Mexico City is often depicted—and not incorrectly—as a capital city teeming with buildings, people, and cars. It also, though, has a surprising number of green spaces and parks, the most expansive of which is Bosque de Chapultepec, right on the edge of Polanco. It’s easy to while away a good bit of time in Chapultepec; the park has a zoo, a lake where you can rent pedal boats, street performers making music and magic, and the Castillo de Chapultepec—Chapultepec Castle—which houses the National History Museum. If you’re hungry, you’ll find plenty of vendors peddling everything from roasted corn on the cob to cotton candy.
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Spend a Day in the Park
On a warm day in the middle of March, el Bosque is a beautiful outdoor space in the midst of the Polanco neighborhood of Mexico City. You could spend an entire day walking through it, enjoying the Museo de Nacional Antropología and the cultural and shopping activities going on outside of it, the Museo de Arte Moderno, and other fabulous museums and outdoor exhibits. As friends told me, this is the Golden Gate Park or Central Park of Mexico City.
The Vendors of Chapultepec
On a late Saturday morning we found a vibrant open-air market winding around the park’s walkways. Vendors set up colorful booths to sell sweet and savory snacks, wrestling masks, and toys.
A unique music experience in Mexico City
Audiorama is one of Mexico City‘s greatest kept secrets. Near Chapultepec Castle, in the heart of Chapultepec Park in Mexico City, you’ll wander into Audiorama and feel like you’re been transported to an Alice in Wonderland kind of reality. Audiorama consists of a set of brightly colored benches in a clearing, with speakers tucked into the surrounding trees piping in classical, jazz, and even some new age music. Music lovers young and old, local and foreign, fill the benches, sitting for minutes and even hours, taking a short respite from the chaos and noise of Mexico City.
