Mexico City Vacation Travel Guide | Expedia

Bienvenido a Mexico City, one of the financial powerhouses and culturalcapitals of Latin America.

A place with ancient roots, in recent years this mega-city of 21 millionhas undergone a renaissance, exploding into, a city of color! Mexico City’s color can be found on everystreet.

It’s in the sunbaked plazas and monuments, the dappled shade and quiet of its courtyards, and in the brushstrokes of its murals andstreet art.

It’s in the faded pastels and tile workof colonial buildings, it’s in the cantinas, … the music, …thecuisine, …everywhere there is color.

If life has a color, that color would be called, Mexico City! Despite its legendary sprawl, Mexico City isn’t hard to navigate.

Just like the paint upon an artist’s palette, the city is divided into distinctive boroughs, all with their own shades and moods.

Mexico City’s colors run deepest in themain square, the Zócalo, once the epicenter of the MexicanCivilization.

When the Spanish arrived in 1521, the Aztectemples were swiftly leveled, and a colonial city rose in its place.

Today, this area is presided over by a temple ofa different kind, The Metropolitan Cathedral.

Throughout the Centro Histórico district, over 1500 heritage buildings vie for yourattention.

Visit San Ildefonso College and be introduced to the earliest masterpieces of Mexican muralism.

Dive into a kaleidoscope of color and craftat La Ciudadela, an artisanal market featuring over 300 stalls.

Then admire the blue and white splendor ofCasa de Azulejos, The House of Tiles.

The streets of this district overflow withincredible museums and galleries, such as the Museo Biblioteca Palacio Postal, and the Palacio de Bellas Artes.

For a window into the life and color of yesteryear, visit the fabulous Museo Franz Mayer, a glittering display of cultural treasuresand everyday items that the tireless collector amassed throughouthis lifetime.

When it’s time for a change of color, head to leafy avenues of Alameda Central.

Discover even more shades of green at ChapultepecPark, one of the largest urban parks in the world.

As well as serving as the city’s lungs, the park is home to cultural institutionssuch as the Auditorio Nacional, and the museum of anthropology, as well as the popular Chapultepec Zoo.

Pay your respects to the Ninos Heroes.

This monument honors the six boy soldiers who gave their lives defending Castillo deChapultepec, when it fell to the Americans in 1847.

Today, the castle serves as the National Museumof History, shining a light through the darkest, and brightest chapters, of Mexico’s history.

Just to the north is upscale Polanco, and its neighbor Nuevo Polanco, a former warehouse area rapidly being transformedby new architectural visions.

Rising like shape-shifting plasma, the Museo Soumaya is filled with over 60, 000artworks from the private collection of billionaire, Carlos Slim.

Displaying masterpieces fromacross the ages, this free museum features European masterssuch as Van Gogh, Dali and Rodin.

The spirit of philanthropy continues justacross the road, at Museo Jumex, a building which echoes thedistrict’s industrial past, and which houses the largest private contemporaryart collection in Latin America.

To the south of the city is the once ancientvillage of Coyoacán, “the place of coyotes”.

In the early 20th century this area floweredinto a place of bohemia; its artists, writers and intellectuals inspiring and enriching not only Mexico, but the entire world.

Visit The Blue House, the birthplace of Frieda Kahlo.

In neighboring San Angel, explore the museum, house and studio of DiegoRivera and Frida Kahlo, where these two giants of Mexican art worked, .

lived, and loved.

Just to the south are the incredible muralsand buildings of Ciudad Universitaria, which when constructed in the 1950s, was the city’s largest single building projectsince the time of the Aztecs.

It is here, at the university’s Olympicstadium, that you can see one of Rivera’s last epicmurals, a work he never lived to complete.

The spirit of bohemia and creativity continues amid the sophisticated hues and beauty ofdistricts such, Roma and Condesa.

At Xochimilco, simply float away on a riotof color on the last of the city’s Aztec canals, exploring markets and gardens along the way.

In Mexico City there is color everywhere, and once experienced, they will never fade.

All you have to do is close your eyes, and you will see the many colors of MexicoCity again, today, tomorrow, always….