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Mexico City, Mexico, top 10 things to do (Wimup travel guide)
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Top 10 Things To Do in Mexico City

Country
Mexico
Best months
Mar · Apr · Nov
Population
9.2M
Language
Spanish
Budget / day
$70–150
Quick answer

The best things to do in Mexico City are the Museo Nacional de Antropología, the Zócalo and the Rivera murals, the Templo Mayor, the pyramids at Teotihuacán and Frida Kahlo's Casa Azul, with a Sunday on the Xochimilco canals to close it. Give it four or five days, take the first slowly at 2,240 metres, and use the Metro.

Mexico City Travel Guide

▶ Video guideOpen the film page (8:28) →

Mexico City is built on a drained lake and on the ruins of the Mexica capital that stood in it, which is why the Templo Mayor sits half-excavated a hundred metres from the cathedral and the whole centre tilts. Around 22 million people, 170 museums, and neighbourhoods built at a scale you can walk.

The 10 best things to do in Mexico City

Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City, Mexico (Wimup)
1

Give a full morning to the Museo Nacional de Antropología

Museum· Av. Paseo de la Reforma s/n, Bosque de Chapultepec I Secc, Miguel Hidalgo, 11560 Mexico City

The reason many people fly here. Ramírez Vázquez's 1964 building runs Mesoamerican archaeology hall by hall, with the Sun Stone in the Mexica room. Go early, do the ground floor properly, and accept that you will not see all of it.

Time3 to 4 hr
CostPaid entry
Best atTuesday to Friday at opening
TipDo the Mexica and Maya halls first, before the school groups arrive
Map↗ Website
Zócalo, Mexico City, Mexico (Wimup)
2

Stand in the Zócalo and read the Rivera murals inside the Palacio Nacional

Landmark· Plaza de la Constitución s/n, Centro Histórico, Cuauhtémoc, 06000 Mexico City

One of the largest city squares in the world, with a cathedral visibly sinking into the old lakebed on one side and Rivera's staircase mural on the other. Palace entry is free with photo ID but depends on official use, so check before you go.

Time2 to 3 hr
CostFree
Best atWeekday mornings
TipThe flag-lowering ceremony at dusk is worth timing an evening around
Map
Walk the Templo Mayor excavation, a hundred metres from the cathedral, Mexico City, Mexico
3

Walk the Templo Mayor excavation, a hundred metres from the cathedral

Museum· Seminario 8, Centro Histórico, Cuauhtémoc, 06060 Mexico City

Electricity workers hit an eight-tonne carved disc here in 1978, and the block above the main pyramid of Tenochtitlan was cleared to expose it. A raised path crosses seven construction stages. The clearest view of what the centre stands on.

Time2 hr
CostPaid entry
Best atLate morning
TipThe museum and the open-air site are one ticket, so leave time for both
Map↗ Website
Climb the avenue of the dead at Teotihuacán, Mexico City, Mexico
4

Climb the avenue of the dead at Teotihuacán

Archaeology· Zona Arqueológica de Teotihuacán, Carretera Ecatepec-Pirámides km 22, 55800 San Juan Teotihuacán, State of Mexico

Fifty kilometres north-east, and a millennium older than the Mexica, who found it abandoned and named it the place where the gods were born. A two-kilometre ceremonial axis with the Pyramid of the Sun on it. Climbing is sometimes restricted, so check first.

TimeHalf a day to a full day
CostPaid entry at the gate
Best atAt opening
TipGo in by Gate 1 or 2, take water, a hat and cash for the entry
Map↗ Website
5

Book ahead for the Casa Azul and walk the rest of Coyoacán

Museum· Londres 247, Del Carmen, Coyoacán, 04100 Mexico City

Frida Kahlo was born, lived and died in this house, still furnished as a home down to the wheelchair at the easel. Tickets are timed, sold only on the museum's own site and gone weeks ahead: the one booking to make before you fly.

