Top 11 of our 25 walking tours:
- Historic City Center – Highlights
- Historic City Center – Hidden Jewels
- Colonia Roma y Romita (Barrio Mágico)
- Colonia Condesa (Barrio Mágico)
- Colonia San Angel (Barrio Mágico)
- Colonia Coyoacan (Barrio Mágico)
- Colonia Santa Maria Rivera (Barrio Mágico)
- Colonia Zona Rosa (Barrio Mágico)
- Colonia Tlalpan (Barrio Mágico)
- Colonia Iztacalco (Barrio Mágico)
- Colonia La Merced (Barrio Mágico)
The duration of the walking tours are around 2 hours, with an optional time of 30 to 60 minutes for a drink or some food.
DETAILS OF EACH OF THE WALKING TOURS
1. Historic City Center – Highlights
During this walking tour, we show you the highlights of the Mexico City Center, and our certified guide will explain the history and give information about each place; such as Templo Mayor, the Cathedral, Palacio Nacional, Zocalo, Palacio de Bellas Artes, Alameda park, the churches of San Juan de Díos and Santa Veracruz, the Palacio de Correos, Casa de Azulejos, Torre Latina America, the church of San Francisco, the Garden of the Triple Alliance and Cafe Tacuba, Note: we will NOT enter the museums and places where whe have to pay entrances, you can visit them optionally after the walking tour.
2. Historic City Center – Hidden Jewels
On this walking tour, we take you off the beaten track, and show you some of the hidden jewels of the Mexico City Center, and our certified guide will explain the history and give information about each place; such as Congreso de la Ciudad, Plaza Santa Domingo, Edificio de la Antigua Aduana, the church and square of Santa Catarina, the Museum of Light, the Abelardo L. Rodriguez market with incredible murals of students of Diego Rivera, the church and square of Loreto, the church of La Santisima, the monastery of Jesus de Maria, the Museum de la Ciudad and the church and hospital of Jesus Nazareno. Plus we show you the most authentic place to taste and buy coffee in Mexico City. Note: we will NOT enter the museums and places where whe have to pay entrances, you can visit them optionally after the walking tour.
3. Colonia Roma y Romita (Barrio Mágico)
Colonia Roma, also called La Roma or simply, Roma, is a district located in the Cuauhtémoc borough of Mexico City just west of the city’s historic center. Currently Roma and neighbouring Condesa are known for being the epicenter of hipster subculture in the city, and rivals Polanco as the center of the city’s culinary scene. Besides residential buildings, the neighbourhood streets are lined with restaurants, bars, clubs, shops, cultural centers, churches and galleries. Many are housed in former French-style mansions dating from the Porfiriato period at the beginning of the 20th century. La Romita is a small neighborhood located in the Colonia Roma section of Mexico City. The area began as an independent pre Hispanic village called Aztacalco, later renamed Romita.
4. Colonia Condesa (Barrio Mágico)
Condesa is considered to be one of the most fashionable neighborhoods; it´s character has been compared to that of the Soho in New York and the Latin Quarter in Paris. Its avenues are wide and lined with trees. It is mostly residential but also filled with restaurants, cafés, boutiques and art galleries. Condesa means “countess” and it is named after María Magdalena Dávalos de Bracamontes y Orozco, the Countess of Miravalle, whose lands stretched from what is now Colonia Roma to Tacubaya. The area began as lands belonging to two countesses in the colonial period. It now consists of three colonias or officially recognized neighborhoods: Colonia Condesa, Colonia Hipódromo and Colonia Hipódromo Condesa.
5. Colonia San Angel (Barrio Mágico)
San Angel, located 12km (7.4 miles) southwest of the historic center, was once a retreat for wealthy city residents. Cobblestone streets, plazas, gardens and elegant estates are reminiscent of the neighborhood’s rich colonial past. San Angel is home to monuments, historic residences, a former Dominican monastery, a cultural center housed in what was once a municipal palace and several interesting museums. Among them are the Risco House Museum (Plaza San Jacinto 15) with its impressive 18th century talavera tile fountain. The El Carmen complex is the identifying marker of San Ángel, especially the three tiled-covered domes of the church. It consists of church, former monastery and school buildings. The monastery school or “Colegio” was founded in 1613. There are several colorful markets, art galleries and shops scattered throughout the neighborhood and a good selection of restaurants, bars and cafes, many with inviting open-air terraces.
