Mexico City: A Paradise for Children

There are thousands of things to do while visiting Mexico City with young children, or if you live there, whenever you have an opportunity to share precious moments with them.

We know that they love large spaces where they can entertain themselves for hours on end. One such place is Mexico Park, where older kids can play ball, go rollerblading, or rent a bicycle while the younger ones may go for a ride in a charming minibus as they are being pushed by the power of: two men! For kids, as we ourselves can recall, anything that rolls and makes them roll, is simply great. The best of all is definitely the large amount of children who meet here. If your kids are the social kind, and even if they are not, they will surely end up making new friends.

If you are looking for an option to have fun at the same time as your kids, the Del Valle neighborhood is definitely a great choice, for it has excellent restaurants, parks and shopping centers. In all these places, their professional staff knows exactly how to deal with children and fortunately nowadays, most of them have luckily made some arrangements in their facilities to make room for kids, which consequently allow them to stay in business.

In order to expend your kids' remaining energy - and considering that we are talking about children it is usually a lot - taking a walk with them at Hundido Park is a real pleasure. There are playground areas, chessboards to play under a nice shade provided by trees and, as an extra bonus, the proximity to Chiandoni, the best ice cream parlor ever - and a stop for which your kids will thank you.

What about Chapultepec? Visiting the Castle and telling them about the part of the history of Mexico that took place there, and seeing the interest in their expressions are just magical. There is also the option of delighting them with the great variety of animals in the zoo. You can purify your lungs by walking in the forest while your kids feed the squirrels with some peanuts or have fun on a rowboat in the lake, where family photos might be taken while your children feed hundreds of enormous fish. An experience your whole family will never forget.

Also in Chapultepec, the Papalote Museum and La Feria amusement park deserve a special mention. At the museum, your kids will be able to know and learn while playing and interacting with the worlds of physics, chemistry, biology, computer science, and many other knowledge areas. At La Feria they will be able to expend great amounts of energy, although you must be prepared and willing to wait in line, sometimes for a long while, until you finally get on a ride. If your children are a little bit older, the Montana Rusa rollercoaster will be an unforgettable experience. Do not forget to bring along a couple of pills against nausea...just in case.

If your family is fond of amusement parks, then Six Flags is definitely a must. It is simply a whole, new world, full of stimulation and temptations, colors and flavors. It is necessary to be prepared to receive continuous adrenalin shots. There are a great amount of restaurants, some of them surprisingly offering healthy meals, although what really catches your full attention is the yummy junk food. Considering it is just for that day, it does not do any harm. There are aquatic rides with heart-stopping falls where you usually get completely soaked, which is a good reason to take an extra set of clothes. You cannot miss the dolphin and sea lion shows either!

Now that we are at the southern part of the city, another option is the Gran Sur ice-skating rink, which offers top-class facilities to practice this exciting and beautiful sport. Children up to three years can learn how to skate here, since there are excellent instructors at Gran Sur. After an evening here, we assure your kids will sleep like logs.

At the western part of the city, lies Desierto de los Leones Park, which was the first national park declared by the government, back in 1971, and that nowadays is still one of the main lungs of Mexico City. This park lodges a 17th-century Carmelite Convent, full of dark, underground tunnels and which offers an exciting experience for kids. Take them to breathe the pine and oyamel trees-perfumed air while riding a horse or a pony. Do not miss the opportunity of having delicious pumpkin flower, cheese or huitlacoche quesadillas for breakfast, handmade with blue corn dough.

Now that we are close to the Santa Fe area, you might want to visit the shopping center that bears the same name. Santa Fe offers the possibility of living a common childhood dream: the City of Children, where they can play all kinds of adult roles. For that purpose, small versions of common real-life situations have been set up: an airplane, a supermarket, a workshop, a veterinary clinic, a beauty parlor, a department store and, of course, a bank, since everything in this city is bought and sold through a particular currency they will obtain by "working" while you relax at  the "Parents-Only Room."

We cannot leave unmentioned our fascinating Historic Center, a place loaded with culture and history elements that will always be worth visiting with your family. The concentration of museums, convents, parks and plazas is impressive, as well as the architectural beauty of the entire area. You should take a look at the Metropolitan Cathedral and the Main Square and their surroundings. After leaving the zone, take your kids to the Palace of Fine Arts to behold its majesty. They will be impressed.

After this sample of entertainment and cultural options, could anybody have doubts about Mexico City being a dream come true for the little ones?