Parks in Mexico City: Six Green Spaces From Chapultepec to Viveros
Mexico City's best-known parks include Chapultepec, Viveros de Coyoacán and Parque México. Where each one is, what to see and how to get there by Metro.
Mexico City’s largest park is the Bosque de Chapultepec, at just over 866 hectares, and the city has several smaller green spaces worth a visit: the Alameda Central downtown, Parque México in Condesa, Parque Hundido on Avenida de los Insurgentes, Viveros de Coyoacán in the south and the Cerro de la Estrella in Iztapalapa. Most are free to enter and close to a Metro or Metrobús stop.
The six parks below run roughly from the historic center outward, so you can pair nearby ones in a single day.
Alameda Central, Centro
The Alameda Central sits between Avenida Juárez and Avenida Hidalgo in the Cuauhtémoc borough, right beside the Palacio de Bellas Artes. Viceroy Luis de Velasco II ordered it built in 1592, and Wikipedia describes it as the oldest public park in the Americas. Its name comes from álamo, the Spanish word for the poplar trees first planted here. The site has a grim past: its western part was once El Quemadero, a square where people condemned by the Inquisition were burned at the stake.
Today it is a formal garden of paved paths laid out in a starburst around fountains, with a central kiosk, five French-designed classical fountains and statues such as Désespoire and Malgré Tout by Jesús Fructuoso Contreras. On the south side stands the Hemiciclo a Juárez, a white semicircular monument to President Benito Juárez. A renovation in 2012 replaced the paving with marble, planted new trees and moved street vendors out of the park. If you are spending the day downtown, the national art museum, MUNAL is another stop in the same area.
Getting there: Metro Bellas Artes.
Bosque de Chapultepec, Miguel Hidalgo
Chapultepec is the city’s main green lung, a forest park of just over 866 hectares (2,140 acres) built around Chapultepec Hill. Aztec rulers used it as a retreat, its springs supplied water to Tenochtitlan, and its castle later served as the residence of Mexico’s heads of state. The name comes from the Nahuatl for “at the grasshopper hill.”
The park is split into four sections. According to Wikipedia, the first section is the oldest and most visited, and it holds most of the big attractions: the castle, the Chapultepec Zoo, the Museum of Anthropology and the Rufino Tamayo Museum. The same page puts visitor numbers at an estimated 24 million a year. Plan a full day if you want to see more than one museum. Our guide to Chapultepec’s museums and the zoo covers how to plan a visit, and there is a separate page on Chapultepec Castle hours and tickets.
Parque México, Condesa
Parque México, officially Parque San Martín, is the center of Colonia Hipódromo in Condesa. It opened in 1927 on the site of the old Jockey Club racetrack, which explains its oval shape and why the surrounding streets curve around it. Architect Leonardo Noriega and engineer Javier Stávoli designed it with winding paths instead of the diagonal walks of older city parks.
The park is known for its Art Deco details: the Foro Lindbergh open-air theater with five tall pillars and a serpentine pergola, the Fuente de los Cántaros (a fountain sculpture of a woman holding large jars), an Art Deco clock tower and a pond with ducks and swans. A plaque for the victims of the Armenian Genocide was added to the clock in 2015, the same year a bust of Albert Einstein was installed. Expect dog walkers, joggers and children playing soccer, especially on weekends. The park covers about nine hectares, according to Wikipedia; the infobox on the same page lists 88,000 square meters, so figures differ.
Address: Avenida México and Calle de Michoacán, Colonia Hipódromo, two blocks from Avenida Insurgentes. Getting there: Metrobús Sonora stop.
Parque Hundido, Benito Juárez
Parque Hundido, officially Parque Luis G. Urbina, sits in a hollow left by a 19th-century brick works, which is why it lies below street level. Trees were planted there by 1910, and the city turned the forest into a park in the late 1930s. In 1972 reproductions of pre-Columbian stone carvings were placed along six walking routes, each named for a culture such as the Maya, Olmec or Huastec and marked with a colored line on the ground. Runners now use those routes.
The best-known feature is a large floral clock at the center, at the foot of a wide staircase that climbs to Insurgentes. There is also an audiorama with seats for up to 141 people that hosts a free film club and small events, plus an off-leash dog area, a chess area, a playground, a bike track and restrooms. On the corner of Insurgentes and Avenida Porfirio Díaz, a statue of Vicente Guerrero on horseback marks a meeting point for weekly Sunday bike rides.
Getting there: Avenida de los Insurgentes, by the Metrobús line; EcoBici stations are at the park.
Viveros de Coyoacán, Coyoacán
The Viveros de Coyoacán is a 39-hectare tree nursery and park at the western edge of the Coyoacán borough, and its shaded paths are a popular running circuit. Many of the trees on city streets and in other parks started here. The nursery grows a little over 20 forest species, including ahuehuete, white cedar, ash, jacaranda and several pines.
It began in 1901, when Miguel Ángel de Quevedo, an engineer and early conservationist nicknamed the “apostle of the tree,” donated a one-hectare plot. The government bought more land between 1911 and 1934, and in 1938 President Lázaro Cárdenas declared it a national park. Greenhouses and commercial nurseries inside the park are open to visitors, and the Magdalena River still runs along its west side while it undergoes a long cleanup.
Hours: Monday to Sunday, 6:00 to 18:00. Getting there: Metro Viveros (Viveros-Derechos Humanos) on Line 3; the Capital Bus Centro-Sur tour stops at the south end, on the north side of Avenida Progreso.
Cerro de la Estrella, Iztapalapa
The Parque Nacional Cerro de la Estrella covers what remains of an old volcano in Iztapalapa and was declared a national park in 1938. It has archaeological ruins with pyramids and a museum about an ancient ceremony. Each year the hill is also the stage for the climax of Iztapalapa’s Passion play, which draws tens of thousands of people.
A restoration in 2019 and 2020 added pollinator gardens for bees, a cactus and agave garden, a playground, an outdoor gym and a jogging trail. The path to the pyramid was rebuilt, a new viewpoint was added, and more than 18,000 trees were planted to control erosion. Of the parks on this list, it is the best choice for city views combined with archaeology.
Getting there: Metro Cerro de la Estrella, or Metro Culhuacán, which passes through part of the old town.
Tips for visiting
- Go early. Viveros opens at 6:00, and the morning is cooler and quieter in every park on this list.
- Pair parks that sit close together: Parque México and Parque Hundido are both near Insurgentes, and the Alameda is next to Bellas Artes and the downtown museums.
- Bring your own water and snacks to the Alameda, where street vendors are no longer allowed inside.
- Dog owners have the most room at Parque Hundido, which has a dedicated off-leash area.
- Check opening hours on the official city page before a trip, since only some parks publish them.
Quick answers
What is the biggest park in Mexico City?
The Bosque de Chapultepec, at just over 866 hectares, is one of the largest city parks in Mexico and the biggest on this list.
What time does Viveros de Coyoacán open?
The city’s official tourism page lists hours of 6:00 to 18:00, Monday to Sunday.
Which park is closest to Condesa?
Parque México sits in Colonia Hipódromo, at the center of Condesa, near the Metrobús Sonora stop.
What is the oldest park in Mexico City?
The Alameda Central, created in 1592 next to what is now the Palacio de Bellas Artes.
Checked against official sources in November 2026. Hours, prices and rules change: confirm on the official page before you go or apply.
