Chapultepec Castle

Chapultepec Castle holds a distinction no other building on the continent can claim: it is North America's only castle actually inhabited by sovereigns. Begun in 1785 as a viceroy's retreat on the 'grasshopper hill' above the lake-bed city, it served as the national military academy before Emperor Maximilian and Empress Carlota made it their palace from 1864, laying out the great avenue - today's Paseo de la Reforma - to run arrow-straight from the castle toward the old city. Mexican presidents lived here until 1939, and since 1944 it has housed the National Museum of History. The visit stacks pleasures: the imperial apartments with their period furnishings, a luminous corridor of stained glass, sweeping historical murals by O'Gorman and Siqueiros, roof gardens, and the terrace panorama straight down Reforma's canyon of towers - the capital's finest single view.

What you actually see

• The imperial apartments - Maximilian and Carlota's palace rooms.
• The stained-glass gallery - the glowing corridor of allegorical windows.
• The history murals - Mexico's story painted wall-to-wall.
• The Reforma terrace - the avenue running dead-straight to the horizon.

When to go

Year-round; weekday mornings are calmest and clearest for the terrace views. Sundays are free for residents and correspondingly packed; the castle closes on Mondays.

Honest expectations

The walk up from the park gates is a genuine climb in altitude-thinned air - take it slowly. Large bags must be checked and lines build by late morning. Give the surrounding park and the Anthropology Museum their own day rather than cramming everything into one.

Nearby

The Anthropology Museum, Chapultepec Park's lakes and museums, and the Reforma corridor.