5 Best Sights in Alameda Central, Mexico City

The manicured gardens of the Alameda Central at the western edge of Centro Histórico have been the heart of Mexico City life since the height of the city's pre-Hispanic glory, when informal markets were held here. Strolling around the park today remains a great way to break up sightseeing in the neighborhood. During the week it's quite lively, but you'll be able to find a shaded bench for a few moments of rest before heading off to more museums. Food vendors throughout the park sell all kinds of snacks, from ice cream to grilled corn on the cob. In the early days of the viceroyalty, the Inquisition burned its victims at the stake here. Later, national leaders, from 18th-century viceroys to Emperor Maximilian and the dictator Porfirio Díaz, envisioned the park as a symbol of civic pride and prosperity. Life in Mexico, one of the quintessential texts on daily life in the colonial period, written by the British countess Frances Calderón de la Barca, describes how women donned their finest jewels to walk around the park even after independence. Over the centuries it has been fitted out with fountains and ash, willow, and poplar trees; through the middle of the 20th century, it became a popular gay cruising ground. Today, the Alameda is one of the best places in town to see people from all walks of life, mingling in the shadow of some of the city's most iconic buildings.

One of the city's most interesting museums, Centro de la Imagen shares the old Ciudadela building with the Biblioteca de México. Remodeled just a few years back, the extensive gallery spaces work cleverly to transect and interact with the historic structure and are devoted to reflections on photographs as both historical documents and art. The library near the entrance has a significant collection of photobooks. Guided tours in English can be arranged for free via the website with several weeks' notice.

The building that now houses one of several national libraries scattered around the city was first designed as a cigarette factory at the end of the 18th century. A grid of nine square modules, including open courtyards lined with neoclassical columns, construction on the building lasted from 1793 through 1807. Within a year, the building had taken on other uses, including as a prison. By the middle of the struggle for Mexican independence, which lasted from 1810 to 1821, the building had become an armory. After decades of multiple uses, a substantial part of the building was dedicated as part of the new national library system and eventually inaugurated as such in 1946. Today, the library houses the collections of several of Mexico's most celebrated writers. It's also a beautiful place to sit with a book of your own. Guided tours through the library's elegantly staid courtyards are available by request from Tuesday through Saturday. For more information, visit the library's website.

Named for the fact that many of its main thoroughfares are named for noted medical doctors, the neighborhood was established in the late 1890s, right before Roma and Condesa. Home to the 42-acre campus of prestigious Hospital General de México, the famous lucha libre venue Arena México, and a number of prominent governmental buildings as well as some impressive old mansions, Doctores abounds with cantinas, bars, nightclubs, and pulquerías—some a bit dodgy, but others with increasing cachet among in-the-know locals. Doctores does have a reputation for crime, especially as you venture farther east and south; the issues are more commonly robbery and car theft than violent crime, but do exercise common sense when walking around this neighborhood, and go with friends or by Uber after dark.