Roma and Condesa

Roma and Condesa grew as belle-epoque and art deco suburbs for the Porfirian bourgeoisie, were shaken half-empty by the 1985 earthquake, and returned as the creative heart of the capital - the neighborhoods Cuaron filmed in Roma and the first stop for anyone who wants to live like a chilango rather than sightsee. Condesa curls around the oval Parque Mexico, a 1927 art deco masterpiece of pergolas, duck ponds and dog schools, ringed by streamline-moderne apartment blocks; Amsterdam avenue, an old racetrack, loops it with a planted median made for morning laps. Roma runs statelier along Alvaro Obregon's fountained median, its Porfirian mansions housing galleries, mezcalerias and the taquerias, panaderias and world-list restaurants that make these blocks Mexico's densest good-eating grid. The rhythm is the attraction: coffee, bookshops, jacaranda shade, an exhibition, tacos at a corner that never closes, and a bar you find by the queue.

What you actually see

• Parque Mexico - the art deco oval with its pergola and duck pond.
• Avenida Amsterdam - the racetrack loop under a tunnel of trees.
• Alvaro Obregon - Roma's fountained, mansion-lined spine.
• The food scene - street tacos to world-ranked dining within blocks.

When to go

March turns both quarters violet with jacarandas. Weekday mornings are calm; Thursday to Saturday nights are the full bar-and-restaurant tide. Sunday closes streets to cyclists city-wide, and the parks fill with families.

Honest expectations

These are the capital's most visited neighborhoods - English menus and international prices follow. Reservations matter at the famous rooms. It is a district to wander, not a checklist; without a cafe stop or two you have missed the point.

Nearby

Chapultepec park at Condesa's western edge, the Zona Rosa north and San Miguel de Chapultepec's galleries across the park.