Downtown Attractions in Mexico City
If you have only one day to visit Mexico City, don't worry: just follow the Top Ten Things to Do in Downtown Mexico City and you will go home with plenty of stories to tell.
Get up early and concentrate your efforts first on the Centro Historico - Mexico City's historic center. Start your tour at the #1 thing to do, El Zocalo. This is the largest plaza in all of Mexico and the scene of celebrations, concerts, book fairs, and protests. The Zocalo's history predates those later arrivals, the Spanish: the Aztecs centered their imperial capital around this square.
You can still see remnants of the Aztec's magnificent architecture at #2, Museo del Tempo Mayor, which is located right on the Zocalo. In the 1970s, workers laboring on the subway discovered the base of Tenochtitlan's largest temple - Templo Mayor. A large portion of it has been excavated and you can cross it via catwalks.
It's fitting, somehow, that the seat of the Roman Catholic religion in Mexico, the Metropolitan Cathedral (#3) now looks directly onto the Aztec's own religious center. Modern Mexico City is built on landfill over a drained lake bed and this unstable soil is causing the cathedral to sink and lean - it's readily apparent when you enter the magnificent space.
On the west side of the Zocalo, stands the National Palace, #4 on the Top Ten list and the location of Diego Rivera's legendary murals, which tell the story of his country's history.
Get up early and concentrate your efforts first on the Centro Historico - Mexico City's historic center. Start your tour at the #1 thing to do, El Zocalo. This is the largest plaza in all of Mexico and the scene of celebrations, concerts, book fairs, and protests. The Zocalo's history predates those later arrivals, the Spanish: the Aztecs centered their imperial capital around this square.
You can still see remnants of the Aztec's magnificent architecture at #2, Museo del Tempo Mayor, which is located right on the Zocalo. In the 1970s, workers laboring on the subway discovered the base of Tenochtitlan's largest temple - Templo Mayor. A large portion of it has been excavated and you can cross it via catwalks.
It's fitting, somehow, that the seat of the Roman Catholic religion in Mexico, the Metropolitan Cathedral (#3) now looks directly onto the Aztec's own religious center. Modern Mexico City is built on landfill over a drained lake bed and this unstable soil is causing the cathedral to sink and lean - it's readily apparent when you enter the magnificent space.
On the west side of the Zocalo, stands the National Palace, #4 on the Top Ten list and the location of Diego Rivera's legendary murals, which tell the story of his country's history.
Catedral Metropolitana
Donceles 95
The zócalo, on Cinco de Mayo, Centro Histórico
Three centuries in the making...
Plaza de Santo Domingo
República de Cuba y República de Brasil
Centro Historico
In need of a love letter?...
Museo Antiguo Palacio del Arzobispado
Moneda, 4
Colonia Centro
The remains of the Tezcatlipoca temple...
Mirador de la Torre Latinoamericana
Eje Central Lázaro Cárdenas esquina Francisco I. Madero
Colonia Centro
A Panoramic View of the City...
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