Airbnb, Roma Norte area, Mexico City
Although there has been some unflattering news about Airbnb lately, I wanted to share reviews of the accomodations we used during our Mexico trip. The majority of the stay was done using Airbnb except for the last night which we spent at a major chain hotel.
This first review is about our apartment in Mexico City. One of the more tourist friendly areas is the Roma Norte neighborhood, which is where we stayed. Ours was “a room in a serviced apartment”, able to sleep six people. Hardly a room, it was a small apartment.
The two bedroom, one bath apartment was off Av. Alvaro Obregon, a busy street. The first day, we had some difficulty finding the front door to the building. Once we discovered it, we had to ring the door bell and wait to be buzzed in. The front desk is manned by security at all times. We arrived a couple of hours early for check-in but the room wasn’t ready. So we had to leave our luggage there and return after lunch.
The building does not have an elevator. And the apartment is on the third floor. Luckily, we pack light so it was only one large suitcase we had to haul up and down.
The apartment itself was quite spacious for a family of four. It had a small foyer, a good sized living room with couches, a dining room with place settings for six and a galley kitchen. Sliding doors led from the kitchen area to a small enclosed terrace, with a lot of light streaming through.
Dining Area
Past the kitchen were a small lounge area with a couch and a TV and the hallway leading to the bedrooms at the end. Each bedroom had a queen bed and sufficient storage space. The two bedrooms overlook a small side street which, at times, was noisy at night. There was no AC in the apartment and it got really hot the first night. So the next day we informed Pedro, the host, who showed up with a couple of new fans. That helped managed the heat much better.
One of the bedrooms
There was one full bath off the dining area with a single vanity and a stand-in shower. This was a small drawback at times, when more than one person needed to use the restroom at the same time. But we worked it out.
The kitchen
The first day of our stay, we took advantage of evening light to do a bit of grocey shopping. We were thrilled to see a Circle K just a short walk from the apartment but it didn’t have quite all we were looking for. So we walked to Av. Insurgentes at the end of the street and further down until we came across a Tiendas 3B store where we stocked up for the next couple of days. It was about a 15 minute walk with the groceries but well worth the exercise. We did make use of the Circle K next door for small purchases during our daily outings.
The Metro Insurgentes station was also about a ten minute walk from the apartment and a pleasant one at that. We had no trouble getting Uber rides from this area and all the sights visited were a short Uber ride away. So this location was perfect for accessibility.
Enclosed terrace
There were plenty of restuarants around,but finding vegetarian food was a bit more difficult. We still managed to find two good ones, Pan Comida and Ton Ton Ramen. We ate breakfast in the apartment, lunch out on the trips and cooked a simple meal two nights.
Pros of this apartment: clean, safe location, secure entry, good apartment layout, easy access to all sightseeing areas, plenty of restaurants nearby, quick and timely response from Pedro about our concerns
Cons: Rooms were hot before the fans were brought in, carrying suitcases up and down (so pack light), back street gets noisy at times, single bathroom for so many people can be trying at times.
Overall, we enjoyed our stay at this apartment and wouldn’t hesitate to use it again.
View from the kitchen