What this section is. The complete listing of trip ideas — themed routes and combinations covering every length of stay and every kind of traveller.
How to use it. Pick one route and follow its logic rather than assembling your own from the longest list. The routes exist because they solve the real constraint of this city, which is not choice but distance: a day spent crossing from Xochimilco to Polanco is a day mostly spent in traffic.
The geography to hold in your head. The centre and the Roma, Condesa and Juárez form one walkable block. Chapultepec and Polanco form a second. Coyoacán, San Ángel and Ciudad Universitaria form a third, in the south. Xochimilco is further south again. And the Basilica is north. Those are your days.
The dates worth building a trip around. 1 and 2 November for Día de Muertos; 12 December for the Virgin of Guadalupe; Holy Week in Iztapalapa; the last Wednesday of most months for Noche de Museos; and late October for the Grand Prix.
Practical notes. Buy a Movilidad Integrada card on day one. Book the Frida Kahlo Museum and the Barragán house ahead. At 2,240 metres, go slower for the first two days.
