10 Places in Mexico City to go for a walk with your children

With the arrival of spring came sunny afternoons and the magnificent colors offered by flowers, grass, and trees. You don’t need to leave Mexico City (CDMX) to find an outdoor space to spend a relaxed afternoon. We took on the task of looking for ten places to go for a walk with your children. They can run, enjoy the scenery or even have a picnic. I highly recommend them! 10 Places in Mexico City to go for a walk with your children.

Going for a walk with your children helps you build memories.

Although chaos and bustle reign in CDMX, it is possible to find outdoor areas perfect for children to build beautiful family memories. Parks, forests, mountains, archaeological sites, and plant nurseries stand out for merging with urban planning and modern architecture. Try to give yourself some time and visit some (or all) of these sites. You will not regret it.

1 Masayoshi Ohira Park (Pagoda Park)

Address: Corredores, Country Club Churubusco, Coyoacán.

This place is open 24 hours a day and stands out for its Japanese style. It has a red portico, toril in Japanese, which is typical of the land of the rising sun. You’ll feel like you’re in another country when you walk around the pond connected by a bridge and the beautiful cobbled paths.

Masayoshi Ohira Park Photo: Wikimedia Commons

2 La Mexicana Park

Address: Lomas de Santa Fe, Contadero, Álvaro Obregón.

Located in the vicinity of the Santa Fe Shopping Center, you can spend a whole day full of adventures in this park. From running, skating, and eating in one of its restaurants to admiring an artificial lake while the children play in the many green areas. It is open from five in the morning to 10 at night, so you have plenty of time to have fun.

3 Chapultepec

One of the oldest urban forests in Latin America, with more than 686 hectares. It is the lung of CDMX and has many attractions: you can stroll through the botanical garden, visit the zoo, visit The Castle, attend a cultural event at the Casa del Lago, visit the Museum of Modern Art, take a tour of the Museum National Anthropology… One day isn’t enough to see it all. You can come back a thousand times and discover new things every time.

4 Bicentennial Park

Address: Av. 5 de Mayo 290, San Lorenzo, Tlaltenango, Miguel Hidalgo.

It is located on the border between the Miguel Hidalgo Municipality and the Azcapotzalco Municipality, a few meters from the Refinería Station on subway line seven. Its opening and closing hours are from Monday to Sunday, from seven in the morning to eight at night. It has soccer fields, basketball and volleyball courts, an artificial lake, and green areas to enjoy the day.

5 Fuentes Brotantes National Park

Address: Av de Las Fuentes, Fuentes Brotantes, Tlalpan.

The Fuentes Brotantes Park is located in the town of Santa Úrsula Xitla in Tlalpan, south of Mexico City. In this beautiful place, some springs flow from the skirts of the Sierra del Ajusco. It is an oasis in the middle of the city, ideal for walking and enjoying nature. Schedule: Monday to Sunday from nine to six in the afternoon.

6 Xochimilco: Trajinera Ride

Address: Cuemanco Pier: Periférico Sur Adolfo Ruíz Cortines, Xochimilco.

When was the last time you visited Xochimilco? We have an ancestral jewel inside the city, and we rarely visit it. The famous canals of Xochimilco are the last vestiges of the extensive transportation system that the Aztecs created. The colorful trajineras take visitors on tour to see the chinampas, a unique agricultural system. Also, you can listen to mariachis, visit the nurseries and even buy food. Trajinera tours are commonly carried out during the day, from eight in the morning to seven at night; however, you can also do night tours.

7 Laberinto Ajusco

Address: Camino Viejo al Maninal No. 13, Carretera Picacho-Ajusco Km 15, Ampliación San Miguel Ajusco, Tlalpan.

The place looks as if it has come out of a fairy tale. It is a European-style house with a replica labyrinth of the one in Hever Castle, Great Britain. It was built in 1999 by art historian Ignacio Figueroa who turned his home into an outdoor recreation space. It is open from Monday to Sunday from eight in the morning to eight at night.

8 Los Dinamos National Park

Address: Camino a Los Dinamos, Los Dinamos Reserve, La Carbonera, La Magdalena Contreras.

This park has a protected natural area of 2,429 hectares of forest. There are many activities for your children to have fun with: biking, climbing, zip-lining, camping, trout fishing, horseback riding, or just running, running and letting your little ones enjoy themselves. It is open from six to half past six in the evening.

9 Los Coyotes Zoo

Address: Heroica Escuela Naval Militar and Calzada la Virgen s/n. Col. Ex Ejido San Pablo Tepetlapa. 04900.

It was inaugurated in 1999 and only exhibits native or endemic wildlife species from the Valley of Mexico, a region rich in biodiversity. You can see the mythical axolotl, the Mexican wolf, the coyote, the teporingo, and the white-tailed deer, among others. It also offers visitors sports, camping, scouting, family, and social activities. It has three children’s playgrounds scattered throughout the zoo so your little ones can admire the animals and play at the same time.

10 Desierto de los Leones National Park

Address: Álvaro Obregón, 05800 CDMX. It is also known as the Desert of Our Lady of Carmen in the Montes de Santa Fe.

Although the name evokes a desert, it is a forest full of vegetation where you will also find a 17th-century convent that belonged to the order of the Discalced Carmelites. There is a small river; every weekend, multiple cultural and artistic events are held on more than 1,500 hectares. There are many recreational activities for children to have an unforgettable day. If you wonder why they call it a desert if it is a forest, the answer is more of a population issue; in the past, there were very few people in the area. Curious.

Translated by Ligia M. Oliver Manrique de Lara

Spanish version: here