I meet a lot of expats across Mexico that have never been to Mexico City. It always amazes me when I hear the reasons why, but the general consensus is that people think they will not like it. They (again, despite not having been there) cite reasons such as the traffic, the crime, the smog, the amount of people. In a nutshell, and in my humble opinion, they are “confidently wrong” about a place they have never been to.

It’s not just expats. I recently took an old friend from high school to see the city. He has spent years living in European cities and with a certain European air of superiority, assumed that Mexico City could not possibly be as good as what I had said all of these years. After five days of walking in neighborhood after neighborhood, he finally admitted that he had been very “confidently wrong,” and is already talking about coming back again soon.

Why is it that so many people are confidently wrong about the city? And better yet, when did Mexico City get so cool? I first wrote about this topic early last year, but in this week’s podcast, we dive deeper. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend CDMX to a first-time Mexico visitor, but I think it is criminal to say you like Mexico and NOT have been to Mexico City. Imagine going to the U.K. and not visiting London. Or the Netherlands and not visiting Amsterdam. Or France and not visiting Paris. You can do it, but you most definitely are missing out on a hugely important part of the country.

The reality is that Mexico City today is consistently recognized as one of the top cities in the world — for its culture, its food, its parks, its people and much more. So take a listen and find out why people have an outdated misperception, and most importantly, why you need to add CDMX to your bucket list of places to go!

You can watch the podcast on our YouTube channel here or on Spotify here. Thanks for tuning in.

Travis Bembenek is the CEO of Mexico News Daily and has been living, working or playing in Mexico for nearly 30 years.