Mexico City
DESTINATION GUIDE
Here's what you need to know
about the incredible location of
Mexico City...
HIGHLIGHTS
Despite being one of the most populated metropolises in the world, Mexico City has a surprisingly large number of parks and green spaces to explore.
Spanning an area of just over 1,700 acres, Chapultepec is one of the largest parks in Mexico and the second largest in Latin America. For Mexico City residents the park is a valued cultural and historic area, full of ancient ruins dating back to Teotihuacan and Aztec times, as well as an essential green ‘lung’, home to a large number of Montezuma Cypress trees – many of which are hundreds of years old – and rare species of birds, reptiles and amphibians such as the endangered Axolotl.
To fully grasp the rich history and culture of Mexico and Mexico City, make sure you pay a visit to the museum located on Reforma Avenue in the heart of Chapultepec Park.
Arguably one of the most beautiful museums in the world, it houses thousands of significant archaeological and anthropological artefacts from the country’s pre-Hispanic heritage, including the Stone of the Sun (Aztec Calendar Stone), and treasures recovered from the Mayan civilisation.
Located 30 miles north-east of Mexico City lies Teotihuacan, an ancient Mesoamerican city believed to have been settled as early as 400BC.
Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987, this most powerful and influential city of the region was mysteriously destroyed by fire, and smashed artworks suggest some sort of uprising occurred, although historians remain puzzled as to its downfall and it had been abandoned for centuries by the time the Aztecs discovered it in the 1400s.
Naming it Teotihuacan, meaning ‘the place where the gods were created’, the Aztecs revered the city as the origin of civilisation and it remains one of the most visited ancient sites in Mexico.
Spanning an area of 20km and with a precise grid layout, the city is dominated by the 40 metre wide, 3.2km long Avenue of the Dead, with the 216 ft tall Pyramid of the Sun and the slightly smaller Pyramid of the Moon flanking the thoroughfare.
FUN FACT
Each year, Mexicans come together with their families and friends to mark Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) and remember deceased loved ones. Far from being a sombre affair, the holiday at the beginning of November features gift giving of sugar skulls and feasting on favourite foods next to altars decorated in vibrant orange marigold flowers.
In Mexico City the Day of the Dead festivities are marked with a large colourful parade featuring carnival floats, dancers, visual artists and giant sculptures, which wind their way through downtown to the Zocalo and thousands of people line the streets.
A seemingly long-standing tradition, the parade in fact only began in the city in 2016 and was inspired by the 2015 James Bond film Spectre, featuring Daniel Craig as Bond trying to thwart a terrorist plot and chasing the bad guys through a completely fictional parade full of skeleton laden floats and people dressed in elaborate costumes at the very beginning of the film.
The Mexican government saw this as a brilliant way to attract more tourism to the city, and thus adopted the parade as part of the annual festivities.
WHAT TO EAT
Mexico City has a rich culinary heritage which spans cheap and delicious street food sold from carts each day on busy thoroughfares, to incredible high-end cuisine served by passionate and inventive chefs who are redefining what Mexican food is.
The taco is king in Mexico and whether you prefer a tortilla made of traditional corn or Spanish-introduced wheat flour, then filled with rich and fatty carnitas or tasty grilled al pastor, it’s a universal truth that the most delicious taco will be the one served hot at the side of a road for a few pesos.
Celebrated Mexican chef Enrique Olvera – who was born and raised in Mexico City – first opened his world-renowned restaurant Pujol in 2000 after graduating from the Culinary Institute of America.
What began as a menu of dishes typical of his classical training but using Mexican ingredients, soon evolved into a celebration of Mexican cuisine reimagined and Olvera became an ambassador for Mexican gastronomy.
The tasting menu at Pujol is continually evolving but always shines a light on incredible Mexican ingredients and reinterprets them in an elegant way
