Mexico City
An Aztec temple under the cathedral square, murals in the opera house, Polanco's two-star tables, and the private-jet airport over the hills at Toluca.
- Arrival
- Benito Juárez International · MEX
- To the city
- About 30 to 45 minutes to Reforma by car
- Private jets
- Toluca (TLC); none at MEX
- Best time
- October to May
The city
Built on a lake, 2,200 metres up.
The Zócalo measures some 240 metres a side, with the Metropolitan Cathedral, begun in 1525, along one edge and the excavated Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlán beside it. Chapultepec Park covers more than four square kilometres to the west and holds the Museo Nacional de Antropología.
At over 2,200 metres the air is thin and the afternoons mild, 22 to 27 °C in every month. The rains come from June to September; October to May is dry, with February and March the sunniest.
Arriving
Airliners in the city, jets at Toluca.
Benito Juárez International lies about five kilometres east of the historic centre and 30 to 45 minutes from Reforma. Operations are capped at 61 an hour, and general aviation has been barred since 1994: private jets go to Toluca, over the hills to the west.
- Los Cabos 1 h 50
- Cancún 2 h 00
- New York 4 h 40
- Marrakech 11 h 55 long-range jet
- Paris 12 h 10 long-range jet
When to go
October to May.
Altitude keeps the afternoons between 22 and 27 °C all year. June to September is the rainy season, with 100 to 130 mm a month falling mostly in the late afternoon. October to May is dry, and the winter months are the clearest.
- 22° J 8
- 24° F 4
- 26° M 11
- 27° A 22
- 27° M 52
- 25° J 108
- 24° J 131
- 24° A 125
- 23° S 109
- 23° O 44
- 23° N 15
- 22° D 6
What to see and do
Days in and around Mexico City.
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Landmark
Templo Mayor
The Great Temple of the Aztecs beside the cathedral, found again in 1978 when a carved stone over three metres across came out of the ground.
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Landmark
Museo Nacional de Antropología
The country's archaeology under one roof in Chapultepec Park, with a library of more than 300,000 volumes.
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Landmark
Teotihuacán
The ancient city about 48 kilometres out, where the Pyramid of the Sun stands on a base of roughly 220 by 230 metres.
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Opera & music
Ballet Folklórico de México at the Palacio de Bellas Artes
Amalia Hernández's company has danced in the Palacio on Sundays, and later Wednesdays too, since 1959.
Official site -
Culture
Museo Frida Kahlo
Opened as a museum in 1958, the Casa Azul in Coyoacán keeps the house and belongings of Frida Kahlo, who lived there with Diego Rivera.
Official site -
Culture
Casa Luis Barragán
Barragán's own house and studio of 1947, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2004, is seen on guided tours booked in advance.
Official site -
Culture
Museo Nacional de Historia, Castillo de Chapultepec
Maximilian and Carlota's hilltop residence has been a museum since 1944, with murals by Orozco, Siqueiros and O'Gorman and over 65,000 objects.
Official site -
On the water
Xochimilco canals
Painted trajineras, poled from Embarcadero Nuevo Nativitas, glide along more than 170 kilometres of canals between the old chinampas.
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Racing & sport
Hipódromo de las Américas
Racing has run at this Lomas de Sotelo track since it opened in March 1943, with meetings most weekends.
Official site -
Nature
Desierto de los Leones National Park
Mexico's first national park after the Revolution, declared in 1917, its fir forest between 2,600 and 3,700 metres surrounds a Carmelite convent finished in 1814.
On the calendar
Dates to plan around.
Dates as published by the organisers. Runways, hotels and slots fill early around these weeks: the sooner we know, the more choice you have.
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7 Nov 2026
Basketball
NBA Mexico City Game
NBA regular season game between the Denver Nuggets and the Indiana Pacers.
Mexico City Arena
In 5 days
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February 2027 Dates to be confirmed
Art
Zona Maco
Contemporary art, design, photography and antiques fair held each February in Mexico City, the anchor of Mexico City Art Week.
Centro Citibanamex
In 3 months
-
29–31 Oct 2027
Formula 1
Mexico City Grand Prix
Round 20 of the 24-round 2027 Formula 1 World Championship, held at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez
In 12 months
Where to stay
Houses in Polanco and Roma.
Shown for information. We have no arrangement with any of these hotels.
- Sofitel Mexico City Reforma A tower on Reforma with suites facing the Angel of Independence and the Cityzen bar on the 38th floor.
- Las Alcobas, a Luxury Collection Hotel A small hotel on Presidente Masaryk, where Rodrigo Del Valle runs the farm-to-table kitchen at Anatol and the spa works with indigenous Mexican ingredients.
- Marquis Reforma Hotel & Spa Art Deco rooms looking over Chapultepec or the Angel of Independence, and a spa of 1,500 square metres with more than sixty treatments.
- Hyde Mexico City Reforma Opened in September 2026 in two modernist towers facing the Angel, with 106 rooms and a 14-seat omakase counter at Enzu.
- Mondrian Mexico City Condesa Each of its 183 rooms carries a mural by Ara Starck, drawn from the old aqueduct nearby.
- Casa Polanco Nineteen rooms in two private houses of the 1940s, terraces full of plants, and the only hotel in the city with two MICHELIN Keys.
- Brick Hotel Seventeen rooms in a mansion built of bricks shipped from England for the head of the Bank of London & Mexico, later a president's home.
- La Valise Mexico City Eight suites, one of them with a king bed that rolls out onto its own terrace.
- Pug Seal Allan Poe Bold colour, garden terraces with a temazcal, and snack and drinks stations open around the clock.
- Nima Local House Hotel Four rooms in a restored mansion of the early 1900s, run like a private house.
- Hacienda Peña Pobre An old hacienda in the south of the city, its house of the 19th century, left rustic.
Where to dine
The tables the guide rates.
From the MICHELIN Guide 2026, shown for information. We have no arrangement with any of these restaurants.
- Pujol Two Michelin stars Mexican, Modern $$$$ Tennyson 133, Polanco
- Quintonil Two Michelin stars Mexican, Contemporary $$$$ Isaac Newton 55, Polanco
- Máximo One Michelin star Mexican $$$$ Álvaro Obregón 65 Bis, Roma Norte
- Em One Michelin star Mexican, Contemporary $$$ Ámsterdam 76, Condesa
- Rosetta One Michelin star Creative, Mexican $$ Colima 166, Roma Norte
- Sud 777 One Michelin star Creative, Mexican $$ Boulevard de la Luz 777, Jardines del Pedregal
- Masala y Maíz One Michelin star Fusion $$ Artículo 123 116, Centro
- Expendio de Maíz One Michelin star Mexican $$ Avenida Yucatán 84, Roma Norte
- La Once Mil One Michelin star Mexican $$ Monte Everest 780, Lomas de Chapultepec
Elsewhere in Mexico
More reasons to come.
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Los Cabos
The arch at Land's End, the golf courses, and the Sea of Cortez.
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Tulum
Jungle hotels along the beach, and cenotes inland.
- Punta Mita Two golf courses and a handful of resorts, at the northern tip of Banderas Bay.
- San Miguel de Allende The pink spires of the Parroquia, and an art scene in the highlands.
- Mérida Restored haciendas around the old capital of the Yucatán.
- Oaxaca The cooking of the seven moles, and the craft villages of the valley.
Flying to Mexico City?
Choose how you arrive.
A Business or First Class seat on a scheduled airline, or an aircraft of your own. Tell us the date and how many are travelling, and we reply with one final price, our margin included.