Customer Reviews

Moon Handbooks Mexico City

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After seeing the five-star review for a previous edition of this book I was eager to buy it for my recent trip to Mexico City. Sadly, it fell far short of my expectations. For starters, the maps are woefully inadequate. There aren't enough of them, they lack sufficient detail, and there is no number and letter grid system. That last problem is inexcusable and made it nearly impossible to find many of the sights mentioned in the book. The overall organization of the book is also not done well and does not seem very logical. Making matters worse, the book is not bound well and actually started to lose pages before my relatively short trip even ended. I have had far better books than this when I have visited other parts of the world. I have to think someone makes a better Mexico City guide too.

- Two exceptional writers have combined talents in showcasing the most popular as well as some of the more lesser-known, eclectic destinations the Distrito Federal has to offer. Mexican photographers Pablo Monasterio Ortiz, From Planeta Journal - Raul Ortega and Maritza Lopez contributed exceptional black and white photos that along with Bob Race's illustrations complement the text. Sideboxes examine environmental issues and even city websites. Travelers will find the book is not limited to the megalopolis, but it also profiles nearby destinations, including Valle de Bravo, Puebla and Taxco.

Although this book is now almost 4 years old, it is still the best Mexico City-only guide I could find. The text information on sites, restaurants, hotels, etc. is generally excellent, and held up well during my recent trip to Mexico City. Some of the maps and graphics could be updated, but generally I found this to be a reliable, entertaining and useful book. I'd recommend it to anyone planning a trip to Mexico City unless and until something better comes along.

This book is compact, easy to carry. It is well written - concise, intelligent, and informative. I've been getting to know Mexico City over the last year through two trips and a third upcoming, and so far this book hasn't let me down. I'm particularly interested in cultural, architectural, and historical sites, and the Moon Guide has directed me to many wonderful things, some well frequented by tourists, others less so. I've found it to be a perfect combination of seriousness and brevity.

True, this book does have a lot of information about Mexico City. On that end, I was relatively pleased, however, this book does nothing other than give you a street address or intersection to help you find a destination. This book will not help you if you plan to walk and use the metro as the maps do not contain enough detail for you to plan your route from metro station to your desired destination. Thankfully I had Let's Go Mexico. While Let's Go did not have near the detail of Moon's Mexico City (it is, after all, a book on the entire country), it would list the nearest metro station along with the address of the destination. On a different note, I was disappointed that this book did not warn me about choosing Sunday as a day to shop at the artisan markets. Those markets that this book pointed out were open on Sunday had a reduced selection and many closed stalls.

The Moon Handbook to Mexico City was sufficiently comprehensive for a five-day trip, including a side trip to Teotihuacan. It's nothing fancy: the writing is strictly utilitarian but what it lacks in flair it makes up for in scope. Navigating an urban center as large as Mexico City you need a book like this--it tells you what you need to know about nearly every area of interest to a tourist. When visiting a city of 20 million I'll gladly sacrifice flair for details, especially where safety and security are concerned. In this respect Moon delivered.

And while other reviewers may complain that the maps the book contains are inadequate, don't forget that Mexico City is, by any number of different metrics, one of the world's largest cities. Almost ANY map will be inadequate. And while the Moon Guide's maps could certainly have been more detailed, they are, like the written portion, solid and comprehensive. Bottom line: the Moon Handbook will get you through Mexico City, but the fun times and memories will be up to you.

This book has the most complete information on Mexico City and the surrounding area that I've seen! The information on hotels, attractions, and transportation well-written and informative. Even better, the book covers almost every conceivable place near Mexico City that you could go for a day/weekend trip.

If you intend to go to Mexico and visit places in and around Mexico City, this is the only book you will need. Lugging around a 1,100-page Lonely Planet guidebook is not necessary.

The biggest flaw of this book is the organization -- the neighborhoods are covered in a piecemeal way, and it's nearly impossible to figure out where things are in relation to each other. To deal with the immense size of Mexico City, the author decided to break the city up into non-overlapping neighborhoods and treat them almost like separate cities. The result leaves you knowing what you want to see but not knowing exactly how to get there. (The other cities covered in the book do not have this problem.)

Other Mexico City guidebooks will probably have this problem, because the city is just too huge.

On an extended visit to Mexico City, this book should be supplemented with a good street map or a knowledgeable hotel employee.

The plusses: the book includes a great deal of useful information about the city, its history, and the surrounding areas. The descriptions are well-written and it's clear the author has spent a great deal of time in the city; I didn't go wrong at any of the hotels or restaurants recommended. The list of ways to spend your time in the DF is incredibly detailed, and the chilango slang glossary toward the back is excellent.

Potential cons: the author assumes you will be driving; while this is very useful to anyone who is road tripping, instructions on getting around via Mexico City's extensive public transportation system are occasionally unclear or nonexistent. The maps take some getting used to in order to be useful, and woe to you if your route requires you to skip from one map to another to find yourself.

Also, since the book was published three years ago (are there any more recent?), expect most prices to be $US 5-10 higher than listed and be prepared for some sights to no longer exist (the aquarium in Coyoacán, for example, is no more). This, of course, is not a criticism of the book since all travel books age quickly; it's just an FYI.

I picked up this guide for a five day trip to D.F. last summer and it proved to be very helpful. It provided a varied and eclectic source of ideas and helpful tips on what to do and where to stay, and it helped guide my travel companion and me to some of the Capital's less-frequented attractions that a more concise guide might have left out. Though in some parts a bit dated, it is generally pretty good about offering interesting background information on different sights and attractions, as well as providing the reader with what to expect as far as hours, costs, and accessibility.

The book itself is well organized, accessible, and easy to use. Indeed, it would have been made more complete with the inclusion of a more detailed map of the metro system, but I was easily able to pick up one of those in a book store before I left. Luckily, the metro system in Mexico City is quite good and not difficult to maneuver. And Mexicans are abundantly courteous about offering assistance to haggard-looking travelers with a limited grasp of Spanish.

As a former resident and frequent visitor to Mexico City, I still appreciate having access to this guidebook, which I find quite practical and easy to carry along (as opposed to the more common, bulkier Mexico country guides). I find the author's writing to be directed not just towards the casual tourist, but also towards longer-term visitors and ex-pats as well, with its extensive coverage of nightlife, day-trips, restaurants, bars, neighborhoods, and experiences that would not necessarily be of interest to a first time, short-term visitor. At the same time, it is well-organized and precise enough to be very useful to short-term visitors, I have on several occasions lent my copy to colleagues or friends and they have all had a good experience using the this guidebook. I find the writing strikes the right balance between being descriptive enough to get a very good feel for the sights/events and succint enough not to overwhelm with description. To boot, it can be an entertaining and informative read, especially in its side bars and background information sections (i.e., "chilango slang"). Overall, highly recommended.