Ciudad de México · Mexico
Mexico City Megacity of museums, food and Aztec history
Central Highlands
Highlights
- Zócalo & Templo Mayor The colonial heart of the city, built over the excavated Aztec great temple.
- Museum of Anthropology Home of the Aztec Sun Stone and one of the world’s great museum collections.
- Coyoacán & Frida Kahlo Cobbled plazas, markets and the painter’s Casa Azul.
- Xochimilco & Teotihuacán Painted trajineras on ancient canals, and pyramid day trips beyond the city.
About the destination
Mexico City is one of the largest and most layered cities on Earth, built directly on the ruins of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan at 2,240 meters above sea level. On the vast Zócalo, the Metropolitan Cathedral stands beside the excavated Templo Mayor; a few blocks away, Diego Rivera’s murals cover the walls of the National Palace and the Palacio de Bellas Artes anchors the Alameda.
The city rewards neighborhood-by-neighborhood exploration: leafy Roma and Condesa for cafés and design, Coyoacán for cobblestones and the Frida Kahlo Museum, Chapultepec for the castle and the world-class National Museum of Anthropology, and Xochimilco’s canals for a Sunday on a painted trajinera. The pyramids of Teotihuacán — once one of the largest cities of the ancient world — are a classic day trip just beyond the city’s edge.