My Walking Tour of Mexico City
I’ve lost count on how many times I’ve been back to Mexico. More specifically Mexico City.
This time around I made a record for the longest I’ve stayed in this city. As of writing this, I have been back in the city for 3 months now. And I plan to stay at least one more. I’ve experienced almost everything a tourist can experience in this city of art, museums, and culture – even the walking tours that are available in Mexico City.
Mexico City’s walking tours are a great way to see and learn Mexican cultural heritage. There are a variety of tours including free tours where there is an expected tip at the end of the tour; or you can expect to learn some Spanish if you take a tour package that includes Spanish lessons as well.
This is the route I took. Because I’m on a journey to learn Spanish in a more fluent way, I like to take opportunities where I can kill two birds with one stone. So I decided to reach out to a local Spanish school to learn Spanish, as well as get the chance to explore the city as well.
My Mexico City Tour Guide
My tour experience started with my expressing interest to learn Spanish while also seeing different places in Mexico City. The tour guide then reached out to me to provide a potential itinerary of places I wanted to see. It was a well crafted itinerary in which we spent the next week executing.
If you haven’t been with a tour guide to explore a city, I highly recommend it. It’s a great shortcut to dig deep into whatever city you live in. It’s even better, if the tour guide has some sort of knowledgeable qualification of the places we visited.
If I remember correctly, my tour guide for Mexico City had an advanced degree in Spanish literature and culture. And it showed during our tours through the museums and places we went to. His knowledge was not just general about the area, but also very specific to the artifacts that we would find in the places we visited. Find me on Instagram at @TravelMocha and message
“CDMX Tour Guide”, if you want his contact.
The Places we Visited
Before we headed out to walk around the city, my guide sent me an itinerary of four different places we would visit. It would also be spread out to one day to walk each place. The places were:
- Centro de la Ciudad – AKA Centro Historico where the famous Zocalo is as well as Mexico City’s Metropolitan Museum.
- Chapultepec Castle Museum/National Anthropology Museum – This is located near Polanco, one of Mexico City’s nicest neighborhoods. We ended up just walking the park and going to a museum nearby instead.
- MUNAL Museo Nacional de Arte – AKA the National Art Museum. Here we saw many famous paintings, sculptures and art. You’ll find works of Diego Rivera here.
- Coyoacán – This is actually a neighborhood of Mexico City as well. But the entire areas is pretty walkable.
Day 1: Centro de la Ciudad (Downtown Mexico City)
This area of Mexico City is where it all started. An exchange of power occurred here from the Aztec Empire to the Spanish conquistadors. Today you can see relics of the past when you walk to the Zocalo – the main square in downtown Mexico City.
The Zocalo became an iconic place in the scene filmed in the James Bond film, Spectre. This is where the Day of the Dead scene was filmed in the introduction of the movie.
Surrounding the Zocalo sits Mexico City’s Cathedral which was a symbol of power from the Spanish Conquistadors. It replaced the Templo Mayor (High Temple) of the previous Aztec Empire.
There are still remnants of the Aztec empire behind the Cathedral. It is an open exhibition that you can see walking from above viewing down.
It’s a busy area with so much activity to see. Not just the architecture. There will also be people downtown who do performances or ceremonies (See photo above).
Day 2: Chapultepec Castle Museum/National Anthropology Museum
On this day we went to two different places.
When we met in Bosque de Chapultepec (Chapultepec forest), my tour guide and I realized that the Chapultepec Castle was closed due to remnants of the 2020 anomaly. I did, however, go back another time. Worth it. Great views and a lot of history to see from the castle.
Because it was closed when we went, we went to the National Anthropology Museum. This museum has the Aztec calendar that’s made of a round stone like structure. You’ve probably seen this portrayed in any media that has something to say about Aztecs.
The Anthropology Museum also had the loops equivalent to basketball hoop. If you saw the movie, Road to El Dorado, you’ve seen this loop in the ball game they played. In fact the scene is actually based on this mesoamerican game.
Day 3: MUNAL Museo Nacional de Arte (National Art Museum)
This museum has A LOT of art. It has a collection that dates between the mid-sixteenth century to mid-20th century.
Outside of the museum, we were greeted with a statue of King Charles IV of Spain riding on a horse’s back. He was the monarch right before Mexico’s independence.
Inside the museum I found a lot of art based on religious icons. Which makes sense as Catholicism is and has been a large influence of Mexico’s culture.
There are also paintings by Diego Riviera here. For those of you who don’t know this is Frida Kahlo’s husband. And for those who don’t know Frida Kahlo, she’s a famous artist. She’s mostly recognized in paintings or art as the Mexican lady with the unibrow.
Day 4: Coyoacán
We started early when we went to Coyoacán (A local neighborhood). I remember this because it was a little bit chilly when we met at the entrance of Viveros de Coyoacán – the forest of Coyoacán. From there we explored more of the neighborhood on foot of course.
The first thing I noticed about this place was how quaint, mellow and green it was. Not just the forest but the neighborhood’s center. Its food markets and crafts gave it a very welcoming feel.
Walking inside the forest, we saw plenty of squirrels. They are very friendly to people as they will come close to you as they expect you may feed them. But be careful because I’ve had one of these squirrels grab on my pant leg.
I was also on a mission to buy a souvenir that’s authentic. This was the place my tour guide recommended. And from the market in Coyoacán, I purchased an authentic Mexican souvenir – an alebrije. It’s a colorful wooden craft that is usually iconic of two or more animals.
What I Recommend
My favorite of these experiences would probably be the Anthropology Museum. I’m curious about esoteric things. And it seems that Mexico City’s past and history is full of magical stories of how the planet was created.
But if you’re more into traditional art, you may want to find a walking tour that’s specific to this. If you find a private guide, you should be able to craft your tour accordingly.
If I were to do this tour again, I would like to add the Frida Kahlo museum to my itinerary.
Other Walking Tours in Mexico City
There are other walking tours in Mexico City. If you’ve been to other tourist destinations, you may have seen free walking tours advertised. Mexico City is similar in that it has plenty of free walking tours to choose from.
I’ve not been to these. But below companies have been ranked as good for walking tours here.
Related Questions
What Walking Tours in Mexico City are good for avoiding crowds?
There are plenty of walking tours that are good for avoiding crowds. If you go on Viator or Trip Advisor or frankly, any other experience-based platforms, you’ll find that many of the experiences for walking tours will have it in writing of avoiding crowds.
