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Activities and Attractions in Mexico

Archeaology in Mexico City

Apart from some archeological zones in the surrounding areas where traces of the pre Hispanic civilization have been found, there are three essential archeological sites in Mexico City: The Templo Mayor (the Main Temple) is a series of pyramidal constructions built one over the other, where the monolith of the Mexica goddess, Coyolxauhqui, was found. The Plaza de las Tres Culturas (The Plaza of the Three Cultures) in Tlatelolco shows three very important facets of Mexican architecture: the pre Hispanic, the colonial and the modern. The pyramid at Cuicuilco in the south of the city is a curious circular construction half hidden by the lava the Xitle volcano spewed forth more than three thousand years ago.

Cuicuilco pyramid in Mexico City

Cuicuilco pyramid in Mexico City Cuicuilco is located at the crossing of the Periférico (the Ring Road) and Insurgentes Avenue is one of the most important ceremonial centers on the Anahuac plateau. It reached its peak 2,600 years ago when a 25-meter circular pyramid was constructed; however, the lava flowing from the Ixtle volcano buried part of the ruins prior to the arrival of the Spaniards.

Great temple

This combination of patios, superimposed remains of pyramids and staircases reveals fascinating architectural and historical aspects of the ceremonial and religious life of the ancient Mexico. The monolith of the goddess Coyolxauhqui was found here.

Architecture to see in Mexico City

Architecture in Mexico City Architectural works in varying styles were built in the city during the pre Hispanic, colonial and modern eras. The period of the Spanish colony was when sober, baroque style mansions, palaces and sumptuous churches were built, and some of the houses belonging to famous counts and marquises were decorated with carvings and ornaments that reflected their owners’ social status. Great palaces, such as the National Palace, were built as offices for the Vice Regal government and Catholic churches were constructed for the faithful, including one of the most important in America: the Metropolitan Cathedral. Even hospitals, such as the Hospital de Jesus (the Hospital of Jesus), were built in an artistic style that gave them a lofty grandeur.
After the country gained its independence, the neoclassic style took over and changed the look of many of the buildings, thus giving the city an air of elegance. A case in question is the Palacio de Minería (The Mining Palace) and the current Museo Nacional de Arte (The National Art Museum). A “Frenchified” architectural style and (a short time later) art deco came into fashion in the new Roma and Juarez residential districts during the presidency of Porfirio Díaz, enriching the city center with such buildings as the Palacio de Bellas Artes (The Palace of Fine Arts) and the Post Office building.

During the modern era, skyscrapers went up in the Polanco, Anzures and Santa Fe districts and along great avenues such as Avenida Insurgentes where the World Trade Center is located.

Some interesting places to visit:

Central post office of Mexico City
With its blend of Gothic, Spanish Plateresque, Venetian and art nouveau styles, the Palacio Postal or Central Post Office reflects the efforts of Porfirio Díaz to emphasize Mexico’s stability and progress in the early 20th century.

Chapultepec castle of Mexico City
The castle dates from 1785 when the viceroy Gálvez ordered that a town be built on top of the hill. It was used at the residence of the governors of the moment, the Military College and now houses the National Museum of History, having been remodeled several times in the course of its existence.

National center for the arts (centro nacional de las artes)
A new Arts complex dedicated to the teaching and practice of dance, theater, plastic arts, music, and cinematography was inaugurated in 1994. This building, designed by the Legorreta firm of architects, has contributed a great deal to the improvement of the urban landscape.

The angel of independence monument in mexico city
This monument, another of the city’s main symbols, was built by Antonio Rivas Mercado. The foundation stone was laid in 1902, and the monument was inaugurated by President Porfirio Díaz in 1910. The sculpture on top is a winged angel of Victory created by Enrique Alciate. The monument commemorates the war of Independence.

National palace of Mexico
This is the main seat of political power. Inside the Palace are murals by Diego Rivera on the theme of “The Epic of Mexico” and another on the principal Mesoamerican cultures that flourished in Mexico before the arrival of the Spaniards.

