I knew I was in for a real treat when I decided to join Cantimplora Travel, a curated travel company, for their tour of Mexico City.
How often do you get to experience a city from a local’s perspective? How often do you get to see all of their favorite places, the hidden jewels, and the secret spots most tourists might only discover by accident?
If you haven’t been to Mexico City, you might not know just how multifaceted it really is. That there is far more to the city’s food scene than tacos, far more to their drink menus than tequila, and far more to its history than war and upheaval.
So, allow me to shed some light on the true Mexico City for you and introduce you to some rather unexpected things to do and see in this vibrant city.
Looking for a great place to stay in Mexico City? I loved my stay at Hotel El Ejecutivo in the neighborhood of Juarez.
#1: Stroll through the city’s many parks
A common misconception about Mexico City is that it’s nothing but urban sprawl, a true concrete jungle.
But the insiders know differently–in fact, Mexico City (also commonly referred to by its former name, Distrito Federal or simply D.F.) has an abundance of green spaces, including the largest park in Latin America.
Bosque de Chapultepec holds this title with an impressive area of 1,600 acres.
Other popular parks include Parque España and Parque Mexico in the Condesa neighborhood, and Parque Lincoln and Parque América located in the neighborhood of Polanco.
There are small green spaces scattered all over the city, as it turns out, and on a tour with Cantimplora Travel, you’ll experience many of them first-hand.
Photos courtesy of Cantimplora Travel
#2: Take a day trip to an active volcano
Mexico City is surrounded by gorgeous mountains and admiring the Sierra Madre range is as easy as stepping out your front door.
On top of that, it’s quite easy to escape the city altogether for a day trip to one of the country’s highest peaks (fourth-highest, to be exact).
Nevado de Toluca is an active stratovolcano situated roughly 80 kilometers west of Mexico City; it features two crater lakes and can be hiked into in just a few hours.
Once inside (and once you’ve caught your breath after hiking near an altitude of 4,680 meters, or 15,354 feet) the views are incredible. Another hour or so of hiking can take you on a loop around both lakes, Laguna del Sol and Laguna de la Luna.
It’s a challenging-but-not-too-challenging hike that just about anyone can conquer, and adds an element of adventure to a visit to Mexico’s capital.
When you take on Nevado de Toluca with Cantimplora Travel, having their personal photographer in tow means you can focus on experiencing the hike rather than documenting it.
Photos courtesy of Cantimplora Travel
#3: Take in the evocative street art scattered around the city
I hadn’t pegged Mexico City as a playground for street artists, but I was happy to discover just how wrong I was.
There is something interesting to see around just about every corner, making the simple activity of wandering and getting lost (one of my favorite things to do in any city) all the more appealing.
Photos courtesy of Cantimplora Travel
#4: Explore ancient ruins
A common activity for visitors to Mexico City is to hop on a bus headed for one of the region’s most famous archeological sites, Teotihuacán.
And while this is certainly a worthwhile endeavor (the site is immense and can even be viewed while floating overhead in a hot air balloon!) there are various ways to see impressive ruins without leaving the city limits.
Mexico City was built on top of the former Aztec capital, Tenochtitlán, which was razed during the Spanish invasion led by Hernán Cortés.
As such, what is now Mexico City’s historic center is a veritable treasure trove of ancient Aztec sites.
On our tour with Cantimplora Travel, we visited the impressive Museo del Templo Mayor located just minutes from the city’s main plaza.
Photos courtesy of Cantimplora Travel
Many other impressive remnants of Mexico’s ancient civilizations can be seen at the National Museum of Anthropology, and while you won’t visit this museum on Cantimplora’s tour, it is very easy to do independently–and probably better that way, as it’s quite expansive and you could easily spend several hours perusing the exhibits!
Have you ever been pleasantly surprised by a city you’ve visited?
I can’t thank Cantimplora Travel enough for sharing their city with me. I participated in their tour as a guest, but as always, opinions are entirely my own.
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