Base Yourself in Mexico City First
Most families land at Benito Juárez International and should spend the first three or four nights in Mexico City rather than pushing straight on to Oaxaca or the coast. Roma Norte and Condesa are the easiest bases with teenagers: leafy streets, plenty of casual restaurants, and walkable blocks between Parque México and Avenida Álvaro Obregón. Condesa is quieter in the evenings; Roma Norte has more going on. Both put you within a short walk of Metro lines and a ten-minute taxi ride from the Centro Histórico.
Plan one substantial activity per day, not three. The Museo Nacional de Antropología in Chapultepec takes a solid half-day on its own, and pairing it with a walk up to Chapultepec Castle will exhaust most teenagers by mid-afternoon. The Centro Histórico works better on a separate morning: the Zócalo, the Templo Mayor site and a slow wander down Calle Regina in the afternoon. Sundays are busy for the capital's museums, so aim for weekdays where you can.
Pacing the Week and Moving On
A realistic rhythm for a two-week trip is four nights in Mexico City, then three or four in Oaxaca (a one-hour flight, or around six hours by road on the Oaxaca–Mexico City highway), then a beach finish. Puebla is a good two-night stop between the two, roughly two hours by bus from Mexico City's TAPO terminal. Avoid stacking three big cities back to back — teenagers tire faster than the itinerary suggests, and a slow morning with a late breakfast buys goodwill for the rest of the day.
If the budget or the calendar is tight, skip the long-haul bus to the Yucatán and fly instead. Domestic flights between Mexico City and Cancún or Mérida run frequently, and the time saved is worth more than the fare difference when you factor in a full day on a coach. Build in one completely free afternoon every third day, where nobody has to visit anything. That is the single change that most improves a family trip here.
Feeding Teenagers Without Fuss
Mexican food is not one cuisine, and teenagers who claim not to like it usually mean they have only met the tex-mex version. Start with street-level breakfast: tamales from a steamer in the morning, or chilaquiles verdes at a fonda in Coyoacán. Lunch is the main meal — comida — served from roughly 2pm, and a menú del día at a neighbourhood restaurant is a straightforward way to try three courses without committing to a big order. Evening meals are lighter: tacos al pastor, quesadillas, tortas.
Watch the spice level rather than avoiding flavour. Salsa is served on the side almost everywhere, and asking for it apart removes most of the risk. Bottled water is standard and cheap; salads and fruit from street stalls are a personal judgement, but cooked food from busy stalls is generally the safer bet. In Oaxaca, do not miss tlayudas and a plate of memelas; in Mexico City, a Saturday morning at a market such as San Juan in Roma or Medellín in the Condesa is a good low-pressure introduction for cautious eaters.
Where to Book and What to Skip
When you reserve in Mexico City, prioritise a hotel with a proper pool or rooftop and a room that sleeps three or four without a rollaway pulled from a cupboard — teenagers value their own space. Hotels along Avenida Chapultepec and in Roma Norte tend to fit the brief and sit close to restaurants. Book ahead for the December holidays and Semana Santa, when rates climb and good rooms in Condesa disappear; May and October are quieter and more comfortable weather-wise than April's heat.
Skip the tour that promises three sites in one day. Skip Teotihuacán at midday in high season — go at opening instead, when the site is cooler and the light is better. Skip the Turibus if you can use the Metro instead; it moves slowly and eats a half-day you could spend in Coyoacán or at the Luis Barragán House. The one splurge worth arranging is a private driver for a full day outside the city, which lets you combine a site with a village lunch and still be back before dark.