Attractions

Bosque de Chapultepec

Chapultepec, which means Hill of Grasshoppers in the Aztec language (Náhuatl), once served as a refuge for the wandering Aztecs before eventually becoming a summer residence for Aztec nobles. In the 15th century, Nezahualcoyotl, ruler of nearby Texcoco, gave permission for the area to be made a forest reserve. The Bosque de Chapultepec has remained Mexico City's largest park to this day. It now covers more than 4 sq km (1.5 sq mi) and has lakes, a zoo and several excellent museums. Still an abode to Mexico's high and mighty, it contains the current presidential resident (Los Pinos) and a former imperial and presidential palace (Castillo de Chapultepec).

One of its handful of museums, the Museo Nacional de Antropologia (National Anthropology Museum) is one of the finest museums of its kind in the world. It is extremely large and overwhelming, with more than most people can absorb (without brain strain) in a single visit. The ground-floor halls are dedicated to pre-Hispanic Mexico, and the upper level covers the way modern Mexico's indigenous people, the descendants of those pre-Hispanic civilizations, live today. With a few exceptions, each ethnological section upstairs covers the same territory as the archaeological exhibit below it, so you can see the great Mayan city of Palenque as it was in the 7th century, then go upstairs and see how Mayan people live today.

The park has other museums, including the Museo del Caracol, which covers the subject of the Mexican people's struggle for liberty, the Museo de Arte Moderno, which has a permanent collection of Mexico's notable 20th-century artists, the excellent children's museum Papalote Museo de Niño and the Museo Nacional de Historia.

Centro Historico

Centro Historico (Historic Center), brims with fine colonial buildings and historic sites. Its nerve center and the heart of Mexico City is Zocalo, the Plaza de la Constitucion, which is home to the powers-that-be. On its east side is the Palacio Nacional, built on the site of an Aztec palace, which formerly housed the viceroys of New Spain. It now holds the offices of the president, a museum and the historical murals of Diego Rivera. On the northern part of the plaza is the Catedral Metropolitana (built by the Spaniards in the 1520s on the site of the Aztecs' Tzompantli), while on the south you'll find the offices of the Distrito Federal government. The plaza is also a stomping ground for political protesters - it's often dotted with makeshift camps of strikers or campaigners. At 6pm daily the huge Mexican flag flying in the middle of the Zocalo is ceremonially lowered by the Mexican army and carried into the Palacio Nacional.

Also in the vicinity is the excavated Templo Mayor (Main Temple) of Aztec Tenochtitlán. Its excavation commenced after electricity workers happened upon a buried eight-ton stone-disc carving of the Aztec goddess Coyolxauhqui in 1978. The temple is thought to be on the exact spot where the Aztecs saw their symbolic eagle with a snake in its beak perching on a cactus - still the symbol of Mexico today. In Aztec belief this was literally the center of the universe. Like many other sacred buildings in Tenochtitlán, the temple, first begun in 1375, was enlarged several times, with each rebuilding accompanied by the sacrifice of captured warriors. What we see today are sections of several of the temple's different phases. Museo del Templo Mayor, an excellent museum within the Templo Mayor site, houses artifacts from the site and gives a good overview (in Spanish) of Aztec civilization.

The Museo Nacional de Arte (National Art Museum) is one of the most stellar museums in the area, while the panoramas from the modern Torre Latinoamericana skyscraper are the truly tremendous.

Alameda Central

Dominating the east end of Alameda Central, Mexico City's leafy city-center park, is the white-marble Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts). Construction of the concert hall began in 1904 under Italian architect Adamo Boari, who tended toward neoclassical and art nouveau styles. But the building's heavy marble shell began to sink into the spongy subsoil, and work was halted. Architect Federico Mariscal eventually finished the interior in the 1930s, with new designs reflecting the more modern art deco style. This is the place to see if you're mad about murals: some of Mexico's finest are found upon the immense wall spaces of the second and third levels. Works by Rufino Tamayo, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Jose Clemente Orozco and Diego Rivera are among the highlights.

Speaking of Rivera, the Museo Mural Diego Rivera was built in 1986 specifically to house a single outstanding mural of his. In his Sueño de una Tarde Dominical en la Alameda (Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in the Alameda), the artist imagines many of the figures who walked in the city from colonial times onward. All are grouped around a skeleton dressed in prerevolutionary ladies' garb; a pug-faced-kid version of Rivera and Frida Kahlo, appear next to the bony figure. The museum has a space for temporary exhibitions.

Coyoacán

About 10km (6mi) south of downtown, Coyoacan was Cortes' base after the fall of Tenochtitlán. It remained a small town outside Mexico City until urban sprawl reached it 50 years ago. Close to the university and once home to Frida Kahlo and Leon Trotsky (whose houses are now the fascinating Museo Frida Kahlo and the Museo Leon Trotsky), it still has its own identity, with narrow colonial-era streets, plazas, cafes and a lively atmosphere. Especially on the weekends, assorted musicians, mimes and craft markets draw large relaxed crowds from all walks of life to Coyoacán's central plazas. A pleasant way of approaching Coyoacán is via the Viveros de Coyoacán (Coyoacán Nurseries), a swath of greenery, popular with joggers.

San Ángel

Sixty years ago San Ángel was a village separated from Mexico City by open fields. Today it's one of the city's most charming suburbs, with many quiet cobbled streets lined by both old colonial houses and expensive modern ones, and hosting a variety of things to see and do. Every Saturday the Bazar Sábado brings a festive atmosphere, masses of color and crowds of people to San Ángel's pretty little Plaza San Jacinto. The 16th-century Iglesia de San Jacinto, off the west side of the plaza, is entered from a peaceful garden where you can take refuge from the crowded market areas. Ten minutes walk northwest of the plaza is the Diego Rivera & Frida Kaholo Studio Museum, the 1930s avante garde abode where the famous couple lived from 1934 to 1940, when they divorced. The museum has only a few examples of Rivera's art and none of Kahol's, but has a lot of memorabilia.

Plaza Loreto, a 600m (a third of a mile) walk south of Plaza San Jacinto, is Mexico City's most attractive mall, converted from an old paper factory a few years ago. It's more than just a place to shop: there is a mini-amphitheater for performances, two multiscreen cinemas, a variety of eateries and the excellent Museo Soumaya, which houses one of the world's three major collections of French sculptor Auguste Rodin, plus work by Degas, Matisse, Renoir, Tamayo and others.

Xochimilco

Xochimilco, which means 'Place where Flowers Grow' in Náhuatl, lies about 20km (12mi) south of downtown Mexico City. It is known for its canals, which remain one of Mexico's favorite destinations for fun and relaxation. Hundreds of colorful trajineras (gondolas), each punted by a man with a pole, cruise the canals with parties of merrymakers and tourists. You can board one at one of the embarcaderos (boat landings) near the center of Xochimilco. On weekends, a fiesta atmosphere takes over and the waterways become jam-packed with boats, people and tourist-targeting touts. Weekdays offer a more relaxing vibe.