Coyoacán

The national university (UNAM) is located on a sprawling campus in the south of the city, and worth a full day's trip down to explore the area. The campus is also known as Ciudad Universitaria, and it is indeed so big that it is like its own city. Hit a Pumas soccer game in the Olympic stadium, check out the monumental murals by Juan O'Gorman and David Siqueiros, enjoy Modernist Mexican architecture in its full splendor, discover the hidden Sebastián, Manuel Felguérez, and Mathias Goeritz sculptures in the overgrown sculpture garden, and then catch the latest exhibition at the awesome Museum of Contemporary Art (MUAC). In short, there's a lot to do.

Frida may be Mexico's most famous icon, making her home, the Casa Azul, a must-see destination. Tucked away in pretty, colonial Coyoacán is the house where she grew up and eventually came to rest. After she died, Diego Rivera with whom she had a tempestuous marriage, donated her house to the government and it opened as a museum in the late '50s. Not only are many of her most famous works housed here, but many of the rooms are exactly as she left them. One of the highlights is definitely her kitchen and the adjacent dining room—she was a great chef, too—which are decorated in Mexican folk handicrafts she collected from around the country, and a traditional, wood-fired oven where she cooked legendary banquets. Diego asked that one room remain untouched, and when it was finally opened in 2004, they found a treasure trove of her clothes.

Muralist Diego Rivera was a major collector of pre-hispanic artefacts, and the Anahucalli, built out of volcanic stone and designed by Diego Rivera himself, houses all 60,000 pieces he acquired from archaeological digs across the country. The collection is as impressive as the building itself which Rivera designed as his studio with advice from none other than his pen pal, Frank Lloyd Wright, which incorporates pre-hispanic motifs while trying to meld into the local surroundings as much as possible. The best time to visit is around Day of the Dead (November 2nd), when the museum puts together one of the most awesome ofrendas, with thousands of marigold petals, sugar skulls, candles, and regional folk art.