Time1.5 to 2 hr
CostTimed ticket
Best atWeekday first slot
TipBuy only from the museum site, then give the afternoon to the Coyoacán market
Map↗ Website
Take a trajinera through the Xochimilco canals, Mexico City, Mexico
6

Take a trajinera through the Xochimilco canals

Nature· Embarcadero Nuevo Nativitas, Xochimilco, 16070 Mexico City

What is left of the lake the Mexica farmed, with chinampas still worked between the canals. Hire a flat-bottomed trajinera by the hour at an official embarcadero. Sundays are a party; a weekday morning is herons and working plots.

Time2 to 4 hr
CostBoat hire by the hour
Best atWeekday morning for calm
TipUse an official embarcadero
Map↗ Website
Look down the length of Reforma from Chapultepec Castle, Mexico City, Mexico
7

Look down the length of Reforma from Chapultepec Castle

Landmark· Bosque de Chapultepec I Secc, Miguel Hidalgo, 11100 Mexico City

The only castle in the Americas to have housed actual sovereigns, and the national history museum since 1944. Come for the terraces: the view runs straight down Reforma across the whole city, and the Alcázar gardens sit on the roof.

Time2 hr
CostPaid entry
Best atTuesday to Sunday, mid-morning
TipThe walk up the hill is steep, so allow fifteen minutes from the park gate
Map↗ Website
See the Palacio de Bellas Artes for the murals, then for a performance, Mexico City, Mexico
8

See the Palacio de Bellas Artes for the murals, then for a performance

Landmark· Av. Juárez s/n, Centro Histórico, Cuauhtémoc, 06050 Mexico City

An Art Deco interior inside an Art Nouveau shell, and upstairs a mural museum holding Rivera's recreation of the Rockefeller Center piece New York destroyed. Buy a ticket to a performance: the Tiffany glass curtain is only lowered for one.

Time1.5 to 2 hr
CostPaid entry to the mural museum
Best atTuesday to Sunday
TipThe café on the eighth floor of the Sears building opposite has the standard photograph of the dome
Map↗ Website
Take a Friday night at the lucha libre in Arena México, Mexico City, Mexico
9

Take a Friday night at the lucha libre in Arena México

Nightlife· Dr. Lavista 189, Doctores, Cuauhtémoc, 06720 Mexico City

Arena México is the cathedral of lucha libre, sixteen thousand seats and a crowd that treats it as theatre with a scoreboard. Friday is the main card. Sit a few rows back, and take a taxi to the door rather than walking after.

Time3 hr
CostPaid ticket
Best atFriday night
TipPhotography rules change by promoter, so ask before you bring a camera
Map
Walk up to the Basílica de Guadalupe on Tepeyac hill, Mexico City, Mexico
10

Walk up to the Basílica de Guadalupe on Tepeyac hill

Landmark· Plaza de las Américas 1, Villa de Guadalupe, Gustavo A. Madero, 07050 Mexico City

The most visited Catholic shrine in the world after St Peter's. The old basilica tilted as the ground sank, so a circular concrete tent went up beside it in 1976, with moving walkways to keep the queue past the cloak going.

Time2 hr
CostFree
Best atEarly morning
TipMetro La Villa-Basílica on Line 6 puts you two blocks from the gate
Map↗ Website

8 of the 10, mapped

Mexico City · 8 spots

Mexico City travel FAQ

How many days do you need in Mexico City?+
Four to five. Two days cover the historic centre, the Zócalo, Templo Mayor, Bellas Artes and the murals. One covers Chapultepec, which means the anthropology museum and the castle. One takes Coyoacán, the Casa Azul and the south. The fifth buys Teotihuacán without rushing it, or a Sunday at Xochimilco.
Is Mexico City safe for visitors?+
The neighbourhoods most visitors use (Centro Histórico, Roma, Condesa, Polanco, Coyoacán) are busy and routinely walked at night, and the main risk is opportunistic theft. Use ride-hailing or authorised ranks, keep phones out of sight on the Metro, and check your government's advice for the states beyond the city.
Does the altitude affect you?+
It can. At 2,240 metres a normal day of walking feels harder, sleep is often broken on the first night, and drink hits sooner. Give the first day a light schedule, drink more water than you think you need, and leave a strenuous climb like Teotihuacán or the Tepozteco pyramid until you have been here a couple of days.
When is the best time to visit Mexico City?+
November to April is the dry season and the reliable window, with the jacarandas in flower through March and April. June to September brings rain most afternoons, usually a heavy couple of hours rather than a lost day. The temperature barely moves.
Do you need to book the Frida Kahlo Museum in advance?+
Yes. Entry to the Casa Azul is by timed ticket sold through the museum's own website, there is no reliable walk-up option, and slots regularly sell out weeks ahead in high season and around holidays. Book it as soon as your dates are fixed and plan the rest of the Coyoacán day around the time you are given.
Restaurants

