Coyoacan Historic Center

Coyoacan was a town centuries before the megacity swallowed it, and it never stopped acting like one. Cortes set up his first capital here in 1521 while Tenochtitlan lay in ruins, and the quarter still runs on a village rhythm: twin plazas - Jardin Centenario with its coyote fountain and Jardin Hidalgo with the golden-domed San Juan Bautista church - ringed by ochre and cobalt mansions, organ grinders, balloon sellers and some of the city's best people-watching. The streets radiating outward hide bookshops, cantinas that have poured since the revolution, and houses where Frida Kahlo, Trotsky and half of Mexico's intelligentsia lived within a few blocks of each other. Weekends bring esquites steam, marimba bands and crowds of chilangos treating the quarter as their common back garden. It is the counterweight to the Zocalo's imperial scale - Mexico City at its most intimate.

What you actually see

• The twin plazas - coyote fountain, kiosk, and the 16th-century San Juan Bautista church.
• The colonial streets - Francisco Sosa and its painted mansions, one of the country's prettiest walks.
• The cafe life - terraces, churro stands and cantinas around the gardens.
• The blue orbit - Frida Kahlo's museum and Trotsky's house a short walk north.

When to go

Weekday mornings for the plazas nearly to yourself; weekends for the full fiesta atmosphere. November to April brings dry, brilliant days; summer rains arrive punctually in the late afternoon.

Honest expectations

The Frida Kahlo museum sells out days ahead - book online or you will queue for nothing. Weekend crowds around the plazas are dense, and the famous market gets elbow-to-elbow at lunch. Cobbles are hard on wheels and heels.

Nearby

The Anahuacalli museum, San Angel's Saturday bazaar and the Xochimilco canals southward.