Coyoacán
Organ grinder in front of Parque Centenario
Coyoacán ('land of coyotes' in the Aztec language) is one of the most visited boroughs in Mexico City and its historic center has been declared barrio mágico (magical neighborhood). Conquistador Hernán Cortés lived in Coyoacán from 1521 to 1522 and the first seat of government of New Spain (1521-1821) was established here.
Home to vast green spaces, colonial houses, traditional cafés and important museums, such as the famous Casa Azul (the Blue House, Frida Kahlo's home), this district is a top choice for those who want to enjoy the bohemian side of Mexico City and delve into its colorful past.
1. What to see
1.1. Frida Kahlo's house
1.2. The main square of Coyoacán
1.3. Iglesia de San Juan Bautista
1.4. Mercado Artesanal Mexicano
1.5. Viveros de Coyoacán
1.6. Leon Trotsky's house
1.7. Museo Nacional de las Intervenciones
1.8. Museo Diego Rivera Anahuacalli
2. Where to eat
2.1. Hacienda de Cortés
2.2. La Casa de los Tacos
2.3. Pepe Coyotes
2.4. Café El Jarocho (est. 1953)
2.5. Other well-rated coffee shops
2.6. Churrería El Moro
What to see
📷 Frida Kahlo's house
10 am - 5 pm Tue, Thurs-Sun
11 am - 5 pm Wed
Entry fee: 250 MXN Tue-Fri
270 MXN Sat-Sun
Photo fee: 30 MXN
I would say Casa Azul (the Blue House) is probably the museum that most attracts foreigners in Mexico City. Painter Frida Kahlo was born and spent most of her life in this spectacular house that reflects her spirit and her passion for folk art so well.
Built in 1904, the house consists of ten rooms where you will see Frida's and other artists' paintings, letters, photographs, as well as traditional clothes and accessories that belonged to Frida, and Mexican-style furniture and decorations. My favorite room is the kitchen, with its bright yellow table and yellow tile floor, filled with pots and plates from towns renowned for their handicraft artistry like Metepec and Tlaquepaque. Take a virtual tour of the house 👉here.
The kitchen of Casa Azul
📷 The main square of Coyoacán
The main square actually consists of two adjacent plazas, Hidalgo and Centenario. Hidalgo is one of the most loved parks in Mexico City, where people congregate especially on the weekend to relax and have a couple of churros or a cup of sorbet. The park gets its name from Miguel Hidalgo (1753 – 1811) Padre de la Patria (Father of the Nation), Catholic priest and leader of the Mexican War of Independence (1810 – 1821). You will probably hear his name pretty often. There are over 14 thousand streets named Hidalgo in Mexico, his face appears on the 1000 and the 200-peso bills, there is an Hidalgo subway station and an Hidalgo city borough.
A famous coyote fountain that everyone associates with Coyoacán is located in Centenario Park. Despite the neighborhood's name and the many coyote references, you won't meet any actual coyote, though.
📷 Iglesia de San Juan Bautista
7:50 am - 7:30 pm daily
The San Juan Bautista Church is emblematic for the New Spanish or Mexican Baroque style in architecture. It was built in 30 years by Franciscan friars soon after the conquest (1522-1552).
📷 Mercado Artesanal Mexicano
11 am - 8:30 pm Mon-Thurs
11 am - 9:30 pm Fri-Sun
The handicraft market of Coyoacán has been operating from this location since 1968. It is a two-story building that houses over 200 stalls where you will find everything from traditional handicrafts to Mexican candy and organic cosmetic products. You can even get a tattoo or a piercing here.
📷 Viveros de Coyoacán
6 am - 6 pm daily
Free entry
If you'd like to explore the local flora and fauna, take a 15-minute walk from the main square to Viveros de Coyoacán, an impressive tree nursery and national park, home to almost 30 bird species and many squirrels. It covers 96.3 ac (39 ha) today, but the project started in 1901, when Mexican engineer and environmentalist Miguel Ángel de Quevedo, known as 'the tree apostle', donated 2.4 ac (1 ha) to create a tree nursery. President Porfirio Díaz was deeply impressed with the project, so the government purchased more land and the park reached its current size in 1934.
📷 Leon Trotsky's house
10 am - 5 pm Tue-Sun
Entry fee: 70 MXN
Trotsky's study
Museo Casa de León Trotsky is a fascinating museum, but also an important organization, the Institute of Political Asylum Rights. Revolutionary and politician Leon Trotsky and his wife Natalia Sedova lived in this house from April 1939 to August 1940. The study where he was murdered by Spanish communist and NKVD agent Ramón Mercader has been preserved to capture what it looked like on the day of his assassination.
Trotsky's criticism against the Stalin regime led to his expulsion from the Soviet Union in 1929. After living in Turkey, France and Norway, he was granted political asylum in Mexico in 1937 as a result of painter Diego Rivera's efforts to persuade president Lázaro Cárdenas to support the controversial revolutionary. In the beginning, the Russian couple lived with Diego and Frida at Casa Azul, but following a conflict with Diego in 1939 (some say there might have been a love affair between Trotsky and Frida) Trotsky was asked to leave.