Nezahulacoyotl (national autonomous university cultural center)
This is considered one of the world’s finest concert halls for its outstanding acoustics.

Palacio de bellas artes (palace of fine arts) of Mexico City Palace of fine arts of Mexico City

The Italian architect, Adamo Boari, started work on this magnificent building in 1904, but it was completed by Federico Mariscal in 1934. One of the main construction materials is marble, and the building has several sculptures by Spanish and Italian artists and mural paintings by Orozco, Diego Rivera, Camarena, Tamayo and Siqueiros. The exterior is in the Art Nouveau style, while the interior is art deco. The auditorium has an audience capacity of two thousand.

Puerta de Santa Fe
Located in the Santa Fe area on the road leading out of the city to Toluca, this modern construction was built of concrete and glass by Teodoro Gonzalez de Leon.

Museums in Mexico City

The Federal District more museums than anywhere else in the country. These museums contain samples from pre Hispanic as well as colonial cultures; they have displays of the history of the city and collections of modern art. There are also Nature museums and those dedicated to Mexican handicrafts.

The most outstanding are the National Museum of Anthropology, the Frida Kahlo Museum, the History Museum in Chapultepec Castle, the Modern Art Museum, the Museum of Natural History, the Rufino Tamayo (Art) Museum, the Papalote Children’s Museum, the Mexico City Museum, the Franz Mayer Museum, the Diego Rivera Museum, the National Art Museum and the San Diego Gallery of Vice Regal Art.

National museum of art
Opposite Plaza de Tolsá stands this fascinating construction built between 1904 and 1911 to house the Secretariat of State for Communications. In 1982 it was turned into a museum to show the development of plastic arts in Mexico.

Papalote, children’s museum in Mexico City
Papalote, children's museum in Mexico City
This museum, with its combination of games and knowledge, manual dexterity and visual learning, was specially designed for children. It also has an outsize screen for projecting films on nature and other subjects. It also has one of the only IMAX Theaters in all Mexico.

The natural history museum
Located in the second section of Chapultepec Forest and housed in a modern-style building, this museum has exhibitions on themes related to the creation of the universe and the evolution of living beings on planet Earth.

Rufino tamayo museum in mexico city
This modern style museum was designed by two architects, Gonzalez de Leon and Zabludovsky and has permanent exhibitions and displays of works by Rufino Tamayo. There are also sculptures and paintings by other famous artists such as Picasso and Salvador Dali.

Museum of anthropology in Mexico City
This museum houses the most important collection of archaeological pieces in the country, displayed in 11 exhibition halls showing the richness of Mexico’s pre-Hispanic past.

The franz mayer museum in Mexico City
Franz Mayer was an German antique dealer who left his valuable collection to Mexico. The collection is now on display in a building that was a 17th century hospital. The collection consists of objects d’art from the colonial period, including, ceramics, tiles, furniture, sculptures, and textiles.

The national museum of the viceroyalty in Mexico City
Located in Tepozotlán, 46 km north of downtown Mexico, this museum has exhibitions of religious paintings by Cristóbal Villalpando, marble sculptures, and historical objects. The building housing the museum, an excellent example of the New Spanish baroque style, used to belong to the Jesuits.

Ecotourism in Mexico City

The City of Mexico is surrounded by national parks and ecological reserves where major efforts are being made to conserve the local flora and fauna. The Chichinautzín Ecological Reserve, just south of the city, is one of the most interesting for the number of volcanic craters there and the unique vegetation growing in the lava beds. The Dinamos, Ajusco and De los Leones Desert National Parks are also very attractive parks.

