Mexico City Attractions, Travel Planning

Mexico City, the capital of Mexico, is the largest city in the Western Hemisphere and the second largest metropolis in the world. Though it offers endless diversions for travelers with any range of interests, Mexico City is frequently overlooked by visitors to this vast country, who seem to prefer the sun, surf and exceptional service of coastal resorts.

That’s a shame, because while every region of Mexico is interesting and worth a visit, there’s no city in Mexico more dynamic and interesting than my adopted hometown of Mexico City. It’s a city where the cutting-edge contemporary and the tried and true traditional coexist with relative ease, and that description is equally applicable whether one’s talking about food, architecture, the arts, fashion or shopping.

It’s a city where almost anything goes, yet its identity is by no means ambiguous or diffuse. It’s hard to visit without becoming fascinated by the complexity of this engaging city, which author David Lida has called “the capital of the 21st century.”

 

• A view of the Paseo de la Reforma from Chapultepec Castle.

edans

Top Tourist Destination of 2008

True, planning a visit to Mexico City can seem a bit daunting. First, there’s the sheer size of the city, which sprawls for miles in every direction, spread across a valley ringed by mountains. Second, there’s its reputation: gritty, grimy, polluted and dangerous. Mexico City’s hardly gotten a fair shake by the international press, and still hasn’t really garnered the interest or attention of many travel publications, which are often focused on the country’s more “exotic” destinations.

But that’s precisely why Mexico City deserves a second look for the traveler who has diverse interests or who would like to avoid the well-worn path already beaten by the tourist hordes. There’s a reason the United Nations’ World Tourism Organization (WTO) named Mexico City one of the world’s best tourist destinations in 2008. The WTO cited the city’s reliable infrastructure, ample and attractive public spaces, and its historical significance as just three aspects of the Mexican capital that should move the city to the top of travelers’ must-visit lists.

Next: Addressing Travel Concerns