15 Awesome Things to do in Mexico City, Mexico
Mexico City is a thriving metropolis filled with fun sights and interesting things to do–not to mention, delicious food. If you’re looking for fun things to do in Mexico City, we’ve picked out some of our favorites. If you’re ambitious, you can in fact see and do all these things within one week in Mexico City. Or pick and choose which fun things match your interests!.
Chapultepec Park
Chapultepec Park is an absolute must! At 1700 acres, you can literally spend days just exploring what the park has to offer, let alone the rest of the city. This massive park houses several monuments, museums, a botanical garden, a lake where you can go paddle boating, a zoo, as well as food vendors and souvenir stands. For more detailed information check out our article on Chapultepec. One of the major attractions is Chapultepec Castle. The castle not only is a breathtaking sight and offers magnificent views of the city, but it’s also a fantastic museum. It’s a great place to get a taste of Mexican history and really acquaint yourself both with Mexico and Mexico City.
National Anthropology Museum
The National Anthropology Museum is the largest and most visited museum in Mexico. And trust me when I say large doesn’t even cut it! This museum has 23 permanent exhibits and over 600,000 artifacts that span two massive floors. We spent a few hours there and only saw about a fourth of the museum! Most of the exhibits focus on early Mexican civilizations, like the Mayans, Teotihuacans, and Aztecs. You’ll be amazed by the sheer number and size of artifacts that this museum has to offer!
Food Tours
Food tours are a great way to taste local cuisine from. You can find several different options for food tours in Mexico City. Some focus on particular regions, like Polanco, Colonia Roma, or the Historic Center. Others focus on a particular food or beverage, like tacos and mezcal.
You can book food tours through sites like Tripadvisor and Viator, or directly through tour companies. Sometimes it’s worth comparing excursions across sites, since prices may differ depending on who you book through.
Xochimilco Floating Gardens
Xochimilco is famous for its canal system where you can eat, drink, and listen to music while you float down the canals in colorful gondola-like boats. It’s a fun way to relax while soaking in a little Mexican culture and a great activity for groups who want to party and kick it up a notch! While you float down the canals you’ll have opportunities to try local food, grab some souvenirs, and listen to mariachi music.
If you like haunted houses and scary stories, make sure to visit The Island of the Dolls. This creepy place has been featured on the show Ghost Adventures and is covered with over 1,000 dirty, cobweb-covered dolls of varying size and shape with missing hair and limbs. According to legend, Xochimilco native Don Julian Santana Barrera found the body of a young girl that had drowned in the water. Shortly after, he found a doll that he thought belonged to the girl. Some say he hung the doll from a tree as a way to show respect. Others say he was haunted by her spirit and hung up the doll to try to satisfy her. As time went on, he continued to collect dolls and hang them on the island until he died 50 years later in the same spot where he found the dead girl.
You can also visit an Axolotl Reserve. Axolotls are super cute paedomorphic salamanders related to the tiger salamander. They have feather-like gills that resemble a headdress and can regenerate their limbs. Unfortunately, axolotls are critically endangered and can only be found in Xochimilco. But local refuges are working to protect and rebuild the Axolotl population.
Tip: Book your boat before you go in order to get a better deal and avoid haggling. Our boat was about $104 for 5 hours, and we added margaritas, beer, and food for about $25. You could definitely bring your own beverages and food for cheaper if you want. The posted price at Xochimilco for a trajinera is normally 500 pesos per hour–or about $26 dollars per hour. So we essentially got an hour free.
Frida Kahlo Museum
The Frida Kahlo Museum is located in Mexico City’s Coyoacán District, which is known for its art, history, and local markets. One of the things that makes this little museum interesting is that it is the actual house that Frida grew up in with her family and later lived in with Diego Rivera. It contains some of Frida’s possessions and rooms decorated as they were during the time she lived there, as well as both her and Diego’s artwork, and an exhibit inspired by the corsets Frida had to wear to support her spine following injuries from a tram accident.
Tip: Tickets must be purchased in advance and reserved for a specific time. These tickets tend to sell out in advance, so we recommend booking your desired time slot at least a couple days before visiting.
Lucha Libre
Lucha Libre is the term for Mexican wrestling and is the country’s second most popular sport after fútbol (or what the US calls soccer). It’s similar to WWE wrestling or Netflix’s show Glow in that it is more of a scripted, choreographed match, than traditional wrestling. But that doesn’t make it any less entertaining. Each match is a battle between the “Tecnicos” and “Rudos.” The “Tecnicos” are the heroes who are known for clean fighting, while the “Rudos” are the villains who tend to ignore the rules and fight dirty. And the crowd is almost just as entertaining as the show, as they root for their team and shout endless obscenities at the other side. The other thing that’s interesting about Lucha Libre is that it’s considered very inclusive. You’ll see wrestlers or “luchadores” of different ages, genders, and body types, because it’s more about the personality they bring to the ring.
Teotihuacán
Teotihuacán, which means “the place where the gods were created,” is an ancient Mesoamerican city constructed from lava rock. It’s thought that the city was established between 100-400 BC and flourished from 1-500 AD with a population of approximately 125,000-200,000, making it one of the largest cities for the period. The city contains several pyramids, the most important being the Pyramid of the Moon and Pyramid of the Sun, which stand at 140 ft and 216 ft, respectively. If you love history and ancient ruins, then this should definitely be on your list. You can marvel at the ancient city from above in a hot air balloon and explore it on foot. We went all out and did a hot air balloon ride and a guided tour, which were both totally worth it! It’s about 1 hour outside Mexico City. So you have to get there by car, bus, or an organized tour. Check out our experience with the hot air balloon tour or our tour through the ruins on foot!
