Mexico City Travel 01: Midnight Check-in, Then a 4:40 a.m. Teotihuacan Balloon

"Day one, Teotihuacan. Heading out at 4:40 a.m. For the record, I got to the hotel at midnight."

That is what I said into the camera, standing in front of the mirror in my Mexico City room. It was 4:39 a.m. I had been in the room for less than five hours, and the Teotihuacan tour I'd booked on Airbnb hadn't picked me up yet.

In October 2025 I spent ten days in Mexico. There was one reason. I love tacos, so I went to Mexico to eat tacos. I left Incheon on October 1, changed planes in Vancouver, landed in Mexico City that night, and flew out to Canada early on October 11. In between I went through Mexico City, Puebla, Guadalajara, Guanajuato and San Miguel de Allende.

This post covers the first two days: October 1, two flights and a midnight check-in, and October 2, out before dawn to fly over Teotihuacan in a balloon and climb the Pyramid of the Moon.

The route in this post

Date and time	Where	In one line
Oct 1, evening (Korea time)	Incheon Airport	A rain-soaked runway, Air Canada
Oct 1, midday (local)	Vancouver Airport	Waiting out the connection in the Maple Leaf Lounge
Oct 1, night	Mexico City Airport → hotel in Juárez	Landed around 10:50 p.m., checked in at midnight
Oct 2, 4:39 a.m.	Hotel → Teotihuacan	A late pickup, the Korean shop next door, a dark highway
Oct 2, 6:15 a.m.	Over Teotihuacan	Inflating the balloon, takeoff at 6:30
Oct 2, 8:17 a.m.	Cave restaurant	Chilaquiles or a ham and cheese omelette
Oct 2, 9:29 a.m.	Pyramid of the Moon	The Pyramid of the Sun straight ahead
Oct 2, afternoon	Lunch, Coyoacán	Tortillas on a griddle, a stone church

---

October 1: Incheon to Vancouver

At 6:15 p.m. on October 1 the runway at Incheon was wet with rain. The airline was Air Canada, and the first leg went to Vancouver: instead of a direct flight to Mexico City, a route with one stop in Canada.

The first meal tray held meat in sauce with vegetables, mashed potato, a bread roll and water. On the far left sat a 45 g pack of Jongga sliced cabbage kimchi. To drink, I had a can of Molson Canadian.

Connecting in Vancouver: the Maple Leaf Lounge

After crossing the date line I landed in Vancouver and it was midday on October 1 again. I filmed a short selfie video by the terminal windows, then spent the connection in the lounge.

Under AIR CANADA the sign lists both the MAPLE LEAF LOUNGE and the SIGNATURE SUITE, with the French name SALON FEUILLE D'ERABLE alongside. Strings of silver ball lights hang over the reception desk. In the lounge I sat down with a plate of salad and a glass of something red.

We left Vancouver in the afternoon. Below the window were a river, a bridge and a long white-roofed building, with low cloud lying over the sea in the distance.

---

Vancouver to Mexico City: the second flight

On the second leg my seat was in business class. On the window-seat table I set a red cocktail with a lemon slice, a bowl of nuts and my tablet.

The tablet showed a row of giant figures with skull faces. The seat-back screen was still showing only a "please wait" message. Outside was blue sky above the clouds.

Dinner was chicken in a dark glaze with white rice sprinkled with black sesame and edamame, all on one plate, with a salad, bread and a slice of cheesecake alongside.

After the meal I had a glass of Clamato, tomato juice mixed with clam broth. In Canada it's mixed with vodka into a cocktail called the Caesar.

In the dark outside, the lights of some city spread wide across the ground. There was still an hour and a half to go before landing.

The night of October 1: past Cuauhtémoc station to a midnight check-in

I landed at Mexico City airport around 10:50 p.m., went through immigration and took a taxi toward my hotel in Juárez.

A CUAUHTEMOC 1 sign slid past the window: Cuauhtémoc station on Metro Line 1. To the left of the name is an eagle's head. Cuauhtémoc means "descending eagle" in Nahuatl, and it was the name of the last Aztec ruler. Every station on the Mexico City Metro has its own picture icon like this one.