He moved just a couple of blocks away, though. Here he survived a first assassination attempt led by Mexican painter David Alfaro Siqueiros in May 1940 (you will see the bullet holes on the house walls). Three months later, Ramón Mercader, who had become a family friend and had a romantic relationship with Trotsky's secretary, murdered him by stabbing him with an ice pick. Mercader served 20 years in a Mexican prison and later fled to Moscow where he was awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union distinction.
📷 Museo Nacional de las Intervenciones
10 am - 5 pm Tue-Sun
Entry fee: 90 MXN
Photo fee: 50 MXN
If you would like to learn more about the foreign invasions that Mexico suffered throughout history, you will find this museum particularly interesting. The building itself (completed in 1678) is worth visiting because it is a former monastery built by Franciscan friars over an Aztec shrine.
Downstairs you will see the monastery kitchen, dining room, the foyer and the garden. Upstairs there is a military museum with ten rooms that will introduce you to the various invasions of Mexico. The main invasions you will learn about were carried out by Spain in 1829, France in 1838, the United States in 1847, and England, Spain and France in 1862.
📷 Museo Diego Rivera Anahuacalli
11 am - 5:30 pm Tue-Sun
Entry fee: 100 MXN
The museum is the brainchild of painter Diego Rivera, who designed the building and owned the collection of 2,000 pre-Hispanic artworks that are on display here. He started collecting pre-Hispanic art when he was a child and over the course of his life he amassed more than 40,000 pieces. Apart from this collection, you will see some of the painter's mural sketches from the early '30s and a vast ecological reserve that stretches over 495,139,8 ft² (46,000 m²). This green space can be admired in its wild state.
Where to eat
Grilled prickly pear cactus with Mexican cottage cheese served with refried beans at La Casa de los Tacos
For breakfast:
Hacienda de Cortés
📍 Fernández Leal 70, La Concepción
📅 9 am - 6 pm daily
💚 Try: desayuno tepaneco (two fried eggs on a grilled prickly pear cactus leaf dipped in salsa with cheese and avocado and served with white bread, fruit, juice, coffee or tea)
📜 When the house underwent a renovation in the 1930s, an old tunnel was discovered that communicated with other colonial buildings in the area. They found the official stamp of Cuauhpopoca, Aztec king of Coyoacán, in this tunnel. The house has been declared a historic landmark by INAH (the National Institute of Anthropology and History).
La Casa de los Tacos (est. 1970)
📍 Felipe Carrillo Puerto 16
📅 8 am - 11 pm Sun-Thurs
8 am - 12 am Fri-Sat
💚 Try: quesadillas de huitlacoche (corn fungus quesadillas), nopal asado con queso panela (grilled prickly pear cactus with Mexican cottage cheese)
📜 La Casa de los Tacos is famous for its pre-Hipanic dishes, so you can try Aztec food like escamoles (ant larvae mixed with butter, onion, garlic, cilantro, epazote and green chili pepper) or chapulines (dried and roasted grasshoppers mixed with árbol chili peppers, garlic and peanuts and served with guacamole. See the menu for more pre-Hispanic dishes.
For lunch and dinner:
Pepe Coyotes
📍 Avenida Miguel Hidalgo 297
📅 8 am - 1 am daily
💚 Try: alambre al pastor (marinated pork topped with chopped bell peppers, onion, grilled cheese and bacon served with flour tortillas), ensalada Coyotes (prickly pear cactus salad with onions, tomatoes, cilantro, avocado, spicy piquín chilli pepper, olive oil and tortilla strips)
For coffee:
Café El Jarocho (est. 1953)
📍 Cuauhtémoc 134, Del Carmen
📅 6 am - 12 am daily
📜 El Jarocho is a legendary family-run café. Gil Romero and his wife Bertha Paredes started the business in 1953 and they soon enjoyed considerable success. Now El Jarocho is a chain with nine stores in Mexico City run by the couple's children. It is almost always crowded, though, so it might take a little bit of waiting.
📜 According to INEGI (the National Institute of Statistics and Geography) there are 557 establishments in Coyoacán that sell coffee, soda and ice cream. Here is a list of other well-rated coffee shops:
☕ Café Avellaneda (8 am - 9 pm daily) - Higuera 40-A, La Concepción
☕ Café Ruta de la Seda (8 am - 10 pm daily) - Aurora 1, Del Carmen
☕ Café La Hija del Jarocho (7 am - 10 pm daily) - Avenida México 193, Del Carmen
☕ Café Negro (8 am - 11 pm daily) - Centenario 16, Del Carmen
☕ Alverre Café Bistró (8:30 am - 9 pm) - Gómez Farias 42, Del Carmen
☕ Tierra Garat (7 am - 10:30 pm Mon-Fri, 8 am - 10 pm Sat-Sun) - Avenida Miguel Hidalgo 102-Local A, Del Carmen
☕ El Mundo Del Café Malintzin (7 am - 10 pm Mon-Fri, 8 am - 10 pm Sat-Sun) - Malintzin 165-Local 5, Del Carmen
For dessert:
Churrería El Moro (est. 1935)
📍 Felipe Carillo Puerto 32
📅 8 am - 11 pm daily
Colorful papel picado at the National Museum of Popular Cultures (Avenida Miguel Hidalgo 289)