Things to Do in Mexico City

Mexico City is one of the world’s most culturally dense cities. These are the activities that consistently reward the most.

Museums

Museo Nacional de Antropología — the must-do. One of the great museums in the world: the Aztec Sun Stone, an entire hall on Maya civilisation, Olmec heads in the garden. Allow a full morning. Located in Chapultepec Park. Closed Mondays.

Museo Frida Kahlo (Casa Azul) — Kahlo’s blue-painted house in Coyoacán, exactly as she left it, with her studio and garden. Very popular — book tickets online days in advance.

Templo Mayor — the excavated Aztec temple complex beneath the streets of Centro Histórico. The adjacent museum has exceptional jade masks and a scale model of Tenochtitlán. The site is adjacent to the Zócalo.

Museo Jumex — the finest contemporary art museum in Mexico, housed in a purpose-built building in Polanco. Rotating international exhibitions.

Museo de Arte Popular — a well-curated collection of Mexican folk art and crafts across five floors near the Alameda. Underrated and rarely crowded.

Architecture and neighbourhoods

Palacio de Bellas Artes — the marble arts palace at the corner of Alameda Central. The exterior is an architectural set piece; the interior has murals by Rivera, Orozco, and Siqueiros. Check the schedule for ballet folklórico performances.

Palacio Nacional — on the east side of the Zócalo, with Diego Rivera’s monumental mural cycle covering Mexican history from the Aztecs to the Revolution. Free entry.

Coyoacán — the neighbourhood around the Frida Kahlo museum. The main square and surrounding streets are calm and tree-lined. Good for a Sunday morning, especially during the artisan market.

Roma Norte and Condesa — tree-lined streets, Art Deco buildings, independent cafes and restaurants. The cultural centre of the city’s creative class.

Ruins

Teotihuacán — the city of pyramids 50 km northeast, best reached by direct bus from the Terminal Norte (buses every 30 minutes, journey 1 hour). Pyramids of the Sun and Moon, the Avenue of the Dead, the Temple of Quetzalcóatl. Arrive at opening (9 am); by midday the heat and crowds are intense.

Zona Arqueológica de Tlatelolco — in the middle of the city, below the Plaza de las Tres Culturas: pre-Columbian structures, colonial church built from pyramid stones, and modern housing. The plaza was the site of the 1968 student massacre.

Markets

Mercado de la Merced — the largest market in the city, a maze of stalls. Not tourist-oriented: real fruit, vegetables, spices, herbs, and meat.

Mercado del Barrio de la Concepción (Mercado Medellín) — a smaller market in Roma, good for Caribbean and Central American ingredients. Several fresh juice stalls and a good taco section.

Mercado de Artesanías de la Ciudadela — the main crafts market in the city. Better prices and quality than the tourist shops on the Zócalo.

Day trips

Xochimilco — take the metro (Line 2) to the floating gardens zone and rent a trajinera (flat-bottomed boat) to navigate the canals. Sunday mornings are most lively, with food vendors and music boats alongside. Also: the Isla de las Muñecas (Island of the Dolls) is nearby in the canal system — genuinely strange.

Tepoztlán — 90 minutes south by bus from Taxqueña. A colonial village below a clifftop pyramid and a nature reserve. The Sunday market is one of the best artisan markets within reach of CDMX.