Las Grutas Tolantongo
Las Grutas Tolantongo are a series of natural hot springs and thermal pools in Mezquital Canyon. It’s a pretty popular spot due to its aqua blue pools with panoramic views. There are 4 different hot spring areas: a cave, tunnel, river, and several thermal pools. I think most people like to go for the pools since they’re built into the side of the canyon and provide the best views, but the cave, tunnel, and river were warmer. You can also visit their suspension bridge and go ziplining. It’s about 3.5 hours from Mexico City. So, you’ll either need to rent a car or book an organized trip. You can also choose to stay at the hot springs resort or camp at the site. Check out our experience at Las Grutas Tolantongo for more info!
Plaza del Zócalo
Plaza del Zócalo is Mexico City’s main square in the Central Historic District and is the political and religious center of the city. In the Plaza you’ll find the Metropolitan Cathedral, the National Palace, City Hall, and other government buildings. It also hosts different concerts and events throughout the year. And you can often find Danzantes Aztecas, people who play music and dance in the square wearing traditional Aztec clothing.
Metropolitan Cathedral
The Metropolitan Cathedral, or its full name The Metropolitan Cathedral of the Assumption of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, is right in the heart of the historic district in the Plaza del Zócalo. It was built over two and a half centuries from 1573-1813 over the remains of an Aztec temple in the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan. It’s 350 feet long, 200 feet wide, and 215 feet tall at its highest point, making it one of the largest and oldest cathedrals in Latin America. Since it was built over such a long period, you can find several architectural influences, including gothic, baroque, churrigueresque, neoclassical, and neo-renaissance. In addition to its unique architecture, you’ll also find several famous religious paintings, including The Assumption of the Virgin and Woman of the Apocalypse from the 1600s. When you visit, you may also notice that the floor is uneven, which is actually because it’s slowly sinking at a rate of about 3 feet per year due to being built on soft clay over a former lake.
Mirador Torre Latinamericana
Some of the best views of Mexico City are from Mirador Torre Latinamericana, a 44-story skyscraper built in 1965. On the top floor is an observation deck overlooking the city. You can purchase tickets for the observation deck or visit the bar on the 41st floor for free. The tower also has two museums: the Museum of the City of Mexico and the Bicentennial Museum, where you can learn about the tower and Mexico City through the centuries.
Palacio de Bellas Artes
The Palacio de Bellas Artes is a beautiful building completed in 1934. The outside of the palace has Classical and Art Nouveau influences, with white marble arches, columns, sculptures, and a glass dome roof that shines gold in the sun. In contrast, the interior of the palace has more of an Art Deco feel with black and beige marble, gold/bronze accents, and symmetric, clean lines. It oozes opulence and you feel like you’ve just stepped into a party with the Great Gatsby. In addition to its stunning architecture, the palace also houses several rotating art exhibits and impressive murals, including a reconstruction of Diego Rivera’s famous Man, Controller of the Universe (originally meant for Rockefeller Center and titled Man at the Crossroads). Be sure to check out the event schedule, as well. The palace hosts a number of different events, including orchestral, dance, theater, opera, and other performances. When we were there, we saw Ballet Folklórico de México, which displayed traditional music and dance celebrating Mexican culture. It was awesome to see a show there, plus the actual stage and theater are gorgeous.
Tip: For the best view of the Palacio, head up to the cafe on the 8th floor of the Sears Department Store and enjoy a coffee while you take in the palace from a different angle!
Aquarium
The Mexico City aquarium has two parts: Inbursa Aquarium and Interactive Aquarium. The Inbursa Aquarium is what you typically think of where you view tanks full of different fish and other marine life, which is what I prefer. The Interactive Aquarium is more informational, but you do get to touch some of the animals there. We got to touch sea urchins, turtles, and frogs, and have our fingers cleaned by red garra. Plus the Interactive Aquarium contains the axolotl breeding program, so you can see these cute little guys throughout all their stages of development! This was probably the most unique part of the aquarium in our opinion and makes the visit worth it.
Museo Jumex
Museo Jumex is a privately owned contemporary art museum located in the Polanco District. The owner, Eugenio López Alonso, owns around 2,800 works of art, making it one of the largest privately owned collections in Latin America. The museum does not house all of the pieces at once, but has rotating exhibits which includes work by: Andy Warhol, Martin Kippenberger, Cy Twombly, Damien Hirst, and many others. It also houses a library with over 8,500 books focused on modern and contemporary art. In addition to the impressive art collection, the museum was designed by famous British architect Sir David Chipperfield. It’s a 5-story concrete cube with a saw-tooth roof.
Tip: You can also get a really good view of the Somaya Museum from the Museo Jumex terrace.
Somaya Museum
The Somaya Museum consists of two buildings, the first of which opened in 1994 in the Plaza Loreto and the second more prominent building opened in 2011 in Plaza Carso in the Polanco district. This 46-meter high, 6-story building is considered one of Mexico City’s more modern architectural gems. It was designed by Mexican architect Fernando Romero with a twisted hourglass shape and is covered in 16,000 hexagonal aluminum tiles which reflect the sun making the whole building shine a brilliant silver. The museum has over 66,000 pieces of art ranging from the Mesoamerican period to modern day and includes work by both Mexican and European artists, such as Diego Rivera, Dalí, El Greco, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, and Vincent van Gogh. Some particularly famous pieces include The Thinker sculpture by French artist Auguste Rodin and Madonna of the Yarnwinder by Leonardo da Vinci. It also houses the world’s largest prehispanic and colonial coin collection.
