Nezahualcóyotl

From the Bordo de Xochiaca to the Templo Mayor in one day

Most visitors use Nezahualcóyotl as a base for Mexico City, but a day split between the two shows how Neza fits into the valley. Start with tamales and atole from a stall near a Mexibús station, then visit the Ciudad Jardín Bicentenario on the Bordo de Xochiaca, a former rubbish dump on the old Lake Texcoco shore.

Morning. Start with breakfast at a street stall: tamales and a cup of atole from a vendor near any Mexibús station, or quesadillas cooked on a comal. Then head to the Ciudad Jardín Bicentenario on the Bordo de Xochiaca, a former rubbish dump on the old lakeshore now covered with a shopping centre, playing fields and green space. It is the clearest sign of how much Neza has changed since its days without paved roads or drains.

Midday. If there is a match, the Estadio Neza 86 is worth a look; it hosted group games of the 1986 World Cup. Otherwise ride Mexibús Line 3 west to Pantitlán and switch to Metro Line 1 toward the centre.

Afternoon. In about half an hour you are near the Zócalo. Walk to the Templo Mayor, the excavated great temple of Tenochtitlan, whose city once stood on an island in the same lake system that covered Neza. The connection makes more sense when you see the old lake maps in the site museum.

Evening. Ride back east, ideally before the evening rush, and finish with tacos al pastor or a plate of pozole on one of the long avenues near your hotel. Use an app taxi for the last stretch if it is late.

Tianguis tacos, tlacoyos and Sunday barbacoa on Neza's avenues

Nezahualcóyotl eats on the street, where the cooking of the rural states that supplied most of its population survives in stalls and fondas on every main avenue. The weekly tianguis, open-air markets on a different street each day, are the best places, for tlacoyos of blue corn stuffed with beans or fava paste and topped with nopal.

The weekly tianguis, open-air markets that set up on a different street each day of the week, are the best places to eat. Look for tlacoyos, oval blue-corn cakes stuffed with beans or fava paste and topped with nopal cactus, cheese and salsa; quesadillas filled with squash blossom, huitlacoche or mushrooms; and tacos de canasta, steamed tacos sold from a basket on the back of a bicycle in the morning.

Weekends are for barbacoa, lamb slow-cooked in a pit and sold with its broth, and for carnitas by the kilo. In the evening, tacos al pastor stands light up, carving marinated pork from the spit with a slice of pineapple. Pambazos, bread rolls dipped in guajillo chile sauce and filled with potato and chorizo, are a cheap and filling dinner.

Covered municipal markets in each district sell fruit, juices and set lunches called comida corrida: soup, rice, a main dish and agua fresca. Eat where the queue is longest, and keep small notes and coins handy, since stalls rarely take cards.

The poet-king's Texcoco and the bath hill at Texcotzingo

The best day trip from Nezahualcóyotl follows its namesake, the 15th-century ruler of Texcoco remembered as a poet, philosopher and builder of waterworks, north-east to his lands on the old lakeshore. The city of Texcoco, under an hour away, was his capital, and the hill of Texcotzingo above it holds the remains of his baths.

The city of Texcoco, under an hour away by bus or taxi depending on traffic, was his capital. Its centre has a colonial cathedral and busy markets, and the area draws crowds for its barbacoa and for a large horse and farming fair in spring.

Above the town, the hill of Texcotzingo holds the remains of the king's pleasure gardens: stone channels, staircases and baths cut into the rock, fed by an aqueduct that carried water from the mountains. The climb is short but steep, and the view looks back across the flat basin where the lake once spread to Tenochtitlan.

Closer to Neza, the old lake bed itself is part of the story. After centuries of drainage only fragments of Lake Texcoco remain, and the land around the cancelled airport project north of the city has become the Parque Ecológico Lago de Texcoco, inaugurated in August 2024, with cycling tracks, sports areas and restored wetlands for migratory birds; check which sections are open before you go.

Combine Texcoco with Teotihuacan, about an hour north, if you have a car or a guide. Leave early to beat the traffic and the heat.