Climbing & hiking in Mexico City
The peaks that most attract mountain climbers are the Iztacchihuatl and Popocatepetl volcanoes (5,230 and 5,465 meters high respectively), located about 70 km east of the city. Climbers are not allowed on Popocatepetl due to the volcanic activity of that volcano. But there are lower mountains, also of great beauty, on the outskirts of Mexico City like Ajusco, (3,930 meters), with its Pico de Aguila (Eagle’s Peak) sheer vertical rock face, as well as Los Dinamos, a big canyon with vertical rock faces surrounded by forests.

Ajusco
This 3,986-meter volcano closes the valley of Mexico on the south side. Now a National Park, the mountain has pine and oak forests and little alpine valleys that are popular among walkers, hikers, and climbers.

La Marqueza
This wide valley surrounded by mountains covered with forests and pastureland was declared the Miguel Hidalgo y Castillo National Park in 1936. The park is ideal for picnics, walks, horseback riding and motorcycling.

Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuat in Mexico City

These two volcanoes, both more than 5,000 meters high, rise majestically on the eastern side of the capital city. Popo National Park offers visitors beautiful forests and spaces high up in the mountains, however access to the area nearest to Popocatépetl is controlled due to recent volcanic activity.

El Zocalo of Mexico City
The most interesting historical site in Mexico City is the Zócalo (The Main Square) where numerous events took place during the course of Mexican history. The Zócalo was often visited by Viceroys during the colonial period and by presidents after the War of Independence; the Emperor Maximilian was also a frequent visitor. The whole square is surrounded by some extraordinary architecture, including the Metropolitan Cathedral and the National Palace.

Mexico city night life

There's a vast amount going on in Mexico City, which is the nation's cultural and social centre as much as its political capital. Dedicated bars are dotted all over the city and range from dirt-cheap dives to the classy cigar bars of the swanky hotels. The bottom rung is occupied by pulquerías and cantinas, from where it is a major step up to hotel bars, most of which are in the centre or to the established night spots in well-tourist enclaves.

There is an avenue in the Federal District that runs north and south splitting the city down the middle: Avenida Insurgentes. This is the longest avenue in the city and the location of a wide assortment of fun night spots and discotheques, especially in the south. The Condesa district has a wide variety of coffee shops and restaurants offering an intimate, cozy atmosphere and a selection of fine wines.

A lot of the obvious nightlife, especially in the larger hotels, is rather tame in its attempt to be sophisticated, but in recent years the live music scene has broadened appreciably.

Two attractions stand out from the crowd and shouldn't be missed: the mariachi music in the Plaza Garibaldi, a thoroughly Mexican experience; and to a lesser extent, the Folkloric Ballet, which is unashamedly aimed at tourists but has an enduring appeal, too, for Mexicans.
While Mexican theatre tends to be rather turgid, there are often excellent classical music concerts and performances of opera or ballet by touring companies. Bellas Artes and the National Auditorium are the main venues, but other downtown theatres as well as the Polyforum and the Insurgentes Theater may also have interesting shows. On most Sundays, there's a free concert in Chapultepec Park near the lake.

Golf in Mexico City

Some of the best golf courses in the country can be found in different areas of Mexico City, starting with the Lomas Country Club, the Club de Golf Bosques, the Club Campestre Chiluca, the Chapultepec Golf Club, the Club de Golf México and the Club Campestre de la Ciudad de México, among others. All these courses are equipped to hold national and international golf tournaments.

Cuisine restaurants in Mexico

The choice of where to eat is almost limitless in Mexico City, ranging from traditional coffee houses to fast-food lunch counters, and taking in Japanese, French, Spanish , expensive international and rock-bottom Mexican cooking along the way.

There's even a small Chinatown of sorts where a cluster of Chinese restaurants line C Dolores, just south of the Alameda. There are also the traditional food stalls in markets throughout the city. Merced is the biggest, but not a terribly pleasant place to eat: at the back of the Plaza Garibaldi, there's a market hall given over to nothing but food stands, each vociferously competing with its neighbors.

The only limit to cooking in Mexico City, one of the main gastronomic capitals of the world, is personal taste.

