Things to See in Mexico City

Whipping up classic Mexican fare since 1860, this hugely popular (though not touristy) restaurant has a festive atmosphere, enhanced by chamber music. It's famous for its enormous chiles en nogada (around 180; (large green chilies stuffed with meat and fruit, covered with a creamy white walnut sauce and sprinkled with red pomegranate seeds - representing the colors of the Mexican flag), an Independence Day favorite, served here year-round.

Often the setting for banquets and receptions, this 400-year-old once-colonial country hacienda is now decidedly urban, making the spacious rooms and pretty gardens all the more appealing. Excellent Mexican and Spanish dishes are served in numerous dining rooms by the experienced staff. Reservations are advisable, as is formal dress for dinner.

This is one of the city's most sophisticated and formal French restaurants with tables on an elegant patio. Start off with pâté de foie gras, then choose from duck in Grand Marnier sauce, Beef Wellington or lobster thermidor. For dessert, there are tempting crêpes and soufflés.

This is one of the best of a wave of restaurants specializing in alta cocina mexicana (Mexican haute cuisine). The menu boasts an encyclopedic range of Mexican fare, from pre-Hispanic (ant larvae), to colonial (turkey in tamarind mole) to innovative (snapper fillet in rose hip salsa). Your tastebuds will thank you.

Next to the Estudio Diego Rivera, the San Ángel Inn is housed in an ex-hacienda complete with lovely flowery courtyard, fountain and gardens. It serves delicious traditional Mexican and European cuisine, but even if you don't splurge for dinner, be sure to sample one of their renowned margaritas or martinis.

East of Av Cuauhtémoc, this market has used and antique items, large and small: books, beer trays, posters and furniture. There is also a similar antiques and art market along Álvaro Obregón on the same days.

Probably the biggest and best handicrafts store in the city is the government-run National Fund for the Promotion of Handicrafts. This outlet stocks beautiful wares from around the country, ranging from Olinalá lacquered boxes to Oaxacan alebrijes (papier-maché monsters), blankets from Teotitlán del Valle, as well as plenty of pottery and glassware. Prices are fixed and fair.

In the southern suburb of San Ángel, this is a showcase for some of Mexico's very best handcrafted jewelry, woodwork, ceramics and textiles. Prices are high but so is the quality. At the same time, artists and artisans also display work in Plaza San Jacinto itself, in surrounding streets and in nearby Plaza del Carmen.

Feeling homesick? We'd like to think not. But just in case, Librería Sama sells major British and American newspapers and magazines, plus a few French, Spanish and German ones.

Travelers wishing to report a crime or seek legal assistance should contact the Unidad Ministerial Especializada Para Atención al Turista. You fill out a form, supposedly available at hotels and embassies, describing the incident, and submit it to the agency, which will address it to the proper authorities.

One of the best hospitals in the country is the Hospital ABC (American British Cowdray Hospital). There's an outpatient section and many of the staff speak English, but fees can be steep so adequate medical insurance is a big help.

One of many US embassies located around the country, American citizens on vacation or resident in Mexico will find the information and advice they need here. To avoid queuing any longer than you have to, check their website first - it may give you the answers you're seeking.

UK citizens can access the usual consular services at this Embassy: passports, visas and so on. Check their website first - you may find what you need to know there.

Every whim is catered to at this aggressively colonial boutique hotel near Chapultepec park. Aficionados of Mexican artesanía will be thrilled by the 10 fancifully decorated suites. Worth the splurge? If you've ever wanted to step into a scene from the film Frida, it may very well be.

The Isabel is a long-time budget traveler's favorite in the Centro Histórico, and it's easy to see why. Just a few blocks from the Zócalo, it offers very large, well-scrubbed rooms with old but sturdy furniture, high ceilings and great balconies, plus a hostel-like social scene.

Following the success of the Polanco neighbourhood's Hábita, that hotel's owners started a similarly cutting-edge, luxury lodging in a tranquil corner of trendy Condesa. Adjacent to lush Parque España, the circa 1920s structure has been quirkily made over in a style that combines Zen retreat with New York thrift store.

