Xochimilco

Xochimilco is what remains of the lake world the Aztecs built their capital on: a network of canals threading between chinampas, the raised island fields whose farming system predates the conquest and still grows flowers and vegetables for the city. It was inscribed by UNESCO in 1987 together with the historic centre, and the classic visit is pure spectacle - hiring a gaudily painted trajinera at one of the embarcaderos and being poled along waterways crowded, at weekends, with floating mariachi bands, marimba boats and vendors selling elote and quesadillas gunwale-to-gunwale. It is one of the great communal joys of the capital. Weekday mornings show the other Xochimilco: quiet green water, herons, working chinampa farms reachable on agro-tours, and - for those who ask - the long detour to the strange, doll-hung island deep in the backwaters.

What you actually see

• The trajinera ride - the painted boat poled through the canal maze.
• The floating fiesta - mariachi and food boats coming alongside.
• The chinampas - pre-Hispanic island fields still under cultivation.
• The quiet backwaters - herons and farm canals on weekday mornings.

When to go

Year-round; weekends deliver the full floating party, weekday mornings the calm and the birdlife. Spring fills the chinampas with flower harvests.

Honest expectations

Agree your route and hours at the ticket booth - rates are posted per boat per hour, so groups travel cheapest. Weekend canals are loud, crowded and joyful rather than tranquil; adjust expectations accordingly. The Island of the Dolls is hours of extra poling - many boatmen offer a nearer replica instead, so ask plainly.

Nearby

Coyoacan and the Frida Kahlo Museum, the Anahuacalli museum and central Mexico City.