Mexico City is not one city and it does not reward a checklist. Ask someone who lives there where to go and the first question back will be what kind of day you want, because the answer changes by neighbourhood.

Roma and Condesa are the easy landing. Trees, cafes, bookshops, a queer scene that is visible without being a spectacle. It is where most visitors stay and there is nothing wrong with that, as long as it is a base and not the whole trip.

Juarez and the Zona Rosa hold most of the nightlife, and they are two different places depending on the hour. Coyoacan deserves a whole slow day. Centro rewards an early start and punishes anyone arriving at two in the afternoon.

Eat where the queue is. Not the queue of visitors with their phones out, the queue of people on their way to work. The best thing you eat in CDMX will probably cost less than a coffee at the airport.

And go out with someone who knows the city at night. Not because it is frightening, but because the good version of a night here is not the one you will find on a listings site.