Shopping in Mexico City

One of the most interesting places for shopping for handicrafts from the remotest corners of the country is an open air market that is set up on weekends alongside the main square in Coyocacán. You will also be able to find everything you want at the “Bazaar de los Sábados” in San Angel, another picturesque village that has been engulfed by the big city. If you are looking for more elegant shops, then those in the Zona Rosa (the Pink Zone) are sure to satisfy. You can buy clothes, jewelry and costume jewelry there; beautiful Indigenous handicrafts can be found at Fonart.

The two major corporate centers are located in Santa Fe, in the west, which is also the site of universities and exclusive shopping malls and the World Trade Center, on Avenida Insurgentes, the second highest building with a revolving restaurant

Some tips of locations

The traditional centre of the city is the Zócalo, or Plaza Mayor; the heart of ancient Tenochtitlán and of Cortes city, it's surrounded by the oldest streets, largely colonial and unmodernized. To the east, the ancient structures degenerate rapidly, blending into the poorer areas that surround the airport. Westwards, Madero and Juarez Avenues lead to the Alameda, the small park that marks the extent of the old city centre. Here are the Palacio de las Bellas Artes, the main post office and the landmark Latinoamericana Tower. Carry straight on past here and you get into an area, between the ugly bulk of the Revolution Monument and the train station, where you'll find many of the cheaper hotels. Turn slightly south and you're amid the faded elegance of the Paseo de la Reforma, which leads down to the great open space of Chapultepec Park, recreation area for the city's millions, and home of the National Museum of Anthropology and several other important museums. Off to the right as you head down Reforma is a sedate, up market residential area, where many of the long-established embassies are based, while on the left is the Zona Rosa with its shopping streets, expensive hotels and constant tourist activity. To the south, the Zona bleeds into Condesa, which in the last few years has become the fashionable place to eat, drink and party. To the west, the northern flank of Chapultepec Park is lined by the flashy high-rise hotels of Colonia Polanco, among the city's “chic” districts and home to many of the finest shops and restaurants.

The Avenida de los Insurgentes crosses Reforma about halfway between the Alameda and Chapultepec Park. Said to be the longest continuous city street in the world, Insurgentes bisects Mexico City more or less from north to south. It is perhaps the city's most important artery, lined with modern commercial development. In the south it runs past the suburb of San Angel and close by Coyoacán to the University City, and on out of Mexico City by the Pyramid of Cuicuilco. Also in the southern extremities of the city are the waterways of Xochimilco, virtually the last remains of the great lagoons. In the outskirts Insurgentes meets another important through-route, the Calzada de Tlalpan, which runs due south from the Zócalo past the eastern side of Coyoacán and past a couple of fine museums - Diego Rivera's Anahuacalli, and the wonderful Museo Dolores Olmedo Patiño.

To the north, Insurgentes leaves the centre past the train station, and close by the northbound bus station, to sweep out of the city via the basilica of Guadalupe and Indios Verdes . The northern extension of Reforma, too, ends up at the great shrine of Guadalupe, as does the continuation of the Calzada de Tlalpan beyond the Zócalo.

Transportation in Mexico City

For all its size and frantic pace, once you're used to it Mexico City is surprisingly easy to get around, with an efficient and very cheap public transport system as well as reasonably priced taxis. You'll want to walk around the cramped streets of Downtown. If you're heading for Chapultepec or the Zona Rosa, you're better off taking the bus or metro, it's an interesting walk all the way down Reforma, but a very long one. As for the outer suburbs, you've got no choice but to rely on taxis or public transport. You'll save a lot of hassle if you avoid traveling during rush hour (about 7-9am & 6-8pm).

Tours that take in the city and often include the surrounding area are available from most of the more expensive hotels, and from specialist operators such as Gray Line, Londres 166 (tel 5208-1163); Maxi Tours, Amberes 69 (tel 5525-6812); and American Express, with various locations around the city (tel 5326-2877).

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