6. Colonia Coyoacan (Barrio Mágico)
The name Coyoacán comes from Nahuatl and most likely means “place of coyotes,” when the Aztecs named a pre-Hispanic village on the southern shore of Lake Texcoco. The village of Coyoacan remained completely independent of Mexico City through the colonial period into the 19th century. The urban sprawl of Mexico City reached the borough in the mid 20th century, turning farms, former lakes and forests into developed areas, but many of the former villages have kept their original layouts, plazas and narrow streets and have conserved structures built from the 16th to the early 20th centuries. This has made Coyoacan a popular place to visit.
7. Colonia Santa Maria Rivera (Barrio Mágico)
Colonia Santa María la Ribera was created in the late 19th century, for the affluent who wanted homes outside of the city limits. The colonia reached its height between 1910 and 1930. In the 1930s, the middle class moved in and a new era of construction began. The colonia began to deteriorate in the 1950s, as the city grew around it and apartment buildings were constructed. Since the 1985 Mexico City earthquake, poorer residents have moved in and economic housing has been constructed. Today, the colonia is a mix of old mansions and homes (with over 1,000 categorized as having architectural or historic value), small shops and businesses, tenements and abandoned buildings. The colonia has one major park and two museums.
8. Colonia Zona Rosa (Barrio Mágico)
Zona Rosa is a neighborhood in Mexico City, just west of the historic center of Mexico City. The area’s history as a community began when it was developed as a residential district for wealthy foreigners and Mexico City residents looking to move from the city center. The development of the area stalled during and after the Mexican Revolution, but the streets named after European capitals and remaining European style mansions are a testament to the area’s immigrant origins. The next phase in the area’s history was from the 1950s to 1980s, when it was revitalized by artists, intellectuals and the city’s elite who repopulated the area, gave it a bohemian reputation and attracted exclusive restaurants and clubs for visiting politicians and other notables. It is a major shopping and entertainment district and has also become a major tourist attraction for the city.
9. Colonia Tlalpan (Barrio Mágico)
Tlalpan, formerly known as San Agustín de las Cuevas, was the first rest stop on dry land when leaving the island of Mexico City towards the South. The former causeway linking it to the city is the avenue now known as Calzada de Tlalpan. Tlalpan has been relatively prosperous throughout history, which still can be seen in its well-preserved stately colonial houses and cobblestoned streets. Downtown Tlalpan is still quite unknown, which could make it a highlight if you visit it. Overall is a quiet and safe place, with pretty colonial architecture, cobblestone streets and lots of trees.
10. Colonia Iztacalco (Barrio Mágico)
Iztacalco is one of the oldest and traditional neighborhoods in Mexico City. Older then México Tenochtitlan, with it’s interesting history and colonial buildings. It is located in the center-east of the district and is the smallest of the city’s boroughs. The area’s history began in 1309 when the island of Iztacalco, in what was Lake Texcoco, was settled in 1309 by the Mexica who would later found Tenochtitlan, according to the Codex Xolotl. The island community would remain small and isolated through the colonial period, but drainage projects in the Valley of Mexico dried up the lake around it.
11. Colonia La Merced (Barrio Mágico)
La Merced has a colorful market, beautiful churches, a monastery, and well conserved squares and colonial buildings. La Merced is one of the oldest sections of the city, established over 700 years ago by the Mexica as part of the founding of Tenochtitlan. Over its history the area was associated with commerce, first as a major docking area for boats bringing goods to Tenochtitlan/Mexico City on Lake Texcoco, later via canals as the lake was slowly drained. In the latter 19th century, the La Merced market was established in the area replacing the massive La Merced monastery which was almost completely destroyed in the 1860s. This market was established to centralize the marketing of foodstuffs for the city on one area. The first La Merced market was built in 1890 and then replaced by the current building in 1957, one of the largest traditional Mexican markets in Mexico City.
ALSO POSSIBLE AS PRIVATE TOUR
The walking tours can also be reserved as a private walking tour; ask us for a quote at +52 1 55 1308 3732 (Whatsapp, Lidia Herrera).
Below our current 25 different walking tours in Mexico City, that you can book for a private tour: