I Took My Family of 3 on a Weeklong Vacation to Mexico City for Less Than $3,000 — Including Flights and an Overnight at a Cliffside Hot Springs Resort

Here's how we did it.

When your brother moves to Mexico City, you visit — especially when your baby is about to turn 2 and it’s your last chance to get in a free international flight. (Kids fly free on major U.S. airlines until their 2nd birthday.)

In addition to saving a buck, I was interested in seeing a different side of Mexico, as I had only ever been to its beach towns. I was especially excited to experience Mexico City's food scene. You can eat at one of the city’s seven Michelin-starred restaurants (in some cases for less than $20), and sample items like tamales, tacos, tortas, and tlacoyos on the street for less than $1.

Even better, Mexico City's lodging is affordable, plus there are tons of direct flights from the U.S.

Here’s how I took my family of three to Mexico City on a budget, spending less than $3,000 for a weeklong vacation.

We booked flights two months in advance and only had to pay for a third seat on the way home.

Cost: $1,729

For this trip, flights accounted for almost two-thirds of our total budget. Because I live six hours from the nearest international airport, I always have to pay for an additional puddle-jumper flight. Plus, my daughter turned 2 while we were in Mexico, so while she traveled for free on the way there, we had to buy her a seat for the return home.

Tickets to Mexico City from our regional airport were $687 per adult. Additionally, we had to pay $355 for my daughter’s one-way return ticket.

We stayed in an Airbnb the entire time — and split the cost with my brother and parents.

Cost: $385

Airbnb’s are wonderfully prevalent and affordable in Mexico City. You can find a private apartment for as little as $15 a night. We stayed in a three-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment in the swanky Roma Norte neighborhood. It cost $961 for the entire week, but because we shared the space with my brother and parents, we only had to pay two-fifths of the cost. As a result, a week of lodging cost less than $400 for our family of three.

We got at least one meal a day from street-food stalls and skipped expensive restaurants. 

Cost: Approximately $250

Typically when we travel, we try to eat two meals at home. But in Mexico City, the food was too good and affordable to resist. We tended to get a coffee and a roll from Panadería Rosetta for breakfast (around $5 per person), grab lunch from a street-food stall (around $2 per person), and eat dinner at a nice yet affordable restaurant (around $10 per person). My almost 2-year-old daughter usually ate off our plates.

We alternated between walking, taking the train, and calling Ubers to explore the city. And we tried to stick to free attractions.

Cost: Approximately $200

Taking the metro in Mexico City costs five pesos (or approximately 28 cents) for one trip. Ubers cost us around $8 a trip for my family of three.

We visited most of the major attractions, including the Frida Kahlo Museum ($17 for adults, free for kids under 7) and Basilica de Santa María de Guadalupe (free). Exploring the park and checking out the mercados were also free.

We splurged on a rental car to visit the Grutas Tolantongo hot springs and pyramids of Teotihuacan.

Cost: $237

Due to traffic and parking, renting a car in Mexico City was more inconvenient (and expensive) than taking the bus. But getting to Grutas Tolantongo, a cliffside hot springs resort, was difficult to reach by bus — especially with a baby. We rented a minivan for two days so we could spend two half days and one night at the hot spring and visit the pyramids of Teotihuacan on the way home.

The two-day rental car cost $326 total, so we paid $130 for our two-fifths.

Our room at Grutas Tolantongo was $55 for the night, and thermal park access was $11 per person, per day (free for kids under 5). A ticket to access Teotihuacan, a huge archaeological complex, was $4 for adults and free for kids.

In total, I spent $2,801 to take my family of three on a one-week vacation in Mexico City.

On average, we spent less than $120 a day on food and lodging — plus the cost of flights and our weekend trip to Grutas Tolantongo and Teotihuacan.

The fact that we were able to split the cost of our rental car and Airbnb with my family helped keep our expenses low, though you could save even more by booking a cheap Airbnb (there are options for just $15 a night) and taking the bus to Grutas Tolantongo and Teotihuacan.

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