Polanco and Bosque de Chapultepec

A neighborhood known primarily for its high-rise business hotels and fine-dining restaurants, Polanco offers a central location in the city along with a few key sights like the stupendous main branch of the Museo Soumaya. The area developed as an escape from the crowded city center for Mexico City's upper-middle class in the mid-20th century, rapidly urbanizing in the aftermath of the 1985 earthquake. Today, real estate in Polanco is some of the most expensive in the city.

Polanco's main thoroughfare, Avenida Presidente Masaryk, is lined with upscale stores including Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and Tiffany & Co., as well as boutiques stocking local labels. In between Avenida Masaryk and Parque Lincoln, the Polanquito district is packed with restaurants and cafés. To the south, Polanco is bordered by Bosque de Chapultepec, named for the chapulines (grasshoppers) that populated it long ago. Chapultepec is the city’s largest park, and home to a castle, a lake, and five world-renowned museums.

You can easily spend an hour at each Bosque de Chapultepec museum, with the exception of the Museo Nacional de Antropología, which is huge compared to its sister institutions. There you can have a quick go-through in two hours, but to appreciate the fine exhibits, a full day is more appropriate. Tuesday through Friday are good days to visit the museums and stroll around the park. On Sunday and Mexican holidays, they're often packed with families, and if you get to the Museo Nacional de Antropología after 10 am on a Sunday, you can expect to spend considerable time waiting to enter. If you have time to visit only one of Bosque de Chapultepec’s museums, make it the Museo Nacional de Antropología.