Layout of Mexico City
The city fills a closed basin at 2,240 m, ringed by volcanic mountains: the Sierra de Guadalupe to the north, the Sierra de las Cruces to the west and the Ajusco (3,930 m) to the south. It is a federal entity in its own right, divided into 16 boroughs (alcaldías) rather than municipalities, with 9,209,944 people inside its 1,495 km² and about 21.8 million in the wider Valle de México metropolitan area — the largest urban area in North America.
Everything is measured from the Zócalo, formally the Plaza de la Constitución, a paved square of roughly 240 m on each side. The Metropolitan Cathedral (built 1573–1813) fills its north side, the National Palace its east side, and the excavated Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlan sits at its north-east corner. The surrounding Centro Histórico covers about 9 km² and some 1,500 listed buildings; it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1987 together with the canals of Xochimilco.
Paseo de la Reforma runs south-west out of the Centro on a diagonal, past the Monumento a la Revolución turnoff, the Ángel de la Independencia and the towers of the financial district, into Chapultepec park (686 hectares, with the National Museum of Anthropology and the castle on its hill) and on towards Santa Fe. The second axis is Avenida de los Insurgentes, about 29 km end to end and the longest avenue in the city, running north–south and carrying Metrobús Line 1. Two ring roads close the pattern: the Circuito Interior around the inner city and the Anillo Periférico further out, with the Viaducto cutting east–west.
The basin had no natural outlet and was filled by a chain of shallow lakes — Texcoco, Xochimilco, Chalco, Zumpango — on which Tenochtitlan was built in 1325. Drainage began with the Nochistongo cut in 1607 and continued with the Gran Canal in 1900 and the deep Emisor Central tunnel in 1975. The drained lake bed is soft clay, and the centre has sunk several metres since the nineteenth century: the Metropolitan Cathedral leans visibly, and the 1985 and 2017 earthquakes did their worst damage on exactly this ground.
Distances from Mexico City
The capital is the hub of the federal highway network, and most of central Mexico is inside a half-day drive. Toll motorways (autopistas, marked D) leave in every direction.
| Place | km | Time | How |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mexico City airport (MEX) | 8 | 30 min | Metro Line 5, Metrobús Line 4, taxi |
| Teotihuacán pyramids | 50 | 1 h | Hwy 132D, bus from Terminal Norte |
| Felipe Ángeles airport (NLU) | 45 | 1 h | Hwy 85D, shuttle, suburban train |
| Toluca | 65 | 1 h | Hwy 15D, bus from Observatorio |
| Cuernavaca | 85 | 1 h 15 | Hwy 95D, bus from Taxqueña |
| Pachuca | 95 | 1 h 20 | Hwy 85D, bus from Terminal Norte |
| Tlaxcala | 120 | 2 h | Hwy 150D then 117 |
| Puebla | 130 | 1 h 45 | Hwy 150D, bus from TAPO |
| Taxco | 170 | 2 h 30 | Hwy 95D, bus from Taxqueña |
| Querétaro | 215 | 2 h 30 | Hwy 57D, bus from Terminal Norte |
Airports, bus terminals and the Metro
Two airports serve the city. Benito Juárez International (MEX) lies 8 km east of the Zócalo inside the built-up area, with Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 linked by an elevated shuttle; Terminal 1 has its own Metro station on Line 5 and a Metrobús Line 4 stop that runs straight to the Centro Histórico. Felipe Ángeles International (NLU), built on the Santa Lucía air base 45 km north in the State of Mexico, opened in March 2022 and is reached by the Mexibús, by motorway coach and by the Buenavista suburban rail extension; allow well over an hour from the centre.
Long-distance buses use four terminals, one for each compass point. Terminal Norte serves the Bajío, the north and the border. Terminal Sur (Taxqueña) covers Morelos, Guerrero and the Pacific — Cuernavaca, Taxco, Acapulco. Terminal Oriente (TAPO), next to San Lázaro Metro, handles Puebla, Veracruz, Oaxaca, Chiapas and the Yucatán. Terminal Poniente (Observatorio) runs west to Toluca, Michoacán and Guadalajara. Each sits on a Metro line of the same name.
Inside the city, the Metro carries several million passengers a day across 12 lines, 195 stations and about 226 km of track at a single flat fare, and every station has a pictogram as well as a name. Seven Metrobús corridors run in dedicated lanes, the Tren Ligero continues south from Taxqueña to Xochimilco, and Cablebús lines climb the hillside boroughs of Ecatepec and Iztapalapa.
Neighbourhoods and day trips
West of the Zócalo along Avenida Madero and Avenida Juárez, the Alameda Central was laid out in 1592 and is the oldest public park in the Americas. The Palacio de Bellas Artes, begun in 1904 and finished in 1934, stands at its eastern end with murals by Rivera, Orozco and Siqueiros inside; the 182 m Torre Latinoamericana of 1956 faces it across the junction and has the open-air viewing deck that shows the whole basin.
Roma and Condesa, laid out in the early twentieth century west of the Centro, are the low-rise districts of art-nouveau and art-deco apartment blocks around Parque México and Plaza Río de Janeiro, and hold most of the city's independent restaurants. Polanco, north of Chapultepec, is the expensive district: Avenida Presidente Masaryk, the Museo Soumaya and the Museo Jumex. South of the centre, Coyoacán keeps its cobbled colonial core, the Casa Azul where Frida Kahlo lived, and the house where Trotsky was killed in 1940; San Ángel, next door, has the Saturday Bazar Sábado and the Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo studio houses. Further south, Xochimilco preserves about 170 km of Aztec-era canals and chinampas, worked by flat-bottomed trajineras — the second half of the city's World Heritage inscription. The campus of UNAM, between Coyoacán and the Periférico, was listed separately in 2007 for its 1950s murals and architecture.
Beyond the city limits, Teotihuacán is 50 km north-east, the pilgrimage basilica of Guadalupe stands at the foot of the Cerro del Tepeyac inside the city, and the rest of Central Mexico — Puebla, Cuernavaca, Toluca, Tlaxcala, Taxco — is within two and a half hours by road. The archaeological sites map and the volcanoes map put the basin in context: Popocatépetl, 70 km south-east, is visible from the city on clear mornings.
Questions about Mexico City
Where is Mexico City on the map of Mexico?
In the Valley of Mexico, in the centre-south of the country at 19.43° N, 99.13° W. The federal entity covers 1,495 km², the smallest in Mexico, and is surrounded by the State of Mexico on three sides and Morelos to the south.
How high is Mexico City?
The Zócalo sits at 2,240 m above sea level and the southern boroughs climb past 3,000 m on the slopes of the Ajusco. Arriving visitors often need a day or two to adjust; the air is thin and the sun is strong.
Which airport serves Mexico City, MEX or NLU?
Both. Benito Juárez International (MEX) is 8 km east of the Zócalo and handles most international flights. Felipe Ángeles International (NLU) opened in March 2022 at Santa Lucía, 45 km north of the centre, and takes mostly domestic and low-cost traffic.
How do you get around Mexico City?
The Metro has 12 lines and 195 stations over about 226 km, with a flat fare, and is the fastest way across the centre. Seven Metrobús bus-rapid-transit lines, the Tren Ligero to Xochimilco and the Cablebús cable-car lines fill the gaps.
Is Mexico City safe to visit?
The central boroughs where visitors stay — Cuauhtémoc, Miguel Hidalgo, Coyoacán, Benito Juárez — see millions of tourists a year, with pickpocketing and taxi-related crime the documented risks; unregistered street taxis are the usual advice to avoid. The US State Department publishes a separate advisory level for Mexico City: check the current one before travelling.