The first thoughts that come to mind when someone says, "Let's go to Mexico," are Cancun and Cabo. However, Mexico’s largest city and capital has a lot more to offer if what you're looking for is a cultural experience in a beautiful colonial Latin American city. This is Mexico City. A vibrant metropolis with more than 20 million people. So here are six of Mexico City’s coolest coolest places. Check them out.
1. Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral
This is the largest cathedral in the Americas and the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mexico. The church was built right after the conquest of Mexico City by the Spanish in the early 1500s. The church was directly built on top of Aztec sacred sites near Templo Mayor after the conquest. It was inspired by gothic architecture in Spain.
2. Ruins of Teotihuacan
Teotihuacan was an ancient Mesoamerican city located near the Valley of Mexico, in what is today the State of Mexico, just 30 miles of the Federal District (Mexico City). This site is unique because of the remnants of multiple residential units that are still preserved and because this city was a big exporter of obsidian in the Americas.
3. Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts)
The Palacio de Bellas Artes is one of Mexico and Mexico City’s premier cultural centers. It is located in the western historic side of the city and was built in the early 1900s by orders of President Porfirio Diaz, but by 1913 all construction stopped due to political problems and the Mexican Revolution of 1910. Construction resumed in 1932 after Mexico’s deadly revolution had ceased and the country was more stable.
4. Chapultepec Castle
The name Chapultepec comes from the Nahuatl language and means “at the grasshopper’s hill.” The castle is located in Chapultepec Park and is more than 7,000 feet above sea level. This site was considered sacred by the Aztecs, and since then it has served as an imperial residence, museum, presidential home, and observatory.
5. Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe
This basilica is also a national shrine of Mexico and is located north of Mexico City. Our Lady of Guadalupe is said to have appeared to Saint Juan Diego in Mexico’s colonial times.
6. Frida Kahlo Museum
The Frida Kahlo Museum, also known as La Casa Azul (Blue House), is a house-museum dedicated to Frida Kahlo’s life and work. The Blue House is located in the Coyoacan neighborhood of Mexico City. This is where Frida Kahlo was born and where she spent her childhood. She also lived there with her husband and famed artist, Diego Rivera, for several years. Other than Kahlo's and Rivera’s work, the museum hosts other Mexican folk art.