Best restaurants in Mexico City

Eight kitchens, from two of the best tasting menus in Latin America to a century-old dining room off the Zócalo.
Polanco

Pujol

Modern Mexican, tasting menu

Enrique Olvera's room, and the restaurant that changed how the world reads Mexican cooking. The mole madre has been fed and re-cooked for years. Book far ahead.

Map↗ Website
Polanco

Quintonil

Modern Mexican, tasting menu

The quieter of the two great tasting rooms, more vegetable-driven, with a garden supplying part of the menu. Book as far ahead as Pujol.

Map↗ Website
Roma Norte

Contramar

Seafood, lunch only

The city's long lunch since 1998. Tuna tostadas and pescado a la talla. Lunchtime only, full by two, and loud in the right way.

Map
RosettaRoma Norte

Rosetta

Italian technique, Mexican produce

Elena Reygadas cooks Italian structures with Mexican ingredients in a Porfirian townhouse. Her bakery down the street sells the guava rolls.

Map
Roma Norte

Máximo

Bistro, market-led menu

A short menu that changes with what the growers send, French in method and Mexican in produce. One of the most reliable tables in the city.

Map
Centro Histórico

El Cardenal

Traditional Mexican, breakfast

The breakfast institution of the centre. Order the chocolate whipped at the table and the nata with sweet bread. Weekends mean a wait.

Map
Clavería

Nicos

Mexican home cooking since 1957

A case for Mexican home cooking as serious food: 1940s recipes, native corn, a salsa cart. Worth the ride out of the tourist ring.

Map
Expendio de Maíz Sin NombreRoma Norte

Expendio de Maíz Sin Nombre

No menu, native corn

No sign, no menu, no set price. They cook whatever came in that morning on native corn masa until you say stop. Walk-in, so go early.

Map
Street food & markets

Best street food and markets in Mexico City

Six counters and trading floors, including the taco stand that took a Michelin star in the guide's first Mexican edition.
Centro Histórico

Mercado de San Juan

Specialist produce market

The chefs' market: hams, cheeses, game, seafood and insects by the cup. Several stalls build sandwiches from what is on the counter.

Map
Merced Balbuena

Mercado de La Merced

The city's largest public market

Several hectares of chillies, moles, herbs and prepared food. Go in the morning, and eat at a stand where the queue is local.

Map
Coyoacán

Mercado de Coyoacán

Tostadas and prepared food

A neighbourhood market whose tostada counters are a destination: crab, ceviche, tinga, eaten standing. Go before two.

Map
San Rafael

Taquería El Califa de León

Michelin-starred taco stand

A counter for a handful of people, and the first taco stand anywhere to take a Michelin star, in 2024. Four beef tacos on the menu. Cash.

Map
Centro Histórico

Tacos Los Cocuyos

Late-night suadero and offal

A cauldron of simmering beef on a pavement corner near the Zócalo, open into the small hours. Suadero for a first visit.

Map
Polanco

El Turix

Yucatecan cochinita pibil

A narrow Yucatecan counter in the most expensive neighbourhood, selling cochinita pibil for a fraction of what its neighbours charge. Cash only.

Map
Museums

Best museums in Mexico City

Eight more rooms beyond the top 10, from the national art collection to a house that is itself a UNESCO site.
Museo Nacional de Arte (MUNAL)Centro Histórico

Museo Nacional de Arte (MUNAL)

Mexican art, 16th century to 1954

The national art collection in a Porfirian palace, chronological from the viceroyalty on. Velasco's views of the valley are the reason to come.

Map↗ Website
Museo SoumayaPlaza Carso, Granada

Museo Soumaya

Private collection, free entry

Slim's collection in a hexagon-tiled shell, with one of the largest Rodin holdings outside France. Free, and best walked top down.

Map↗ Website
Museo JumexGranada, Polanco

Museo Jumex

Contemporary art

The most serious contemporary programme in the country, in a Chipperfield building across the plaza from the Soumaya. Check the temporary show.

Map↗ Website
Museo TamayoBosque de Chapultepec

Museo Tamayo

Modern and contemporary art

Tamayo's international collection in a low concrete building inside Chapultepec: Picasso, Bacon, Warhol. Fifteen minutes from the anthropology museum.

Map
Museo de Arte ModernoBosque de Chapultepec

Museo de Arte Moderno

20th-century Mexican art

Two circular pavilions of 1964 holding the twentieth-century canon, including Las dos Fridas. The sculpture garden is free to walk.

Map
Museo AnahuacalliCoyoacán

Museo Anahuacalli

Rivera's pre-Hispanic collection

Rivera's windowless volcanic-stone pyramid, built to hold the fifty thousand pre-Hispanic pieces he collected. The quietest major museum here.

Map↗ Website
MUACCiudad Universitaria

MUAC

University contemporary art museum

The university's contemporary museum on the UNAM campus, itself a World Heritage Site. Pair it with the O'Gorman library mosaic.

Map
Casa Luis BarragánAmpliación Daniel Garza

Casa Luis Barragán

Architect's house, UNESCO site

Barragán's own house of 1948 behind a blank street wall, and the clearest lesson in what he did with colour and light. Book: small timed groups.

Map
Cantinas & mezcalerías

Best cantinas and mezcalerías in Mexico City

Six rooms for a drink, from a mariachi hall on Garibaldi to a cocktail bar that has spent years on the world's best lists.
Plaza Garibaldi

Salón Tenampa

Mariachi hall, since 1925

The room that made Plaza Garibaldi the home of mariachi, open since 1925. Bands play at the tables for a fee agreed per song.

Map
Centro Histórico

Bar La Ópera

Cantina, since 1876

Carved mahogany, gilt ceilings, and a bullet hole the staff attribute to Pancho Villa. Serving since 1876, and the easiest cantina to start with.

Map
Centro Histórico

Bósforo

Mezcal, no signage

An unmarked door near the Alameda and a list of small-batch mezcals. Say what you want it to taste like and let them pick.

Map
Condesa

La Clandestina

Mezcalería

A small Condesa mezcalería pouring wild and cultivated agaves by the copita, with staff who explain provenance without ceremony.

Map
Roma Norte

Licorería Limantour

Cocktail bar

The bar that put the city on the cocktail map. The Margarita Al Pastor is the signature. Small, and hard to walk into after nine.

Map
Centro Histórico

Cantina Tío Pepe

Cantina, 19th century

One of the oldest cantinas still working in the centre: swing doors, tiled floor, botanas with the drinks, nothing styled for visitors.

Map
Parks & gardens

Best parks and gardens in Mexico City

Five green places, from one of the largest city parks in the hemisphere to a nursery you can walk barefoot in.
Bosque de ChapultepecMiguel Hidalgo

Bosque de Chapultepec

Four sections, museums and a lake

The city's great park and one of the largest in the hemisphere, holding the anthropology museum, the castle and two art museums. Sunday is family day.

Map
Parque MéxicoCondesa

Parque México

Art Deco park, 1927

Laid out inside a former racecourse oval, which is why Condesa curves. Pure 1927 Art Deco down to the lamp posts.

Map
Alameda CentralCentro Histórico

Alameda Central

The oldest public park in the Americas

Laid out in 1592 and the oldest public park on the continent, though its benches read nineteenth century. Between Bellas Artes and the Rivera mural museum.

Map
Viveros de CoyoacánCoyoacán

Viveros de Coyoacán

Working tree nursery and running track

A working nursery from 1901 that doubles as the city's pleasantest running loop. Free, shaded, a short walk from the Casa Azul.

Map
Bosque de TlalpanTlalpan

Bosque de Tlalpan

Volcanic scrub forest and trails

A protected forest on the lava flow in the far south, with none of the manicure of the parks north. The altitude makes it a workout.

