Sights

Alameda

The Alameda, which was once an Aztec marketplace, is now a pleasant and verdant park. The streets around the Alameda are lined with colonial mansions, skyscrapers, lively cafés, restaurants, shops and markets.

type:	Hotspots
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Basilica de Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe

Within the northern city limits is the famous Basilica of Guadalupe, not just another church, but the central place of worship for Mexico's patron saint, and the home of the image responsible for uniting pre-Hispanic Indian mysticism with Catholic beliefs. The Virgin of Guadalupe is the most revered image in the country, and you will no doubt see her countenance wherever you travel in Mexico.

The basilica is located on the site where, on December 9, 1531, a poor Indian named Juan Diego is reputed to have seen a vision of a beautiful lady in a blue mantle. The local bishop, more..

type:	Churches and Cathedrals
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openingHours:	djhfjlsadhflas

Templo Mayor

Just east of the cathedral are the remnants of the Templo Mayor, the Aztecs' principal temple, and the stunning museum that houses the artifacts discovered at the site.

type:	Temples
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chapultepec gardens

Other must-sees include the Bosque de Chapultepec, Mexico City's largest park

type:	Parks
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Cathedral Metropolitana

An impressive, towering cathedral, begun in 1573 and finished in 1788, it blends baroque, neoclassic, and Mexican churrigueresque architecture. As you look around the cathedral and the Sagrario next to it, note how the building has sunk into the soft lake bottom beneath. The base of the facade is far from level and straight, and when one considers the weight of the immense towers, it's no surprise. Permanent scaffolding is in place to stabilize the building. In Mexico, the sacred ground of one religion often becomes the sacred ground of its successor. Cortés and his Spanish more..

type:	Hotspots
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address:	The zocalo, on Cinco de Mayo, Centro Historico
openinghours:	Daily 1am-7pm

Centro Historico

Centro Historico (downtown Mexico City) is a good area to visit for things such as pirated DVDs, VCDs, X-Box, PS2 games and etc. Easily reachable by  Metro stop San Juan de Letran on Linea 8 (Green line), it's basically a street full of vendors of all sorts.

type:	general
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Templo Mayor and Museo del Templo Mayor

The Museo del Templo Mayor (Museum of the Great Temple) opened in 1987. To enter it, take the walkway to the large building in the back portion of the site, which contains fabulous artifacts from on-site excavations. Inside the door, a model of Tenochtitlán gives a good idea of the scale of the vast city of the Aztecs. The rooms and exhibits are organized by subject on many levels around a central open space. You'll see some marvelous displays of masks, figurines, tools, jewelry, and other artifacts, including the huge stone wheel of the moon goddess Coyolxauhqui ("she with more..

type:	Museums
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Cuicuilco pyramid

Aztec pyramid.

type:	Temples
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Zocalo

Plaza de la Constitucion, Zocalo
photo by: Juan Pablo Kutianski

the Plaza de la Constitución is the beating heart of the city. It is more commonly known as the Zócalo.

type:	Hotspots
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The canals of Xochimilco.

Not really a park but still a relaxing way to spend an afternoon.

Fun place, you can eat and drink on the small boats, listening to mariachi music! Check out the scary dude who lives on an island with thousands of dolls which he looks after.

type:	Hotspots
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Museo Frida Kahlo

Although during her lifetime Frida Kahlo was known principally as the wife of muralist Diego Rivera, today her own art now surpasses his in popularity. Kahlo's life was dedicated both to her painting and her passionate, tortured love for her husband. Her emotional and physical pain--her spine was pierced during a serious streetcar accident in her youth--were the primary subjects of her canvases, many of which are self portraits. These paintings are now acknowledged as not only exceptional works of Latin American art, but some of the purest artistic representations of female more..

type:	Museums
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address:	Londres 247, Coyoacan
openinghours:	Tues-Sun 10am-6pm

Palacio Nacional

Palacio Nacional (National Palace), built on the site of an Aztec palace it now houses the offices of the president, a museum as well as murals of Diego Rivera.

type:	Palaces
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Alameda Park

Today, the lovely tree-filled Alameda Central Park attracts pedestrians, cotton-candy vendors, strollers, lovers, and organ grinders. Long ago, the site of the Alameda was an Aztec marketplace. When the conquistadors took over in the mid-1500s, heretics were burned at the stake there under the Spanish Inquisition. In 1592, the governor of New Spain, Viceroy Luis de Velasco, converted it to a public park.

type:	Parks
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address:	Av. Juárez and Lázaro Cárdenas

Zona Rosa

The nightlife district of Mexico City.

type:	Hotspots
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Plaza Garibaldi

Great for watching the mariachi bands in the evening.

type:	Hotspots
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Iglesia y Hospital de Jesus Nazareno

This church was founded by Hernán Cortéz soon after the Conquest. A stone marker on Pino Suárez marks it as the spot where Cortéz and Montezuma reportedly met for the first time. Cortéz died in Spain in 1547, but his remains are in a vault inside the chapel (entered by a side door on República del Salvador). Vaults on the opposite wall store the remains of Cortéz's relatives. Notice the Orozco mural, The Apocalypse, on the choir ceiling.

type:	Hotspots
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address:	Pino Suarez and El Salvador, Centro Historico
openinghours:	Mon-Sat 7am-8pm, Sun 7am-1pm and 5-8pm

Palacio Nacional and the Diego Rivera Murals

Begun in 1692 on the site of Moctezuma's "new" palace, this building became the site of Hernán Cortés's home and the residence of colonial viceroys. It has changed much in 300 years, taking on its present form in the late l920s when the top floor was added.

type:	Museums
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address:	Palacio Nacional, Av. Pino Suarez, facing the zocalo
openinghours:	Mon-Sat 9am-5:30pm