A sprawling capital standing at an altitude of 2,200 meters and with more than nine million inhabitants, Mexico City is fourteen times the size of Paris.
Its immensity and its reputation as a city plunged under the domination of cartels have tarnished the image of the megalopolis, long considered dangerous.
However, the Mexican capital has been booming for around twenty years.
Its public spaces have been renovated, its cultural offerings are breathtaking, its culinary scene is bubbling and the war on drugs is kept away from tourist areas, making the megalopolis quite safe.
To discover
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Today, Mexico City is an essential stop on any trip to the territory.
The city is attractive for its many historical monuments, such as the Palace of Fine Arts, the Chapultepec Castle, Constitution Square and the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a place of pilgrimage for all Latinos.
It is also a city resolutely turned towards art, vibrating to the rhythm of traditional street shows, breathtaking contemporary works, the National Auditorium and the hundred neighborhood theaters, including performances mariachis.
We can no longer count its museums, its art galleries, its antique shops, its succulent plants engulfing the patios, the window bars and the stairwells, and its murals of varied styles, so dear to Mexico.
Visit the Chapultepec woods
View of Mexico City from Chapultepec Castle, in the middle of the woods.
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An oasis in the heart of one of the largest capitals in the world, Chapultepec Wood is an immense green space whose 170,000 trees help regulate the atmospheric pollution that weighs on Mexico City.
In addition to its botanical garden where several species of cacti are concentrated but also agaves, succulents and exotic flowers, Chapultepec brings together important museums.
Don't miss the unmissable National Museum of Anthropology, an immense site which dissects the chronology and history of the indigenous civilizations which lived in Central America before the arrival of the Spaniards;
and the Mexico City Museum of Modern Art, to immerse yourself in the rich Mexican artistic culture.
Stroll around the Condesa
La Condesa is a quiet and trendy neighborhood that attracts young Mexican middle-class people and tourists alike.
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With its chic avenues lined with mansions, colonial-style villas and art deco buildings, La Condesa is a quiet and trendy neighborhood that attracts the young Mexican bourgeoisie and tourists alike.
People shop in independent boutiques, visit its many art galleries, eat vegan ice cream and sip coffee on the shaded terraces that encircle Mexico Park, where hiphop, salsa and cumbia dancers rub shoulders with city dwellers who walk their dogs on leash dressed like their masters.
Both lively and quiet, it is a pleasant neighborhood, ideal for contemplating the city life of Mexico City's golden youth.
Eating at Roma
Patio of a neoclassical house in Roma Norte.
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A bit like Pigalle in Paris, Colonia Roma has gone from working-class neighborhood to Mexico City hipster hangout in just a few years.
The cream of gastronomy have gathered in the tree-lined streets of this residential area popular with European expatriates, so much so that the best restaurants and bakeries in the capital are lined up from one sidewalk to the other, punctuated by wine or cocktail bars, trendy boutiques and organic stores.
Behind the facade of numerous Art Nouveau and neoclassical style buildings there are even hidden clubs and restaurants with daring decor, both underground and sophisticated.
Don't miss the tarragon puff pastries from the Rosetta bakery;
vegan tacos from Gracias Madre Vegan taco;
the improbable atmosphere of Choza and the homemade dim sum of Mog Bistro.
Discover Aztec ruins right in the center
Remains of the Templo Mayor, in the center of Mexico City.
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Mexico City was built on top of Tenochtitlán, the capital of the Aztec Empire founded in 1325. When the Spanish conquistadors invaded the region, they intentionally removed all traces of pre-Hispanic rule, concealing its existence and leaving only the Spanish imprint.
But in 1978, construction workers accidentally discovered a large stone relief depicting an Aztec goddess.
A large-scale excavation program was then initiated and allowed the site to be combed through and the monumental ruins of the Templo Mayor to reappear, a building considered to be the most important place in the city of Tenochtitlan, where the main events took place. religious ceremonies.
The ruins of the building, composed of a large platform, a pyramidal base with four bodies, a double staircase and two sanctuaries at the top, can be seen in the heart of Mexico City, very close to the Zocalo.
The tour offers a good overview of the organization of the Aztec civilization.
Practical notebook:
Getting there:
from Paris CDG, Air-France offers 3 direct flights every day to Mexico City (flight duration: 12h15).
Transport:
you can get around easily by metro for 5 pesos per trip (0.26€) or via the “Metrobús”, an efficient and fast bus service crossing the capital for 6 pesos per trip.
Note that the first two metro cars and the first section of the Métrobús are reserved for women in order to avoid sexual assault.
You can also travel by taxi or VTC during nighttime or daytime travel within the same neighborhood.
On the other hand, as Mexico City suffers from insane urban traffic, it is better to avoid the taxi during rush hours, that is to say between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m.