1,000 Places to See Before You Die

by Patricia Schultz

  BASILICA DE GUADELUPE—On this spot in 1531, a poor Mexican Indian named Juan Diego reputedly saw the Virgin Mother, who filled his cloak with rose petals and left her image imprinted on it. Today there are two basilicas on the site, which is locally called “La Villa.” Construction of the first started immediately and was completed in 1709. The adjacent basilica, built in 1976 to accommodate the masses of pilgrims who come here—more than any Catholic site except the Vatican—holds the original cloak. Hundreds of thousands converge here to honor the country’s patron saint on December 12. Juan Diego, canonized in 2002, is the first indigenous saint of the Americas. INFO: Tel 52/55-5577-6022; www.virgendeguadalupe.org.mx.

  XOCHIMILCO—In Xochimilco, Aztecs once grew produce on reed islands that floated on a now-buried lake. Only a few canals remain, where families and groups of friends today come for weekend fun among the floating gardens—if you visit, you’re sure to see at least one waterborne wedding party seated at the long central table of a brightly painted, flower-bedecked trajinera (flatboat). Revelers stop at tiny island liquor stores or the pavilion restaurant located at the heart of the watery maze, or they buy beer, corn, and tacos from vendors who ply the canals in canoes. Mariachi bands will float up and take requests, and after sundown, the festively lit scene turns enchantingly romantic. WHERE: 17 miles/28 km south of city center.

  WHERE TO STAY

  CAMINO REAL—With nearly 700 rooms on 8 gardened acres, the Camino stands out for both its sheer scale and its luxurious features, including fountain-splashed lobbies under soaring cathedral ceilings and five restaurants. All this, plus a truly unbeatable location—steps from Chapultepec Park and Reforma’s string of embassies and international headquarters—gives guests the sense of being at the very nexus of the city. INFO: Tel 52/55-5263-8888; www.caminoreal.com. Cost: from $180.

  LA CASONA—Housed in an imposing two-story mansion built at the end of the 19th century, this diminutive hotel features rooms decorated with floral-print wallpaper, Oriental rugs, and lovely antiques. It delivers gracious hospitality and first-class service without any big-hotel ceremony, plus the opportunity to enjoy the Roma neighborhood’s fine, old-world ambience simply by stepping outside the door. INFO: Tel 52/55-5286-3001; www.hotellacasona.com.mx. Cost: from $140.

  CONDÉSA DF—Opening in 2004 on lush Parque España, Condésa DF immediately injected style into this trendy neighborhood-on-the-rise. The combination of economical yet sophisticated design and haute cuisine was revolutionary, and this sleek oasis in the middle of the city’s urban chaos still feels fresh. The four-story hotel surrounds a bright atrium, where a popular patio restaurant serves terrific breakfasts and weekend brunches. INFO: Tel 52/55-5241-2600; www.condesadf.com. Cost: from $195.

  LAS ALCOBAS—This hotel took Condésa DF’s approach north to tonier Polanco and laid on state-of-the-art extras. Its staff provides service reminiscent of an old-world grand hotel, while its 35 wired rooms and public areas are showcases of cutting-edge design. Celebrated restaurateur Marta Ortiz runs the intimate Barroco, which offers traditional fine dining, and the outdoor Dulce Patria, for more casual, cantina-style Mexican fare. As for shopping, step outside the front door and you are on the country’s most fashionable street. INFO: Tel 52/55-3300-3900; www.lasalcobas.com. Cost: from $290.

  DISTRITO CAPITAL—French interior designer Joseph Dirand’s stylish-yet-cozy retreat of just 30 rooms starts at the 26th floor of a modern highrise and gazes across at the Valley of Mexico’s twin volcanoes, Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl. The hotel is located outside traditional boutique territory, in the Santa Fe business and shopping district, part of the city’s tony west side. Among the amenities are a restaurant run by local celebrity chef Enrique Olvera (Pujol restaurant; see below). INFO: Tel 52/55-5257-1300; www.hoteldistritocapital.com. Cost: from $150; dinner $45.

  EL PATIO 77—This eight-guest-room, mid-19th-century villa was restored with eco-conscious flair and recycled materials, and the results are truly inviting: handsome dark wood doors, burnished long-plank floors, high ceilings. two peaceful courtyards where breakfast is served. The neighborhood is equidistant from the Centro and Reforma, and, tucked above swank Polanco, has become the latest stalking grounds for the city’s chic bohemians. INFO: Tel 52/55-5592-8452; www.elpatio77.com. Cost: from $75.

