángel.

Journeys Beyond the Surface is an excellent arranger / provider of guide services for a visitor to…read moreMexico City. We spent 5 days exploring the city, partially on our own following suggestions from Journeys and partially with the personal guidance of their field guides. Our explorations were closely tailored to match our specific interests. This was a "bespoke" experience. The guides were very knowledgeable. Their commentary and observations, placing much in a local and historical context was very valuable for us. Details of any one's days explorations could be altered as the day evolved. Very flexible. We are an older couple with significant travel experience in western Europe but we lacked similar experience in Mexico. Our Spanish language skills were weak. Journeys made a significant contribution to the quality of our experience. Highly recommended.

I was looking for a tour guide who could take two people on an in-depth colonial art and…read morearchitecture day trip from Mexico City to Puebla with stops in Cholula and at the Church of Santa María Tonantzintla. I also wanted background in Mexican history, and thought it likely that I was asking too much of a one day tour. But Mojdeh set us up with our guide Maria, who was absolutely fantastic. We effectively had a day-long seminar that was perfectly tailored to our interests, which is what I had been hoping for. Maria was exceptionally knowledgeable, and shared her knowledge in a very accessible and engaging way. Our driver Frede was outstanding. We felt very safe and he handled an unexpected road closure very well.