City guide · Ciudad de México
Mexico City
An Aztec capital built on a lake: a city of palaces grown from the ruins of Tenochtitlan
Mexico City sits in a highland basin at 2,240 m. Next to the Zócalo are the ruins of the Aztecs' Templo Mayor; outside the city is Teotihuacan, the largest city of the pre-Columbian Americas; and at the Day of the Dead in early November the whole city turns orange with marigolds.
History
Los orígenes de la ciudad
Mexico City's forerunner was Tenochtitlan, built by the Mexica around 1325 on islands in Lake Texcoco. According to Mexica prophecy, the wandering people would found a great city where they saw an eagle perched on a cactus, holding a snake — the eagle that appears on Mexico's flag today. Between 1325 and 1521 Tenochtitlan grew powerful and came to dominate the city-states around the lake. After the Spanish siege of 1521 the city was almost destroyed, then rebuilt on a Spanish plan as the capital of New Spain.
- c. 100 BCThe city of Teotihuacan was founded
- 1325The Mexica founded Tenochtitlan on Lake Texcoco
- 1521The Spanish besieged the city and rebuilt it on a Spanish plan
- 1987Teotihuacan became a World Heritage Site
- 2008The Day of the Dead was added to UNESCO's intangible heritage list
Stories
Historias de la ciudad
Historia · Tacos al pastor
The rotisserie of Lebanese immigrants
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Lebanese immigrants came to Mexico, bringing shawarma — lamb roasted on a vertical spit. Most were Christians with no taboo on pork; later their Mexican-born children opened their own restaurants, and lamb gradually gave way to pork marinated with chillies and pineapple — tacos al pastor. It's generally believed to have become popular in the 1960s.
Historia · Teotihuacan
The city of ancestors in Aztec eyes
Teotihuacan was founded around 100 BC and at its height may have had as many as 100,000 inhabitants, the largest city of the pre-Columbian Americas. But by the time the Aztecs arrived in the Valley of Mexico, it had been abandoned for centuries. Seeing the magnificent ruins, the Aztecs regarded the Teotihuacanos as their own ancestors and absorbed and adapted their culture — the very name 'Teotihuacan' was given by the Nahuatl-speaking Aztecs centuries after the city's decline; scholars interpret it as 'the place of those who have the road of the gods', because the Aztecs believed the gods created the universe here.
Historia · Day of the Dead
La Catrina, the skeleton lady in a big hat
The most famous image of the Day of the Dead, 'La Calavera Catrina', comes from the Mexican printmaker José Guadalupe Posada: a skeleton lady in a large hat decked with ostrich feathers and flowers, very probably satirising upper-class Mexican women who imitated European fashion. In 1946–1947 the muralist Diego Rivera painted her as a full figure in a mural. In 2008 the 'Indigenous festivity dedicated to the dead' was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Local life
Gastronomía y vida cotidiana
Before you go
Normas que debe conocer en Mexico City
Mexico: carry your original passport and entry record
- Carry your original passport with its entry stamp, or download your electronic entry record from the immigration website
- Carrying only a copy or photo
Immigration officers do not accept copies; you may be questioned, detained or even deported.
Verificado el 19 oct 2026Fuente: GOV.UK: Mexico travel advice
Mexico: e-cigarettes may not be brought in or sold
- Leave your e-cigarette at home before you travel
- Bringing e-cigarettes or vape liquid into the country
- Smoking or vaping in public places
Customs will confiscate them and may fine or detain you; smoking in public places can bring a fine of up to MXN 3,000.
Verificado el 19 oct 2026Fuente: GOV.UK: Mexico travel advice