Mexico City/Condesa and Roma

The Condesa and Roma district of Mexico City is a residential and restaurant area on both sides of Insurgentes avenue (Condesa on the west side, Roma on the east side) between Viaducto Miguel Alemán in the south and Avenida Chapultepec in the north. It's a large area developed in the 1930s-1950s with mostly art deco architecture, large parks, and a relaxed atmosphere. The area is popular with an eclectic artsy crowd who stay in the many small bed and breakfast inns and some of the city's most cutting edge Contemporary art galleries.

Understand
La Condesa, an area consisting of several colonias on the west side of Avenida Insurgentes, was at one time an extremely fashionable part of Mexico City, particularly during the Golden Age of Mexican cinema in the 1940s and 1950s when it was home to many film stars. Mexico City's first Bauhaus-type apartment building, the Edificio Basurto, was built in 1938 and was popular amongst entertainment industry figures. After the 1985 earthquake which hit the area hard, many of its residents moved on to areas like Polanco and Lomas de Chapultepec and many of the art deco and midcentury modern homes and apartments became abandoned. Due to the high availability of housing stock and fascinating architecture, the area was rediscovered and became immensely popular with artists, musicians and other creative people in the mid-1990s, resulting in rising real estate costs and an abundance of hip restaurants, cafes, and bars. Today La Condesa is still worth a visit, although some of the pioneers have moved on to other neighboring areas, such as Roma, on the opposite side of Insurgentes. Roma is less developed, but has a similar flavor. Although Colonia Roma was developed at the same time as Condesa, it traditionally was more middle class in population, with a large number of European immigrants who had fled the Spanish Civil War and the Holocaust, and despite the damage of the 1985 earthquake kept this character into the 2000s.

The area of Condesa closest to Insurgentes is focused around Avenida Amsterdam, a large, oval street that used to be the track of the area's horse racetrack (thus the name for this colonia, Hipódromo Condesa). Av. Amsterdam is long and slightly curving, making it easy to lose your direction while going along it. It's dotted with small roundabouts where other streets cross it, and a large part of the area inside it is taken up by the Parque México, with an open-air amphitheatre on one end, and small lanes amongst large trees and fountains on the other. There are several good restaurants and bars in this area, but it's the most residential, and least urban, of the Condesa.

The other part of Condesa is Col. Condesa, a bit further away from Insurgentes, on the other side of Av. Nuevo León. This is much more heavily developed, and has an impressive assortment of bars, restaurants, and sidewalk cafes.

Colonia Roma has less greenery than Condesa and is more urbanized. It is going through a period of very fast real estate development, as prices and popularity are increasing. There are new bars and restaurants popping up every week, and it's well worth a visit. Roma also has two small malls, one by Insurgentes, the Plaza Insurgentes, and another on the east side of the area, by Avenida Cuauhtémoc, the Plaza Cuauhtémoc. Both have stores and Cinemex movie theaters.

La Condesa has experienced a building boom in the late 1990s and 2000s, resulting in many new modernist buildings, carrying on the tradition of exceptional architecture that includes fine examples of art deco and streamline moderne.

By metro
Condesa and Roma don't have Metro stations directly inside the area, but there are a few stations at its periphery that will get you within a short walk of your destination. For Condesa, Metro stations Insurgentes, Sevilla, Chapultepec and Juanacatlan on Line 1 border along the north and west side of the area, and stations Patriotismo and Chilpancingo on Line 9 border the south. For Roma, stations Insurgentes and Cuahtemoc on Line 1 border the north, and stations Ninos Heroes, Hospital General and Centro Medico on Line 3 border the east.

By metrobus
The Metrobús, which runs up and down Avenida Insurgentes, is a very convenient way of getting to Condesa and Roma.

Get around
The neighborhoods of Condesa and Roma are very walkable, though some streets in Roma are poorly lit and a conservative traveler might avoid walking smaller streets at night. Taxis are available everywhere and the white taxis with magenta roofs are generally safe, but for added security, have hotel or restaurant staff call a radio taxi for you. Uber and other rideshare applications work extremely well in Mexico City and rates are unvelievably cheap so there's no reason not to call for an Uber when you want to get around, even if it's just a mile or so into adjacent colonias.

The best public transit option is Metrobús. Line 1 travels along Av. Insurgentes (the division between Condesa and Roma). Stops serving this area are Insurgentes, Alvaro Obregon, Sonora, and Campeche.

By bike
Bicycling is increasingly popular in Mexico City where the city government establishes bike lanes in several downtown areas. The CDMX city government sponsors a bike rental program called Ecobici, which includes more than 400 stations around the city where you can rent a bike, or return one that you picked up elsewhere. There are several Ecobici stations in Condesa and in both Roma Norte and Roma Sur. Many Mexico City thoroughfares are too crowded to safely ride a bike, but Condesa and Roma have some wonderful neighborhood streets with lighter traffic where a bike can be safely ridden.

Parks










Buy
There are many small shops around Condesa, selling clothing from independent designers, crafts and trendy stuff. This place recalls the Palermo neighborhood in Buenos Aires or SOHO in New York. In Roma, trendy shops are interspersed with ice cream shops and bookstores along Av. Alvaro Obregon. A block away, Calle Colima has a number of trendy cutting-edge boutiques.

Bookstores
Visit some of the nice book shops in the area, both Condesa and Roma attract highly literate residents who support some excellent independent bookstores.



Eat
In addition to a lively restaurant scene, the area has some of the best street food in Mexico City. Vendors usually concentrate along Avenida Insurgentes which runs between the neighborhoods, particularly next to major metro stations.

Street food
The intersection of Av Insurgentes and Av Alvaro Obregon has a concentration of some of the city's favorite sidewalk taco stands. The intersection is widely known as a place to go if your stomach starts rumbling at 3am because the taco stands keep the grills sizzling all night long.

Condesa
Condesa has a developed restaurant scene, centered on a few blocks surrounding the triple-street intersection of Michoacán, Atlixco and Vincente Suárez, which can be pretty crowded during the day and very popular at night, especially on weekends. The restaurant area extends all along Michoacán from Tamaulipas to Mazatlan. You will find the majority of the restaurants listed below in this area.



Roma
Roma has historically had a smaller restaurant scene than Condesa, but this has been changing in the late 2010s and early 2020s, with a few restaurants moving to Roma and a few opening second locations there. Today, there are many places to eat without traveling to other parts of the city. A few are listed here, but you will also be able to discover many others on your own.



Drink
In Condesa, you will find a number of bars on the north end of Avenida Tamaulipas, in addition to the restaurant area mentioned above.



Connect
Mexico City has excellent 5G coverage everywhere, including all parts of Condesa and Roma. Hotels and restaurants all have high-speed internet, most with free WiFi.