Travel Guides > Mexico City, Mexico

Mexico City Travel

These days, most vacationers travel to Mexico to enjoy its fine beaches, like Cozumel or Acapulco, or to explore the ruins on the Mayan peninsula. But to discount the capital city of Mexico City is certainly a mistake, as this huge metropolis has lots to offer travelers.

Often touted as one of the the largest city in the world, Mexico City is so big that it takes more than an hour to get from one end of the city to the other. Travel guides always suggest that tourists not drive within the city limits as the traffic generated by the city's 16 million residents is so dense that visitors are sure to have difficulty getting around or end up in an accident.

Traffic aside, Mexico City, located in the center of the country, offers guests a large dose of history - much of it centering on the Aztec Empire - plenty of culture, and a ton of leisure activities and active pursuits.

The city is home to more than 150 museums, most of them either history or art-related. Many of the art museums are dedicated to the works of Mexico's favorite son, socialist painter Diego Rivera and his third wife, Frida Kahlo. Check out the Museo-Estudio Frida Kahlo & Diego Rivera, the couple's studio that now houses lots of memorabilia and some artwork; the Museo Mural Diego Rivera, which contains Rivera's famous Alameda Park mural; and the Museo de Frida Kahlo, the house where Kahlo was born and lived with Rivera until his death.

For a comprehensive look at some of the best art produced by Mexican artists besides Rivera, there are two excellent museums - the Museo Nacional de Arte and the Museo de Arte Moderno.

Museo Nacional de Antropología (National Anthropology Museum) is one of the finest of its type in the world. At over 100,000 square feet in size, this museum focuses many on the cultures and societies of Mexico and how they've lived throughout the centuries.

The Museo del Palacio Nacional stands at the site of the former palace on the great leader Montezuma and was constructed from the ruins of the Aztec temple. Some government offices are located here but visitors can enter to view the murals on the walls which depict the history of Mexico.

Near the palace, you'll also find the remains of the Great Temple. Unearthed in 1978, this was the most important religious building in what was once the Aztec capital. The museum here provides a good education as to the history of the Aztecs.

The government of Mexico City has worked hard to make the city streets just as lovely as the buildings that house their national treasures. Thanks to those initiatives, the city now boasts a lot more parkland, including places like Chapultepec Park, one of the largest city parks in the world. Not unlike New York's Central Park, Chapultepec is the center of life here and contains a zoo, botanical garden, a lake for boating, jogging and bridle paths, an amusement park, and a number of museums within its boundaries.