Alameda Central is Mexico City's only sizable downtown park and is surrounded by some of the city's most interesting buildings and museums. Created in the late 1500s by then-Viceroy Luis de Velasco, the park took its name from the álamos (poplars) planted over its rectangular expanse. It's particularly popular on Sunday, when fam­ilies congregate.

The Museum of Modern Art exhibits work by Mexico's most noteworthy 20th-century artists. Four skylit rotundas house canvasses by Dr Atl, Rivera, Siqueiros, Orozco, Kahlo, Tamayo and O'Gorman, among others. You can also see Las Dos Fridas, possibly Frida Kahlo's most well-known painting. Temporary exhibitions feature prominent Mexican and foreign artists.

The Plaza de las Tres Culturas is so named because it symbolizes the fusion of pre-Hispanic and Spanish roots into the Mexican mestizo identity. It displays the architectural legacy of those three cultural strands: the Aztec pyramids of Tlatelolco, the 17th-century Spanish Templo de Santiago and the modern Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores (Foreign Ministry).

In December 1531, so the story goes, an indigenous Christian convert named Juan Diego had a vision of the Virgin Mary as he stood on Cerro del Tepeyac (Tepeyac Hill), site of an old Aztec shrine. The local bishop was eventually convinced when the lady's image was miraculously emblazoned on his cloak and a shrine dedicated to the event soon sprang up.

Built around 1900 in the style of an Italian Renaissance palace, the National Art Museum holds collections representing every school of Mexican art up to the early 20th century. A highlight is the work of José María Velasco, depicting the Valley of Mexico in the late 19th century - with Guadalupe and Chapultepec far outside the city.

The National Palace is home to the offices of the president of Mexico, the Federal Treasury and dramatic murals by Diego Rivera. Above the central entrance hangs the 'Campana de Dolores', the bell rung in the town of Dolores Hidalgo by Padre Miguel Hidalgo in 1810 at the start of the Mexican War of Independence. The first palace on this spot was built by Aztec emperor Moctezuma II in the early 16th century, but Cortés destroyed it in 1521.

An oasis of calm and beauty north of the Alameda, this museum is the fruit of the efforts of Franz Mayer, born in Mannheim, Germany, in 1824. Earning the moniker Don Pancho in his adopted Mexico, Mayer amassed the collection of Mexican silver, textiles, ceramics and furniture masterpieces that is now on display at the museum.

Construction of this cathedral began in 1573 and took two and a half centuries to complete. Because of its placement atop the ruins of an Aztec temple complex, the massive building has been sinking unevenly since its construction, resulting in fissures and cracks in the structure. While visitors may wander freely, they are asked not to do so during mass.

Beer lovers from punks to suits make a beeline for this boisterous, no-frills bar that's been hoisting up the cold ones since 1928. Amiable staff serve up tarros (mugs) of light or dark cerveza de barril (draft beer) and bottles of almost every known Mexican beer.

DJs crank the volume to coccyx-crunching levels at this hallucinogenic hangout. Downstairs there's a dance floor on which to take advantage of the music (deep house; psychedelic trance) and a bar-lounge area; a more subdued upstairs lounge has performance events. The line at the door doesn't keep people waiting too long.

'Those who don't know Los Ángeles don't know Mexico' reads the marquee, and for once the hyperbole is well deserved. Cuban-music fans won't want to miss the outstanding orchestras here nor the incredibly graceful dancers who fill the vast floor. Particularly on Tuesday evening, when an older crowd comes for danzones, it's like the set of a period film. It's in a rough area, so take a taxi.

After decades as a bastion of masculinity, this ornate early 20th-century watering hole decided to open its doors to women in the 1970s. With original booths of dark walnut and an ornate tin ceiling (said to have been punctured by Pancho Villa's bullet on an otherwise slow night), it's a pleasant setting for a tequila.

Tucked away on a quiet backstreet, this casual hangout is the closest you can get to riding the metro at rush hour, with a college crowd jamming three narrow rooms. Purchase beer tickets, then make your way over to the cactus-trimmed bar. The soundtrack ranges from classic rock to Café Tacuba; don't be surprised if the crowd spontaneously bursts into chorus.