Bosque de Chapultepec

Mexico City's Museum of Modern Art sits on the eastern edge of Chapultepec Park. The domed modernist building with its permanent collection of Mexican masters—Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Rufino Tamayo—inventive exhibits, and sculpture garden is a delight.

Encompassing the zoo, the botanical gardens, several man-made lakes, museums, a system of aqueducts developed by the Aztecs, and crowned by Mexico's one-time emperor Maximilian's castle, Chapultepec Park is unsurprisingly one of the largest city parks in the world. The center of all the action is right off the Paseo de la Reforma near the Museum of Anthropology, where most of the park's major attractions are located through the grand wrought iron entrance gates. Hike up to the castle and get lost on the way, discovering its many kid-friendly features, including a scenic lake where you can rent pedal boats.

Fun fact: Mexico was, for a short time, under the rule of Maximilian I, a puppet emperor put in place by Napoleon III. The empire didn't last long, but his 18th-century castle on a hill overlooking Chapultepec Park remains. Today it's the National Museum of History, adorned in historical murals by José Clemente Orozco, Juan O'Gorman, and David Alfaro Siqueiros, and displaying costumes and historical ephemera from the 16th-century on. The most exciting rooms, though, are the ones that show exactly how the Emperor and his wife lived in the castle; meanwhile, the views of the park below are stunning.

For anyone who's even remotely interested in pre-Hispanic culture, this museum is a must. It houses many of the most important findings from archaeological digs across the country, from the original Aztec calendar which was unearthed in Mexico City, to enormous monolithic stone Olmec heads from Veracruz, to all the treasures found in the Mayan tomb of Pakal in Palenque. Meanwhile, outside the museum stands an enormous monolith of Tlaloc, the god of rain. Legend has it that when he arrived in Mexico City, there was an almost catastrophic rainstorm. In short, it's a lot to take in, but worth it: It's a 101 crash course into pre-Hispanic culture.

While the arrival of the Museo Jumex certainly brings some stiff competition in the contemporary art arena, the Museo Tamayo, open since the 80's, housing muralist Rufino Tamayo's collection, has still got it. They've brought everyone from Sophie Calle, to Wolfgang Tillmans, to Francis Alÿs, to Yayoi Kusama to the Mexican audience, complementing each show with film series, talks, educational programs, and their famous jazz nights. Originally designed by two of Mexico's most prominent modernist architects, Abraham Zabludovsky and Teodoro González de León, the museum, which is nestled in Chapultepec park, has undergone an expansion and refurb.