  EATING & DRINKING

  BISTROT MOSAICO—A single glance at this classic French bistro’s deli case will lure you inside. From omelets to cutlets to soups, sandwiches, and salads, everything delights and goes well with a glass of wine. It’s a perfect place to stop while taking in the Art Deco Hipódromo neighborhood. Lunch is busy and loud, dinner quiet and candlelit, and while the room looks casual, you’ll need reservations if you’re not willing to wait. INFO: Tel 52/55-5584-2932; www.bistrotmosaico.com.mx. Cost: lunch $20.

  EL CALIFA—There are no pretensions at this always-busy institution loved for its Mexican comfort food. Most chilangos (local residents) agree it serves the best tacos in town, made fresh until the place closes down in the wee hours. Clean, bright, and efficient, it offers many to choose from, but the tacos al pastor, made with bits of marinated pork topped with onion, cilantro, and pineapple, may be the most irresistible. INFO: Tel 52/55-5271-6285; www.elcalifa.com.mx. Cost: $15.

  IZOTE—This small and minimalist restaurant owned by cookbook author and chef Patricia Quintana, reigning queen of Mexican dining, is so good it can afford to be casual. The menu straddles the new-light/old-heavy divide and favors indigenous ingredients given a contemporary spin. You’ll find a sampler ceviche (fish, onions, and peppers marinated in lime juice) in three variations, soups and steaks, and a tender lamb that’s barbecued in banana leaves. INFO: Tel 52/55-5280-1671. Cost: lunch $30.

  POZOLERÍA TIXTLA—Pozole is the beloved national soup of pork, cheese, chilies, and grits, commonly served on Thursdays in Mexico but available here daily—the only respect in which this awning-fronted neighborhood treasure breaks tradition. Choose straight blanco or verde (with green mole), add in avocados, chicharrones (fried pork rinds), and fresh tortilla strips, and go straight to Mexican heaven. The rest of the menu is a primer in local cuisine: tacos, chiles japones (Japanese chiles), tostadas con pato (duck), or cecina (dried, salted, thinly sliced meat) from the owners’ home state of Guerrero. INFO: Tel 52/55-5564-2859. Cost: lunch $16.

  PUJOL—At this modern and consistently top-ranked restaurant, chef Enrique Olvera creates sophisticated dishes that are small but perfect, marrying European-influenced style with indigenous foods. Try the tamales stuffed with huitlacoche (sometimes called corn mushroom or the Aztec truffle), a duck carpaccio with mescal foam, and venison served on a purple banana puree. INFO: Tel 52/55-5545-4111; www.pujol.com. Cost: dinner $65.

  A mariachi band performs aboard a trajinera in the canals of Xochimilco, one of the city’s boroughs.

  SOBRINOS—This newcomer isn’t trendy, but with a deft approach to food, a charmingly retro bistro ambience, and an unbeatable location, it was an immediate favorite. Specializing in simple French fare, it also offers artfully prepared Mexican dishes, such as the torta de pato (duck sandwich) in red salsa. Desserts are gemlike, and the selection of wine, tequila, and mescal may be unequaled in the city. Sidewalk seating puts you right in the midst of the vibrant Roma Norte neighborhood. INFO: Tel 52/55-5264-7466. Cost: dinner $40.

  TAQUERÍAS—Tacos, the national food, are available from street vendors on every commercial block in Mexico City—for lunch, for dinner, then late at night—and might include any edible part of a pig, cow, goat, lamb, or chicken. They shatter class distinctions: Members of every social stratum eat them almost daily, on or off the street. Street food here is some of the most reliable in the country (still, visitors feel safer by adding plenty of lime and chili, which are strongly antiseptic and enhance flavors). Tacos Speed (at Carlos B. Zetina 118) in Tacubaya, a neighborhood long famous for its taquerías, has the city’s best alambre— divine layers of shredded beef, onions, and peppers wrapped in flour tortillas.
Los Parados, in Roma Sur, is part of a chain that does high late-night volume, but there is nothing cookie-cutter about its output of simple, fresh tacos. The variety of pico de gallo—the standard “dry” salsa made with chopped tomato, onions, and hot peppers—is legion, and best ingested with care. La Fonda Argentina, in elegant Independencia between the Centro and Coyoacán, is so good it opened an annex across the street, serving the original establishment’s beef tacos as well as other street fare. LOS PARADOS: Tel 52/55-5564-6941. LA FONDA ARGENTINA: Tel 52/55-5539-1617; www.fondaargentina.com.

