How to Spend One Day at Chapultepec Park, Mexico City – Best Things to Do

If you’re in Mexico City you can’t miss touring around one of the most visited urban parks in the world. In this blog post you can read about how to spend one day at Chapultepec Park based on some of the best things to do there. If you’re skeptical that you can spend an entire day at a park, trust me, there’s way too much to see in and around this enormous park in just one day.

For reference, we spent 2 weeks in Mexico City and during this time we had many incredible days like this one in and around the city. 

If you’d like to see our Mexico City adventures then make sure to watch our YouTube playlist by clicking here. In addition, you can also check out our Mexico Playlist for more adventures.

Mexico City Travel Guide – Read This Before Your Visit

If you’re looking for answers to common questions such as where to stay, how to stay safe during your visit and how best to get around this massive capital city then make sure to check out my detailed blog post below.

The blog post includes answers to the following questions:

• Is Mexico City Safe?
• Do You Need to Speak Spanish in Mexico City?
• How To Get to Mexico City?
• Where to Stay in Mexico City?
• Best Ways to Move Around Mexico City

All You Need to Know About Chapultepec Park

Bosque Chapultepec (Chapultepec Forest or Chapultepec Park in English) is the oldest and largest urban park in Latin America. 

Did you know? – At 1,695 acres (686 hectares) Chapultepec Park is almost double the size of the well-known Central Park in New York City. (Therefore, it is no surprise that you can easily spend an entire day here.)

Chapultepec Park isn’t just a cultural and social park, but also an important ecological oasis. The park is basically considered the ‘lungs’ of Mexico City. The name ‘Chapultepec’ comes from Nahuatl, the Aztecs’ language, and it means ‘Hill of the Grasshopper’. 

The park is so big that it’s divided into three big sections. Sections 1 and 2 are the most visited ones mainly because most of the attractions are concentrated in these two areas. The third section is a natural wooded area with wildlife.

Opening Times – Please note that the first section of the park is closed on Mondays for maintenance. It’s open for the rest of the week between 5AM and 8PM. The second section of the park is open every day 24/7. 

How to Spend One Day at Chapultepec Park in Mexico City

There is so much to do at Chapultepec Park that even after wandering around for one full day it will feel like you haven’t seen it all. 

I divided some of the best things to do in the park based on which section they are located in. In addition, I added some extra places in the vicinity of Chapultepec that you can consider checking out.

Top Tip – It’ll be unlikely that you get to visit every place I listed below. So, I recommend picking the ones you’re interested in the most. I believe that your visit will be more enjoyable if you don’t try to visit every attraction in the park. 

Things to Do in the First Section of Chapultepec Park

1. Enjoy the Views from Chapultepec Castle (Castillo Chapultepec)

Located on top of Chapultepec Hill is the only true castle in North America: Chapultepec Castle. It was constructed in 1785 and was meant to be a manor house. It was abandoned during the Mexican War of Independence before it turned into a Military Academy decades later. The castle is where the Battle of Chapultepec took place in 1847 during the Mexican-American War. Later, in 1864, the castle became the residence of Emperor Maximilian I and his wife Empress Carlota. Since 1939 Chapultepec Castle has been home to the National History Museum.

Without doubt the castle offers some amazing views of Mexico City. Although you have to walk uphill for a bit to enjoy it, your efforts will be worth it. You’ll be able to appreciate the size of the park from there and will also have a fantastic view of Reforma Avenue and the Historic Centre of the city. 

Entry Fee – Entry fee is 80MXN per person. On Sundays Mexican nationals and residents can enter for free. With this in mind, you might want to visit the castle on a less busy day.

Opening Times – The castle is open from Tuesday to Sunday between 9AM and 5PM. It is closed on Mondays like many places across Mexico City.

Please Note – You can’t take water or any kinds of drinks, food or selfie sticks/ tripods into the castle. I highly recommend leaving these items at the lockers just after you’ve paid your entry fee. Whilst you can leave your tripod/ selfie stick at the entrance to the castle too, they will ask you to pour your drink out before you enter.

