Mexico City is the hemisphere's great megacity — Aztec capital under colonial capital under 22-million-strong modern capital — and three days can genuinely meet it if you cluster by geography and book the two timed tickets early (Casa Azul days ahead; Teotihuacan balloons if flying). Base in Roma, Condesa, or along Reforma; Uber everywhere; eat constantly.
Day 1 — El Centro: the layered heart. Start at the Zocalo, the plaza that's been the center of power for 700 years: the Metropolitan Cathedral (sinking, gorgeously), the Templo Mayor ruins beside it — the Aztec Great Pyramid's base, excavated mid-city with its museum of offerings — and Diego Rivera's history-of-Mexico murals swarming the National Palace stairwell (bring ID; check access days). Walk Madero's pedestrian river to the Palacio de Bellas Artes (the Tiffany-glass curtain and the muralist all-stars upstairs), ride the Torre Latinoamericana for the smog-silver panorama, then lunch grandly amid azulejos at Casa de los Azulejos or streetwise at the Centro's taquerias. Afternoon: the Museo Mural Diego Rivera ("Sunday Afternoon Dream") and Alameda park, or Garibaldi's mariachis toward evening. Dinner splurge downtown or back in Roma.
Day 2 — Chapultepec and Polanco: museums at full strength. Two giants share the park: the National Museum of Anthropology — Mexico's single greatest museum; give its Mexica hall and Teotihuacan rooms a focused 2-3 hours, or the whole morning — and Chapultepec Castle up its hill, Maximilian's palace with the Reforma view (closed Mondays, like nearly everything). Lunch in Polanco (the finest-dining cluster: book Pujol/Quintonil weeks ahead, or taco brilliantly at El Turix for pesos). Afternoon options: the park's lake and Rufino Tamayo/Modern Art museums, Luis Barragan's house (timed tickets, architecture pilgrims), or Roma-Condesa's boutique-and-cafe drift. Night: the mezcalerias of Roma, or lucha libre if it's Friday — Arena Mexico's masked mayhem is the city's best ticket.
Day 3 — South and ancient: Coyoacan + Teotihuacan (or Xochimilco). Morning at Casa Azul in Coyoacan — Frida's blue house, booked online well ahead — then the barrio itself: plazas, churros, the Trotsky house ten minutes on. Afternoon at Teotihuacan (hour's drive): the Avenue of the Dead between the Sun and Moon pyramids until closing light (or flip the day: dawn balloon flight over the pyramids, Coyoacan after). Alternative third-afternoon: Xochimilco's canals — a trajinera boat, micheladas, floating mariachis — the Aztec lake-world surviving as fiesta, best with company and no schedule. Farewell dinner back in Condesa.
The food thread (run it daily). Breakfast: chilaquiles and cafe de olla wherever you wake. Street layer: tacos al pastor after dark (El Vilsito/Orinoco tier), tamales from the morning bike-horns, tortas everywhere. Markets: San Juan (exotica), Medellin (Latin pan-pantry), Coyoacan's tostadas. One blowout: Pujol or Contramar's tuna-and-terrace lunch (book both far ahead). Hydrate like a highlander — the altitude (2,240m) is real: pace day one, sunscreen always, and salsa-courage gradually.
Logistics that matter. Mondays close most museums (plan Teotihuacan/markets/neighborhoods). Uber is cheap, ubiquitous, and the default for visitors; the Metro is an experience but rush-hour combat. Rain stacks summer afternoons (May-Oct) — museum then. The city is far safer in its visitor core than reputation suggests; normal big-city sense (registered transport at night, phones unwaved) covers it. Three days starts the affair; everyone returns.