  PULQUE—This thick variant of mescal, brewed from the maguey cactus, is rarely available outside central Mexico: It can’t be refrigerated without breaking down and must be drunk within 24 hours. Taken straight and milky or blended with strawberry, guava, oatmeal, nuts, and a host of other flavors, pulque (POOL-kay) was the poor man’s drink until World War II, when it was displaced by beer. Hundreds of tile-walled, men-only pulquerías have been reduced to a convivial, mixed-gender few today. Open from mid-morning until the late evening meal, they allow visitors to meet a friendly cross-section of middle- and lower-class Mexico. Indeed, pulque, once a drink the ancient Aztecs gave to sacrificial victims on the way to their deaths, is winning a growing number of young devotees. The last pulquería in the Centro is tiny La Risa, (Mesones 71), full of old men and young students sitting elbow to elbow. You’ll find foreigners here too, thanks to its tourist-heavy location. Stronger brew flows at La Hija de los Apaches (Dr. Claudio Bernard 149, Col. Doctores), a cavernous student hangout near Romita, where grandfatherly ’50s middleweight boxing champ Epiphano “Pifas” Leyvas reigns over the affectionately rowdy clientele. The first new pulquería to open in a decade is Los Insurgentes (Insurgentes Sur 226, Col. Roma Norte), where clay jars full of the sweet, strong concoction are served in a room with old-fashioned décor. The young owners are reinventing a tradition that nearly vanished before they were born.

  DAY TRIPS

  TEOTIHUACÁN—Centuries before the Aztecs arrived, this massive, ancient city of black rock was Mesoamerica’s most powerful social and political center. Built between 100 B.C. and A.D. 250, it was a sophisticated, rigorously planned, 8-square-mile city of more than 200,000. Abandoned around A.D. 750, it lay forgotten until the Aztecs arrived in 1200, naming it “place where gods are born” and using it as a pilgrimage center. You can climb the landmark Pyramid of the Sun, second largest in the world, or the similar but slightly smaller Pyramid of the Moon, which dominates the city’s broad Avenue of the Dead. Spend the morning contemplating one of the most excavated and researched archaeological sites in the world, then escape the heat for a few hours in the site’s excellent museum. WHERE: 30 miles/48 km north of the Mexico City center.

  TEPOZTLÁN—Tepoztlán is a beautiful town of terra-cotta buildings tucked into the base of rugged cliffs that tower over a valley reputed to have mystical powers. This is the mythical birthplace of Quetzalcóatl, the feathered serpent god of Aztec, Toltec, and Maya lore. Hikers who trek to the Aztec pyramid dedicated to him at the top of nearby Tepozteco mountain are rewarded with spectacular views. Still a sleepy village, unspoiled Tepoztlán attracts devotees of yoga, astrology, meditation, and other New Age pursuits. One of Mexico’s Magic Pueblos, it has become a favorite place for Mexico City residents to unwind and de-stress, so cafés and shops are in good supply. The Tepoznieve ice-cream parlor is famous for flavors that range from classic vanilla to tequila, carrot, and chile. The town center becomes an open-air market on weekends, while the pastorelas, or nativity plays, attract crowds the week before Christmas. WHERE: 57 miles/92 km south of Mexico City center; 10 miles/16 km north of Cuernavaca.

  CUERNAVACA—Cortés was the first in a long line of V.I.P. Mexico City residents to keep a vacation home in the “City of Eternal Spring,” where temperatures hover around 72°F year-round. The conqueror’s fortresslike retreat is now the Museo Regional Cuauhnáhuac (the city’s Aztec name), displaying an excellent array of colonial and pre-Hispanic artifacts, a Diego Rivera mural, and remnants of the ancient pyramid Cortés razed. Malcolm Lowry’s 1947 classic Under the Volcano was set here, but fans won’t recognize much beyond leafy Plaza de Armas, picturesque in its wrought-iron finery and lively with local families, vendors, and visitors. Stop by the Museo Robert Brady, which exhibits native art, colonial antiques, and paintings by prominent Mexican artists. Las Mañanitas, often lauded as one of Mexico’s finest hotels, is a 15-minute walk from the zócalo. The hacienda-style retreat has hosted presidents and princes since 1950; its 20 suites are set in a paradise of tropical plants, peacocks, and macaws, with an inviting pool and alfresco restaurant. WHERE: 50 miles/81 km south of Mexico City center. BRADY MUSEUM: Tel 52/77-7318-8554; www.bradymuseum.org. LAS MAÑANITAS HOTEL: Tel 52/77-7314-1466; www.lasmananitas.com.mx. Cost: from $200 (off-peak), from $450 (peak).

