My CDMX

What this is. A personal list — a way to mark the places you want to see and build your own version of the city, rather than working from somebody else's itinerary.

Why that matters in this city specifically. Mexico City has around 170 museums, sixteen boroughs and more listed places than anyone could visit in a month. The constraint is never choice; it is distance. A list of twenty things scattered across the metropolitan area is a worse plan than six things in one borough.

How to build a workable list. Group by area. The historic centre with the Roma, Condesa and Juárez is one walkable block. Chapultepec and Polanco are a second. Coyoacán, San Ángel and Ciudad Universitaria are a third. Xochimilco is further south, the Basilica is north. Those are your days.

What to pin first. Anything that needs booking: the Frida Kahlo Museum, which sells out daily online, and Luis Barragán's house-studio, World Heritage and by appointment only. Then the things that close on Mondays, which is almost every museum.

Practical notes. At 2,240 metres, two substantial things in a day is a realistic target. Lunch is at 14:00 and dinner starts at 21:00.