A Long Weekendin Mexico City

Take a stroll

Nowhere captures the architectural splendor and variety of Mexico City quite like the energetic enclaves of Roma and Condesa. You’ll encounter Mexico’s most celebrated art Deco, art Nouveau and Modernist buildings and stroll through charming green parks, galleries and even former Indigenous settlements.

Dinner at Merotoro

Helmed by a chef from Baja California, Merotoro serves creative seafood and meat dishes in a chic yet rustic atmosphere. The tasting menu is fabulous, the service is immaculate and the entire experience is a delight. The cocktail menu is also worth a look (and a few delicious sips).

Take a tour

Discover Mexico’s Mesoamerican, colonial and revolutionary history while exploring the historic center of the capital with a local guide. What is now the heart of this modern city was also once the center of the Aztec world, Tenochtitlan.

Visit the Cathedral built upon the main Aztec temple by the Spanish conquistadors, as well as the painted representation of Mexico’s past by muralist Diego Rivera in the National Palace.

Then, walk through some of the center’s iconic streets to the Palace of Fine Arts where you will explore its varied architecture, or explore Templo Mayor, the main temple of the Mexica peoples in their capital city of Tenochtitlan, which is now Mexico City.

Lunch at Azul Histórico

Rest and fuel up at Azul Histórico, a Mexican restaurant located in the historic center. Enjoy classic dishes such as tortilla soup, moles or ​​cochinita pibil in the serene and beautiful courtyard. Afterward, pop by some of the many shops around.

Visit the Anthropology Museum

Delve deeper into Mexico’s Mesoamerican past at the National Museum of Anthropology, a space which houses the largest collection of pieces from the historical region. Located right by the Chapultepec Forest, this is Mexico’s most-visited museum. Plan two to three hours at least, but you could easily spend the whole day there.

Dine at Pujol

Consistently rated one of the best restaurants in the world, you can only get into Pujol with a reservation. Be sure to book in advance! The menu is always evolving, but remains rooted in Mexican cuisine. Choose between the tasting or the omakase menu and plan to go hungry.

Take a day trip to Teotihuacán

Established as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987, Teotihuacán is a vast Mexican archaeological complex northeast of Mexico City. You’ll need a full day to explore as it’s one of the most important Mesoamerican sites in the Americas.

Visit the archaeological zone while learning about the rituals, cosmology, beliefs and everyday lives of the Aztecs and the inhabitants of Teotihuacán before them. Running down the middle of the site, which was once a flourishing pre-Columbian city, is the Avenue of the Dead. It links the Temple of Quetzalcoatl, the Pyramid of the Moon and the Pyramid of the Sun, the latter two with panoramic views from their summits.

Dine at Montecristo

On the way back, stop at Montecristo for fine dining cuisine in a charming colonial house. Enjoy the live piano music and don’t leave without trying the vintage mezcal.

Start with coffee

Across from Frida and Diego’s house, stop by for coffee (or even breakfast) at San Ángel Inn – you’ll feel like you stepped into old-world Mexico. On Sundays, the local upper crust come here dressed to the nines for a fancy brunch with the whole family. It’s fun people-watching.

Walk around

Mexico City’s southern neighbourhoods feel like small villages. Wander down the tree-lined streets of San Angel and Coyoacán and along the waterways of Xochimilco.

Walk the footsteps of some of Mexico’s most revered artists and writers, including a visit to Frida Kahlo’s Casa Azul – a blue house where Mexican painter Frida Kahlo was born and later died, now a museum dedicated to her life – and Diego’s Studio Museum, where he lived and created, sometimes with Frida.

Lunch at Mercado Coyoacán

This authentic Mexican market will take you on a journey for the senses as you sit down to savor the flavors on offer.

Head to Xochimilco

Explore the canals while floating on a colorful boat called a trajinera to learn about the Aztecs’ Ingenious technique for growing food upon the fertile river beds of the pre-Hispanic canals. The chinampas are still in use today, but for growing flowers rather than food crops.