DESTINATIONS MEXICO CITY LATIN AMERICA
unearthed from beneath the Plaza de la Constitucion in the late 18th century. Any trip to Mexico City will remind
HOW TO SELL
An 11-hour flight from London,
Mexico’s capital is home to nine million people.
The best time to visit is between March and May – summers can be uncomfortably hot and winters chilly. Despite this, November is a busy month, with the Day of the Dead
festival. Mexico City is one of the country’s safest areas, although visitors are advised not to flag taxis down and to take
care after dark and on public
transport, where pickpockets operate.
you that this was the home of Mexico’s most famous artist, Frida Kahlo, who put mono-brows on the map long before Cara Delevingne appeared. Her former home in the neighbourhood of San Angel, with husband and fellow artist Diego Rivera, is now the House- Studio Museum of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. Visitors can peek into Diego’s tiny bedroom and walk along the narrow bridge that connected his side of the house to Frida’s. At the Frida Kahlo Museum, exhibits double as stark reminders of her hardships. These include a back brace that Frida, who was injured in a bus crash at the age of 18, had adorned with colourful scribbles. The museum can be found in the Coyoacan neighbourhood. It’s one of the greener districts, with cobbled, tree-lined streets, an enormous market (I recommend the surprisingly tasty dried grasshoppers) and a beautiful town square, Plaza Hidalgo. I was equally smitten by the leafy
Roma Norte neighbourhood, with its colourful murals and quirky coffee shops. In the 3D LAB Fab & Café, customers can have their picture taken and the image transformed into a miniature version of themselves using a 3D printer. Suddenly, Starbucks seems rather boring. The city is keen to ditch its reputation
as a traffic-clogged metropolis. The smog has lessened, and on Sundays,
RIGHT: Floating Gardens of Xochimilco
BELOW: Teotihuacan
I ate lunch at the city centre La Opera restaurant, slurping tortilla soup beneath a framed bullet hole in the ceiling
traffic is banned from the Avenida Reforma, turning this major artery into a bicycle lane. Crime levels are also falling. On my final day, I ate lunch at the city centre La Opera restaurant, slurping tortilla soup beneath a framed bullet hole in the ceiling. Pancho
Villa was a Mexican revolutionary assassinated in 1923; during a visit to La Opera, he fired his pistol into the ceiling in a show of bravado. The bullet hole seemed a fitting metaphor for Mexico City: its darker periods are long gone, but reminders of its fascinating history are all around.
w BEST HOTEL FOR . . . BUSINESS What: NH Mexico City Airport T2 Location: Airport terminal 2. Venue vibe: Stylish but functional. Every room has a rain-effect shower, Nespresso coffee machine and complimentary newspapers. The free pressing service is popular with business travellers. Wow factor: The location. This
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travelweekly.co.uk 5 November 2015
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