The hotel was the Pandora Hotel at Nápoles 35 in Juárez. The room had dark grey walls, geometric wallpaper, a bed with a yellow headboard and a wall lamp on each side. I walked in just after midnight, and the first day ended there.

---

October 2, 4:39 a.m.: the pickup is late

Back to that mirror. In a white jacket, holding a small camera, I announced "day one, Teotihuacan." The clip ends with "fighting, let's go, vamos!" I studied Spanish, and the only Spanish in that dawn clip is that one word: vamos, "let's go."

At 4:53 I was still waiting. I had booked the tour on Airbnb, and a message came saying the car was running a bit late and I should wait at the hotel. While I waited, I pointed the camera at the shop right next door.

Right next to the hotel is a Korean food shop. Under a blue I ♥ K-food sign, pink neon spells out "I love Korean food" in Korean. I'd come to Mexico for tacos, and the sign next door was in Hangul.

By 5:14 I was in the car. A white van ran ahead of us, and house lights and power pylons lined the hillside on the right. The sky was still black.

---

Teotihuacan hot air balloon: inflating at 6:15, takeoff at 6:30

At 6:15 a red balloon lay on its side in a field, half full. The sky was turning a pale blue, and people walked back and forth in front of it getting ready.

Takeoff at 6:30. From inside the basket the red envelope fills the sky above you, and below it the silver burner shoots out flame. My face only just made it into the bottom of the frame.

A little higher, a thin band of orange spread between the grey layers of cloud. The sun was rising above them. The ground below was still blurred by haze.

The ruins of Teotihuacan passed beneath us: a rectangular walled enclosure and a straight path between dry fields.

A balloon patterned in pink, green and purple drifted past us. Below it, low broken stone platforms sat in the fields. A rainbow-striped balloon and lots of smaller ones dotted the sky.

---

Breakfast in a cave restaurant

Back on the ground, breakfast was in a cave restaurant. Tables with pink cloths stand in rows under a rock ceiling, with vines and lights strung along the walls. On the back wall is a large pink panel with a painted design.

At 8:17 the clip I shot in the restaurant caught one word from me: "Gracias."

There were two choices: chilaquiles or a ham and cheese omelette. Chilaquiles are fried tortilla pieces with salsa poured over them, a Mexican breakfast.

Climbing the Pyramid of the Moon to see the Pyramid of the Sun

After breakfast we went back into the site, on foot this time. When the guide talked about sacrifice, someone asked if there was evidence, and the guide said bones had been found.

A little later the guide talked about codices: books that fold like an accordion and hold stories, legends and history. The one at the National Museum of Anthropology, the guide said, is special because it tells the legend of the Aztecs' origins. I get to that museum in part 3.

At 9:29 the Pyramid of the Moon rose at the end of the plaza. The ruins I'd looked down on from the balloon, I was now looking up at. A lower platform is built onto the front of the stepped body, and smaller stone platforms line both sides of the plaza.

The stairs are rough underfoot: black and red volcanic stone held together with mortar, small pebbles pressed into the mortar.

From up on the Pyramid of the Moon, the Pyramid of the Sun sits straight ahead beyond the plaza. Low mountains stretch behind it, and people are scattered across the plaza like dots.

---

Afternoon: tortillas on a griddle, then Coyoacán

At 1:49 p.m., where I had lunch, yellow corn tortillas were cooking on a wide black griddle, with a filling frying next to them. The taco story proper starts in the next part.

By 2:16 I was in Coyoacán. Through the branches I could look up at the grey stone front of a church, small spires rising from the top. Along the side ran a yellow wall with dark stone corners.

---

Visiting info

My visit was on October 1–2, 2025. The practical details below are what I looked up while writing this post. Prices and hours differ from source to source, so anything I couldn't pin down is marked "check official info before visiting."