2. Check Out the National History Museum (Museo Nacional de Historia)

After admiring the stunning views from the castle, don’t forget to visit the National History Museum. It has many exhibition rooms that detail the history of Mexico from the conquest of Tenochtitlan to the Mexican Revolution. You’ll also find many rooms where they’ve recreated the rooms of Maximiliano and Carlota and President Porfirio Diaz. 

Entry Fee – The entry fee to the museum is included in the Chapultepec Castle ticket. On Sundays Mexican nationals and residents can enter for free. 

Opening Times – Together with the castle, the museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday between 9AM and 5PM. It is closed on Mondays like many museums across Mexico City.

3. Stop By the Niños Heroes Monument

 The Monumento a los Niños Héroes (Boy Heroes Monument) or Altar a la Patria (Altar to the Homeland) is a must stop when visiting Chapultepec Park. The monument honours six Mexican teenage cadets who died defending the castle during the Mexican-American War in 1847.

4. Pay a Visit to the National Museum of Anthropology

Museo Nacional de Antropologia is probably one of the most visited museums in Mexico City. It contains the world’s largest collection of ancient Mexican art. In addition, it also has ethnographic exhibits. The museum is huge and has 23 permanent exhibition halls, so you can definitely spend a long time in there if you wish. 

Entry Fee – Entry fee is 85MXN per person.

Opening Times – Tuesday to Sunday between 9AM and 5PM.

5. Wander Around the Museum of Modern Art

As you can see, Chapultepec Park has plenty of museums to visit. If you love art then you should consider visiting the Museo de Arte Moderno. It’s home to one of the largest collections of Mexican art of the 20th century but also houses international artists. There are at least 3,000 paintings, sculptures, photographs, drawings and engravings from popular artists such as Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro.

Entry Fee – Entry fee is 70MXN per person.

Opening Times – Tuesday to Sunday between 10:15AM and 5:30PM.

6. Take a Photo of the CDMX Giant Letters

Located just in front of Chapultepec Lake is the giant CDMX sign. If you’ve been to Mexico before then you’ll know that basically every town or city will have these giant letters with the place’s name. CDMX stands for La Ciudad de México aka Mexico City and you should definitely take a snap of it during your visit.

7. Go on a Paddle Boat Ride on Chapultepec Lake

Why not rent a boat and paddle around Chapultepec Lake to get a different view of Chapultepec Park? The lake is one of many waterbodies around the park. You can rent a 2, 4 or 5 person boat or paddle boat.

Cost of Rental – Depending on the size it’ll cost anywhere between 60MXN and 120MXN for an hour.

Things to Do in the Second Section of Chapultepec Park

The second section of the park has slightly less attractions and is definitely less visited compared to the first section. However,  there are still a few points of interest that are worth mentioning. 

8. Visit the Natural History Museum

The second section of Chapultepec Park is where you can visit the Natural History Museum. As at any natural history museum around the world, you can learn about botany, astronomy, history or zoology during your visit.

Entry Fee – Entry fee is 26MXN per person.

Opening Times – Tuesday to Sunday between 10AM and 5PM.

9. Admire Xochipilli Fountain (Fuente de Xochipilli)

Along the 0.5km long pedestrian walkway called Paseo de los Compositores, you’ll find the beautiful Xochipilli Fountain. It was built in 1964 by architect Leónides Guadarrama. 

The fountain references the Mexican nationalist architecture of the early 20th century. It also retrieves characteristics from Tenochca architecture, and other elements of their vision of the cosmos.

It was fully restored and rehabilitated by the Bosque de Chapultepec trust in 2015. This also helped to increase the safety of the second section of the park.

10. Visit the Dolores Cárcamo Museum (Museo del Carcamo de Dolores)

Right next to the Water Garden Museum is a small hydraulic structure called Carcamo de Dolores. It was designed by architect Ricardo Rivas with Diego Rivera, who painted the murals inside, and designed the Tlaloc fountain outside.

In the 1940s, Mexico City began an ambitious project to bring water into the city from the Lerma River. 

Did you know? – The water system is called the Lerma System, and it still supplies a small percentage of Mexico City’s water.

Entry Fee – Entry Fee is 25MXN.

Opening Times – Tuesday to Sunday between 10AM and 5PM.

