Mexico City is big – so get a city map and plan your experiences a little. It's best to see museums and sights in clusters, so you don’t have to keep hopping into a cab or on to the metro. To really get into it, and to do some city walking, aim to see a selection of the leafier neighbourhoods (known as ' colonias ').
Roma, Coyoacán, La Condesa and Polanco are generally safe and full of things to do, from museums, galleries, places to eat and drink, and indy shops. The historic centre is a fascinating whirl of street life, culture and commerce, but best enjoyed by day. Centro Polanco Nuevo Polanco Roma Coyoacán Tlatelolco Outside the city The Templo Mayor, just off the Zócalo, was an important ceremonial centre.
According to legend, the Aztecs were instructed by a god to find a place where an eagle stood upon a cactus with a snake in its beak – there they were to build their city Tenochtitlan, the capital that was to become the epicentre of the Aztec Empire. This extraordinary archaeological complex site, unearthed by accident in 1978, might well have been the place. The museum is superb and labels are in English.
Insider tip: On the corner of Pino Suárez and República del Salvador streets, just blocks from the Zócalo and the Templo Mayor, is a stone serpent welcoming visitors to a baroque building that now houses Mexico City’s Museo de la Ciudad de México. Contact: 00 52 55 4166 0780, templomayor.inah.
gob.mx Opening times: Tue-Sun, 9am-5pm Nearest metro:.