Map
Neighborhoods

Best neighborhoods in Mexico City

Six quarters worth walking, from the colonial grid on the old island to a village the city grew around.
Cuauhtémoc

Centro Histórico

UNESCO World Heritage since 1987

The colonial grid laid over Tenochtitlan, and the densest concentration of things to see in the country. It empties in the evening off the main axes.

Map
Cuauhtémoc

Roma Norte

Porfirian townhouses, restaurants and galleries

Built for the wealthy, wrecked in 1985, cheap for a generation, and now the address for restaurants and galleries. Flat and walkable.

Map
CondesaCuauhtémoc

Condesa

Art Deco, parks and pavement cafés

The streets curve because they follow a 1920s racecourse. Some of the best Art Deco in Latin America, and the pavement tables are the point.

Map
CoyoacánCoyoacán

Coyoacán

Colonial village, markets and museums

Cortés based himself here, and the village kept its plazas and cobbles. The Casa Azul, the Trotsky house and the market are a full day.

Map
Álvaro Obregón

San Ángel

Cobbled streets and Saturday art market

Another colonial village absorbed by the city, quieter than Coyoacán. The Bazar del Sábado fills Plaza San Jacinto every Saturday.

Map
PolancoMiguel Hidalgo

Polanco

Museums, luxury retail and Michelin kitchens

The wealthy district north of Chapultepec, where Pujol, Quintonil, the Soumaya and the Jumex sit within a few blocks. Least characterful, most reasons to visit.

Map
Day trips

Best day trips in Mexico City

Six runs out of the valley, from a colonial city of tiled facades to a silver town built into a ravine.
Puebla state

Puebla and Cholula

Colonial city, 2 hr by coach

A UNESCO colonial centre, the baroque Capilla del Rosario, and the birthplace of mole poblano. Cholula has the largest pyramid by volume anywhere.

Map
Morelos

Tepoztlán

Pueblo Mágico under a cliff, 1.5 hr

A market town under a wall of rock, with a Dominican monastery and a steep hour's climb to the Tepozteco pyramid above.

Map
TaxcoGuerrero

Taxco

Silver town, 3 hr

A silver town poured down a ravine, white walls and stairs under the rose-stone church of Santa Prisca. The workshops sell silver by weight.

Map
Valle de BravoState of Mexico

Valle de Bravo

Lake town, 2.5 hr

A lakeside town in the pine hills west of the city: sailing, paragliding, cobbled streets. Monarch reserves are within reach in winter.

Map
Morelos

Cuernavaca

City of eternal spring, 1.5 hr

Nine hundred metres lower and reliably warmer, which is why the wealthy have kept gardens here since the viceroyalty. A Rivera mural in the Palacio de Cortés.

Map
TulaHidalgo

Tula

Toltec capital, 1.5 hr

The Toltec capital, and the four basalt Atlantes on top of the main pyramid. Far less visited than Teotihuacán, which is the argument for it.

Map
What's on

Festivals & annual events in Mexico City (2026)

Eight dates that shape the year, from an art fair in February to the pilgrimage in December.
Feb

Zona Maco

Latin America's largest contemporary art fair, five days at the Centro Citibanamex in February.

Mar

Festival del Centro Histórico

Two weeks of concerts and theatre in churches and courtyards that are otherwise closed. Much of it free.

Mar

Vive Latino

The region's biggest rock and Latin alternative festival, a weekend in the Magdalena Mixhuca park.

Mar or Apr

Semana Santa in Iztapalapa

A Passion play on the Cerro de la Estrella since 1843, walked by hundreds of thousands on Good Friday.

Sep

El Grito and Independence Day

The president rings the bell on the night of 15 September to a full Zócalo, with a parade next morning.

Oct

Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix

The Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez weekend, and one of the loudest on the calendar. Late October.

Oct and Nov

Día de Muertos and the parade

1 and 2 November for the graveyards and home altars, plus a Reforma parade first staged in 2016.