11. Visit the Water Garden Museum (Museo Jardín del Agua)

Next to the Carcamo de Dolores pumping station is the Water Garden museum. These raised gardens apparently hide underground reservoirs that were part of the Lerma System. You might see some strange towers that are actually disguised pumping stations.

Entry Fee – Free

Things to Do Around Chapultepec Park

There are a few interesting spots in the immediate vicinity of Chapultepec Park that I thought were worth mentioning.

12. The Angel of Independence

One of the most iconic landmarks in Mexico City is definitely the Monumento a la Independencia. The victory column was built during the presidency of Porfirio Diaz in 1910. It’s located along Avenue Paseo de la Reforma and you can have a great view of it from Chapultepec Castle.

The Angel commemorates Mexico’s victory over Spain in its War of Independence. Later it was actually made into a mausoleum for the most important heroes of that war.

On top of the 36m tall column is where the nearly 7m tall statue of the Greek goddess of victory, Nike, sits. 

Did you know? – With advanced notice and a special permit you can actually go all the way to the top for some panoramic views of Mexico City.

13. Torre Mayor, Torre BBVA, Torre Reforma and Chapultepec Uno

Along Reforma Avenue are a few skyscrapers that are worth mentioning. With a height of 225m Torre Mayor is the fourth tallest building in Mexico City. Constructions of the building started in 1999 and it was finished in 2003. 

Did you know? – Until 2010, when the Ocean Two residential building was built in Panama City, Panama, it was also the tallest building in Latin America.

As you probably know Mexico City has a high propensity for earthquakes. After the devastating earthquake in 1985, the structural design of Torre Mayor had to incorporate several anti-earthquake measures. In terms of earthquake resistance, today the skyscraper is one of the strongest and safest buildings on Earth that can withstand 8.5 magnitude earthquakes.

A few years after Torre Mayor higher skyscrapers were built such as Torre BBVA, Chapultepec Uno and Torre Reforma. 

14. Estela de Luz Monument

Within the skyscrapers, you’ll notice a strange building. It’s called Estela de Luz (Stele of Light) and it’s a monument that commemorate the 200th anniversary of Mexico’s independence from Spanish rule.  

15. Auditorio Metro Station

Let me start by saying that using Mexico City’s metros won’t just save you a ton of money but will be a very entertaining experience too. Like many cities in the world, Mexico City also has some pretty cool and quirky metro stations.

During our time there we definitely came across some interesting themes such as the jungle and a space tunnel. However, Auditorio Metro Station was particularly special because one) its close to Chapultepec Park and two) the whole station is dedicated to the United Kingdom. Yes, we saw the iconic ‘Underground’ sign, red telephone boxes and other British memorabilia. They even had a poster of our beloved Peak District National Park, where we live.

If you’re after a quirky spot, then make sure to walk through this station.

16. Memorial a las víctimas de la violencia en México

We came across The Memorial to the Victims of Violence in Mexico as we were heading towards the second section of Chapultepec Park. 

It plays the dual role of a memorial and a public space and was built to bring awareness to the violence that has occurred in Mexico. Designed by Gaeta-Springall Arquitectos it is basically a living memorial, an open and unfinished project. 

17. Cafebreria El Pendulo

If you love book shops and cafés like me than a ‘cafebreria’ will be a match made in heaven for you too.

Cafebreria is basically a mix between a ‘cafeteria’ (coffeeshop) and a ‘libreria’ (bookstore). It is essentially a coffeeshop that sells books, magazines and a place where you can work, read or just relax.

If this sounds like something you would enjoy then definitely head over to Cafebreria El Pendulo located a little further north from Chapultepec Park.

Final Thoughts on Spending One Day at Chapultepec Park

Chapultepec Park is truly an amazing place. Spending an entire day there was very easy and I think we could’ve easily spent another one if we’d had the time. Obviously, our favourite parts were the views Chapultepec Castle offered, but we also enjoyed touring around the second and less visited section to explore some true hidden gems.

Have you ever been to Chapultepec Park in Mexico City before? If so, how much of the park did you manage to explore? What was your favourite spot? If not, would you want to spend one day in Chapultepec Park? Let me know in the comments below.