# Mexico City: map, what to do and when to go

In Mexico City, the ruins of the Aztec Templo Mayor sit on the same block as the Cathedral, because the Spanish city was built over it. Capital of the country and center of a metropolis of 22 million people, it sits at 2,240 m above sea level, over the drained bed of Lake Texcoco.

Canonical: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/mexico/
Language: en. Extended author commentary and itinerary notes may remain in Portuguese. Dates below belong to individual sources; this is not live availability.

## Direct answer
- **Mexico City: How much does the taxi from the airport to downtown cost?** The authorized taxi, with a ticket bought at the counter inside the terminal, costs 250 to 400 pesos to Centro, Roma or Condesa, and Uber, DiDi and Cabify pick up at designated points.
- **Mexico City: What's the currency, and how are prices written?** The currency is the Mexican peso (MXN), and it's written with the same sign as the dollar, so don't panic at the first menu: “$250” means 250 pesos.
- **Mexico City: What's the climate like throughout the year?** The climate is a high-altitude one, without tropical heat: highs of 22 to 26 °C almost all year and nights of 6 to 12 °C, dropping to 2 to 5 °C in December and January.

## The historic center, over the ruins of the Templo Mayor
Go into the Templo Mayor and its site museum at 9am, starting with the model of the seven building phases; allow two hours and remember it's closed on Mondays.
- Templo Mayor
- Catedral Metropolitana
- Palacio de Bellas Artes
- Torre Latinoamericana

## Chapultepec and the Reforma
Arrive at 9am at the Museo Nacional de Antropología, at opening time, and start with the Mexica hall.
- Museo Nacional de Antropología
- Bosque de Chapultepec and the Castle

## South: Coyoacán, San Ángel and Xochimilco's canals
Go into the Casa Azul, the Museo Frida Kahlo, at 10am, at the time on the ticket you bought online; on Wednesdays it opens at 11am, and it's closed on Mondays.
- Museo Frida Kahlo (Casa Azul)

## Zócalo (Plaza de la Constitución)
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/mexico/#g-lugar-zocalo
Cuauhtémoc · Up to half an hour
Square of about 240 by 240 m, one of the largest in the world, set over the Aztec ceremonial center. Every day an Army platoon raises the giant flag in the morning and lowers it in the late afternoon, with the square stopping around it.
Check access

## Templo Mayor
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/mexico/#g-lugar-templo-mayor
Cuauhtémoc
Ruins of Tenochtitlan's double temple, rediscovered in 1978 by electricians who hit the 3.2 m Coyolxauhqui monolith. There are seven overlapping construction stages; the museum next door holds thousands of pieces found in the excavations. Closed Mondays.
Check access

## Catedral Metropolitana
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/mexico/#g-lugar-catedral-metropolitana
Cuauhtémoc · Up to half an hour
Built between 1573 and 1813 with stone from the demolished Aztec precinct, a mix of Renaissance, baroque and neoclassical. It sank unevenly into the lakebed clay and had its foundations reinforced by an engineering project between 1993 and 2000; the unevenness still shows on the floor.
Check access

## Palacio Nacional
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/mexico/#g-lugar-palacio-nacional
Cidade do México
Seat of the Executive, built over Montezuma's palace. On the main staircase is the mural “The Epic of the Mexican People,” painted by Diego Rivera between 1929 and 1935: the country's history on a single wall. Entry is free with ID, but depends on the official schedule, so confirm on the day.
Check access

## Palacio de Bellas Artes
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/mexico/#g-lugar-palacio-de-bellas-artes
Cuauhtémoc · Up to half an hour
Carrara-marble theater and museum, begun in 1904 and finished in 1934, art nouveau outside and art deco inside. It has sunk about 4 m into the ground since it was built. Holds murals by Rivera, Orozco, Siqueiros and Tamayo and a Tiffany glass curtain with the volcanoes' silhouette.
Check access

## Museo Nacional de Antropología
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/mexico/#g-lugar-museo-nacional-de-antropologia
Miguel Hidalgo · Half a day or more
Opened in 1964, designed by Pedro Ramírez Vázquez: 22 galleries around a courtyard covered by a concrete umbrella held up by a single column. Holds the 24-ton Aztec Sun Stone and Pakal's jade mask. Closed Mondays; three hours is the minimum.
Check access

## Bosque de Chapultepec and the Castle
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/mexico/#g-lugar-bosque-de-chapultepec
Miguel Hidalgo
About 800-ha park in four sections, almost twice the size of Central Park, used as a sacred grove since before the conquest. Atop the hill sits the only castle in the Americas that housed a monarch: Maximilian of Habsburg, between 1864 and 1867.
Check access

## Museo Frida Kahlo (Casa Azul)
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/mexico/#g-lugar-museo-frida-kahlo
Coyoacán
House in Coyoacán where Frida Kahlo was born in 1907 and died in 1954, opened to the public in 1958 with her personal collection, the painted corsets and the intact studio. Entry is by timed ticket, sold only online, and dates sell out weeks in advance.
Check access

## Basílica de Guadalupe
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/mexico/#g-lugar-basilica-de-guadalupe
Gustavo A. Madero
Shrine on Tepeyac hill. The current basilica, circular and seating about 10,000, dates from 1976, also by Ramírez Vázquez; the old one next to it visibly leans from sinking. It receives about 10 million pilgrims around December 12.
Check access

## Torre Latinoamericana
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/mexico/#g-lugar-torre-latinoamericana
Cuauhtémoc · Up to half an hour
182 m tall, completed in 1956 on piles driven more than 30 m into the clay. It survived the 1957, 1985 and 2017 earthquakes and became a showcase of earthquake engineering; the 44th-floor lookout is the only quick way to grasp the size of the basin.
Check access

**Mexico City: How much does the taxi from the airport to downtown cost?**
The authorized taxi, with a ticket bought at the counter inside the terminal, costs 250 to 400 pesos to Centro, Roma or Condesa, and Uber, DiDi and Cabify pick up at designated points.

**Mexico City: What's the currency, and how are prices written?**
The currency is the Mexican peso (MXN), and it's written with the same sign as the dollar, so don't panic at the first menu: “$250” means 250 pesos.

**Mexico City: What's the climate like throughout the year?**
The climate is a high-altitude one, without tropical heat: highs of 22 to 26 °C almost all year and nights of 6 to 12 °C, dropping to 2 to 5 °C in December and January. The dry season runs from November to April; from May to October it rains almost every day, in a heavy storm between 4pm and 8pm.

**Mexico City: What's the real risk for tourists?**
The real risk here is property crime, not violence against tourists: pickpocketing and opportunistic theft.

**Mexico City: What are tacos al pastor, and how much do they cost?**
Tacos al pastor are made with pork marinated in achiote and chile, stacked on a vertical spit inherited from Lebanese immigrants of the 1930s and sliced straight onto the tortilla, with pineapple on top. They come on a small, doubled tortilla, with onion, cilantro and lime; 15 to 25 pesos each.


## In the Nilo app
- Plan these 4 days on the map: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/app/guide/mexico/?utm_source=llm&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=door-itinerary
- Mark your hotel on the map: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/app/map/mexico/?utm_source=llm&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=door-stay

## Full editorial guide (Portuguese)
https://nilopelomundo.com/llm/mexico.md