Place	When I went	Known facts	What changes
Teotihuacan balloon	Oct 2, inflating at 6:15, takeoff at 6:30	Booked as an Airbnb Experience	Price and pickup time: check official info before visiting
Teotihuacan archaeological site	Oct 2, morning	UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987	Admission, hours, climbing: check official info before visiting
Pandora Hotel	Oct 1, midnight check-in	Juárez, Nápoles 35	Rates and rooms: check official info before booking

📍 Teotihuacan hot air balloon · fields around the Teotihuacan site

• 🎈 My ride: Booked as an Airbnb Experience. The pickup ran late, so I waited at the hotel, and we took off at 6:30. A cave-restaurant breakfast and a guided walk followed.
• ⏰ What's known: Operators vary, but most say flights leave around sunrise and last 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the weather.
• 💳 What changes: Price, pickup time and whether breakfast and site entry are included differ by tour. Check official info before visiting.
• 🗺️ Map: Search for Teotihuacan balloon launch sites

📍 Teotihuacan (Zona Arqueológica de Teotihuacan) · northeast of Mexico City, State of Mexico

• 🏛️ Known facts: A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987. The Pyramid of the Sun is usually given as about 65 m high, though figures vary.
• 🧗 Climbing: Mexico's INAH reopened the Pyramid of the Moon on May 19, 2025, up to its first level, while the Pyramid of the Sun and the Temple of Quetzalcóatl stayed closed to climbing for conservation. On April 20, 2026 there was a shooting on the Pyramid of the Moon; the site reopened on the 22nd, but news reports said the pyramid itself stayed closed. Check official info before visiting.
• 🎟️ Admission and hours: Many 2025 listings give 100 pesos general admission and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., but sources differ. Check INAH's official info before visiting.
• 🗺️ Map: Teotihuacan · Pyramid of the Moon

📍 Pandora Hotel · Nápoles 35, Juárez, Mexico City

• 🍜 Next door: The Korean food shop with the I ♥ K-food sign.
• 💳 Rates and rooms: The name and price differ between booking sites. Check official info before booking.
• 🗺️ Map: View on Google Maps

📍 Entry · money · SIM · safety

• 🛂 Entry (checked, for Korean passports): According to the Korean embassy in Mexico, Korean passport holders can stay up to 180 days visa-free for tourism. The immigration officer decides the actual length, which can be shorter. Many sources say the airport entry form is now a digital FMM. Other passports have their own rules. Check official info before visiting.
• 🕐 Time difference (checked): Mexico City dropped daylight saving time in 2022 and is 15 hours behind Korea.
• 💵 Money (not checked): The currency is the Mexican peso (MXN). Cards work in many places, but guides commonly say street stalls and markets need cash. Check exchange options and fees yourself.
• 📶 SIM (not checked): Guides say both local SIMs and eSIMs work. Plans vary by carrier, so compare before you fly.
• 🛡️ Safety: Check your government's travel advisory for regional levels. Guides commonly advise keeping your passport and phone out of sight. I took a taxi from the airport to the hotel at night.

How to get lost a little less

• 🌙 A dawn tour the morning after a midnight arrival works, but you'll get under five hours of sleep. I checked in at midnight and left at 4:40.
• 📱 If the pickup is late, you'll get a message. Mine told me to wait at the hotel. Have mobile data working from the day you land.
• 🧥 Leaving before 5 a.m. means leaving in the dark. I went out in a white jacket.
• 🔺 See it from the balloon, then again from the ground. From the Pyramid of the Moon the Pyramid of the Sun sits straight ahead. Check first whether you can climb it now.

Jayden's verdict

I went because I love tacos. The first two days were two flights, a midnight check-in and a 4:40 a.m. balloon.

• Highlights: The sun rising between the clouds with Teotihuacan below, and the Pyramid of the Sun seen from the Pyramid of the Moon
• Tip: When you book a balloon, check whether breakfast and a site guide are included. On mine, a cave-restaurant breakfast and a guided walk followed the flight.

The next part covers Mexico City on October 3–4: a night taco stand and Chapultepec Castle.

---

Mexico for Tacos: 10 Days

1. Mexico City arrival and a Teotihuacan balloon (you are here)
2. Mexico City: night tacos and Chapultepec Castle
3. Puebla, Xochimilco at night and Guadalupe
4. Guadalajara and a tequila tour
5. Guanajuato, San Miguel de Allende, and home