  Home to Native Arts and Monarch Butterflies

  MORELIA AND PÁTZCUARO

  Michoacán, Mexico

  Michoacán, one of Mexico’s most culture-rich states, is the land of the Tarascans, a native people known for their melodic Purépecha language and for their brilliantly colored handicrafts and folk art. Much of the latter is showcased at the Casa de Artesanías de Michoacán, a museum and store, housed in a former convent in the stately capital of Morelia. Here you’ll also find rose-colored stone Colonial buildings and a glorious twin-towered cathedral dating to 1640—the second largest in the Americas.

  On Morelia’s main square, Hotel Los Juaninos, a palatial, 17th-century bishop’s residence, epitomizes the city’s old-world charm. Rooms are clustered around a courtyard and feature wood-beam ceilings and elaborately carved doors. The rooftop bar-restaurant enjoys wonderful views of the cathedral, which is dramatically lit at night. In the leafy hills south of the city, guests at the antiques-filled Villa Montaña enjoy an enchanting maze of gardens and cobbled walkways with sweeping city views.

  Time a trip mid-November through March to witness some of the tens of millions of orange-and-black monarch butterflies that make the 2,000-mile migration from the eastern United States and Canada to Mexico’s central highlands. At El Rosario Butterfly Sanctuary, 2 hours from Morelia, butterflies are so numerous you can hear their wings beating. The weight of so many tiny bodies clustered in dense layers sometimes breaks limbs from the trees; when they fly, the sky appears flecked with golden confetti.

  Michoacán’s second city is the picturesque colonial town of Pátzcuaro, near a lake of the same name and about 30 miles from Morelia. Friday is market day when native women in bright traditional dress stream in from the neighboring villages that specialize in various crafts: hand-hammered copperware from Santa Clara del Cobre, guitars from Paracho, exquisite lacquerware from Uruapán. Pátzcuaro itself is famous for high-quality serapes and other hand-woven textiles.

  No visit is complete without a boat ride to Isla Janitzio, in the middle of the long lake. It is especially fascinating during Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), November 1 and 2, when Mexicans celebrate life while remembering those who have died. The festivities here are some of the most famous and well-attended in the country.

  Pátzcuaro’s La Mansión de los Sueños, a renovated 17th-century home with thick adobe walls, wood-beam ceilings, and courtyards with original fountains, transports you to colonial times. Twelve singularly decorated suites are filled with painted murals, antiques, and fireplaces, a cozy touch on cool evenings.

  WHERE: Morelia is 190 miles/306 km west of Mexico City. HOTEL LOS JUANINOS: Tel 52/443-312-0036; www.hoteljuaninos.com.mx. Cost: from $150. VILLA MONTAÑA: Tel 52/443-314-0231; www.villamontana.com.mx. Cost: from $210. HOW: Mex Mich Guides offers full-day guided tours of El Rosario Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary, departing from Morelia. Tel 52/443-340-4632; www.mmg.com.mx. Cost: $40. When: mid-Nov–Mar. MANSIÓN DE LOS SUEÑOS: Tel 52/434-342-5708; www.mansiondelossuenos.com. Cost: from $165. BEST TIMES: mid-Nov–Mar for butterflies; Nov 1–2 for Day of the Dead celebrations.

  A Cultural and Gastro
nomic Field Day

  OAXACA

  Oaxaca, Mexico

  Aremarkable blend of Old World and deep-rooted Zapotec and Mixtec traditions are gloriously at play in the cobblestoned historic center of Oaxaca. You can spend days visiting the city’s 27 ornate churches—which include the Baroque Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzmán and its gold-ornamented Rosario Chapel—as well as its overflowing markets. Wander the side streets around the zócalo and browse the art galleries and crafts shops, such as the Mercado de Artesanías, which brims with embroidered clothing from the region. The Museo Regional de Oaxaca, housed in a convent from the 1600s, is one of Mexico’s finest museums, tracing the development of the Oaxaca area from the Olmec period in 1200 B.C.

  Oaxaca is surrounded by villages that specialize in crafts: black pottery (San Bartolo), woolen textiles (Teotitlán del Valle), and brightly painted wood carvings (Arrazola). The city is also a culinary mecca, known for its empanadas, hot chocolate, and seven varieties of the delectable mole sauce. Sample the finest mezcal, the region’s famed smoky distilled spirit, at the atmospheric Mezcalería los Amantes. For adventurous palates, spicy, fried chapulines—grasshoppers—are another local specialty. Food appreciation classes, such as those offered through Casa de los Sabores, have become almost de rigueur for visiting food lovers.