Dec

Día de la Virgen de Guadalupe

12 December, when several million pilgrims converge on the basilica, many arriving through the night.

Getting around

Mexico City transport & airports

Two airports on opposite sides of the valley, and a Metro ride that costs five pesos.
MEX

Benito Juárez International Airport

The busiest in the country, five kilometres east and correspondingly congested. Terminals 1 and 2 are not walkable: use the Aerotrén or the shuttle. Metro Line 5 and Metrobús Line 4 both serve it.

Map↗ Website
NLU

Felipe Ángeles International Airport

Opened in 2022 to relieve Benito Juárez and now taking many domestic flights. Forty-five kilometres north, over an hour in traffic, so check which airport your ticket uses before booking a hotel.

Map↗ Website
5 and 6 pesos

Metro and Metrobús

Five pesos a ride, the cheapest serious transit anywhere, and it reaches almost everywhere. Metrobús is six, both on the Tarjeta de Movilidad Integrada. Front cars are for women and children at peak.

Map↗ Website
App-first

Taxis, ride-hailing and Ecobici

Ride-hailing is the default; take street taxis only from an authorised sitio. Ecobici covers the centre, Roma and Condesa. Traffic peaks three to eight, when the Metro beats any car.

Map↗ Website
Traditional food

Must-try dishes in Mexico City, Mexico

Eight plates to order before you leave, most of them eaten standing up.
Tacos al pastor, Mexico City (Wimup travel guide)

Tacos al pastor

Chilli and achiote pork off a vertical spit, with onion, coriander and a flick of pineapple. Best after dark.

Guajolota, Mexico City (Wimup travel guide)

Guajolota

A tamal inside a bread roll, eaten standing at a Metro entrance. Carbohydrate on carbohydrate, and defended.

Tlacoyos, Mexico City (Wimup travel guide)

Tlacoyos

A blue-corn masa oval stuffed with beans, topped with nopal, salsa and cheese. The best cheap breakfast here.

Barbacoa, Mexico City (Wimup travel guide)

Barbacoa

Lamb wrapped in maguey and pit-cooked overnight, with consomé. Sunday food, gone by early afternoon.

Esquites and elotes, Mexico City (Wimup travel guide)

Esquites and elotes

Corn in a cup or on the cob, with mayonnaise, lime, chilli and cheese. The cup is easier to walk with.

Quesadillas de huitlacoche, Mexico City (Wimup travel guide)

Quesadillas de huitlacoche

A masa turnover filled with corn smut, tasting of mushroom and earth. Cheese or not is a real argument.

Pozole, Mexico City (Wimup travel guide)

Pozole

Hominy stew with pork or chicken, red, white or green, finished at the table with radish, oregano and lime.

Churros con chocolate, Mexico City (Wimup travel guide)

Churros con chocolate

Fried to order and dipped in thick chocolate. El Moro has done it since 1935, around the clock.

Mexico City fact sheet

Mexico City at a glance

The essentials worth knowing before you go.
Country
Mexico
Region
Valley of Mexico, at 2,240 m above sea level
Population
9,209,944 in the city, about 21.8 million across the metropolitan area (2020 census)
Founded
Tenochtitlan founded in 1325, refounded as the Spanish capital in 1521
Nickname
CDMX, and the City of Palaces; residents are chilangos
Language
Spanish
Currency
Mexican peso (MXN)
Time zone
UTC-6, no daylight saving since 2022
Calling code
+52 55
Airports
Benito Juárez (MEX) and Felipe Ángeles (NLU)
Power
127V, types A and B
Emergency
911 for all services
Ideal length
4 to 5 days
Getting around
Metro, Metrobús and ride-hailing apps
Tourism board
Official site

Interesting facts

  • The city is built on a drained lake and still sinking into it: parts of the east drop tens of centimetres a year as groundwater is pumped.
  • At 2,240 metres this is one of the highest large cities in the world, so the first day feels heavy and alcohol lands faster.
  • Roughly 170 museums operate here, one of the highest totals anywhere. The UNAM campus that houses MUAC is a World Heritage Site itself.
  • The earthquakes of 19 September 1985 and 2017 fell on the same date, thirty-two years apart. A national drill is held every 19 September.
  • Tacos al pastor descend from shawarma, brought by Lebanese families who swapped lamb for pork and flatbread for a tortilla.

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