Mexico Park

In the last century, when the Condesa's urbanization began, it was planned that all streets converge at the Mexico Park. It was designed by architect José Luis Cuevas in 1925.

The park is officially called Parque General San Martín and it was opened in 1927. The Charles Lindbergh forum is found inside, with the trademark art deco sculpture of a woman carrying two vessels. The amphitheater has five monumental pillars covered with canopies and two pergolas, the work of José María Fernández Urbina.

The Mexico Park and the España Park give life to the Condesa neighborhood, as a center for meeting and getting together with other people. People go for walks, exercise, do yoga, rollerblading and walk their dogs. It extends over nine acres and has an elliptical shape with fountains, a pond where ducks take a dip, a clock and an octagonal fountain, both art déco style.

What to see inside. The heart of the park is the Foro Charles Lindbergh, an Art Deco plaza with an amphitheatre designed by Leonardo Noriega Stávoli: five monumental pillars, canopies and two pergolas that make the most photographed backdrop in Condesa. It is named after the aviator who once landed a plane here. At the far end stands the Fuente de los Cántaros, a fountain with a woman carrying two water jars, by José María Fernández Urbina. Around them are a pond, a playground and paths among jacarandas and ahuehuete cypresses; around 36,500 square metres in all.

Why the neighbourhood looks like this. The park was not dropped into a gap: in 1925 José Luis Cuevas designed both the park and the street layout of the neighbourhood, with the streets converging on it. That is why Avenida Ámsterdam is an oval —it follows the outline of the old racetrack— and why the whole district seems to orbit this space. It opened in 1927, and a 2008 overhaul added a water treatment plant and irrigation.

How it is used today. It is one of the city's most visited parks and the centre of Condesa life: dog walking at all hours, yoga and dance classes in the forum, runners, families on Sundays, and cafés and restaurants all around the perimeter. The dog area is busy, so if you are travelling with small children or are uneasy around loose dogs, the pond end is calmer.

Getting there. It sits on Avenida México, in colonia Hipódromo. Chilpancingo and Patriotismo stations on metro Line 9 are a few blocks away, and Metrobús Line 1 runs along Insurgentes, a ten-minute walk. This is a walking neighbourhood: parking on a Sunday is difficult.