Paseo de la Reforma
An emperor built it to reach his castle; the republic that executed him renamed it — and it has been Mexico City's main stage ever since.
Coming soon on iOS — be first to walk Mexico City offline.
Maximilian commissioned Ferdinand von Rosenzweig to cut this diagonal boulevard across the capital, copying Vienna's Ringstraße and the Champs-Élysées, to link the National Palace with Chapultepec Castle. His empire collapsed; the avenue stayed. Today it channels the city's political and celebratory life — protest marches, Mexico City Pride, and World Cup victory crowds all converge on the same stretch of asphalt.
What to look for
- The Angel of Independence roundabout, the designated gathering point when Mexico's national football team wins at a World Cup
- Torre Mayor rising alongside the hotels and offices that now crowd what was a 19th-century imperial promenade
- Public art exhibitions running along the boulevard between the luxury restaurants and new construction
Most Sundays 8am–2pm, motor traffic on the main downtown section shuts down under the city's Paseo Dominical Muévete en bici program — the easiest time to walk or cycle the full length.
Paseo de la Reforma is one of 29 sights worth the detour in Mexico City, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Mexico City pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Mexico City
- Mexico City Metropolitan CathedralTwo hundred and forty years of construction, built on top of the Aztec sacred precinct — every generation of New Spain left something inside.
- National Museum of AnthropologyThe stone that defined how the world pictures the Aztec calendar is here — and 3.7 million people came to see it last year.
- Autódromo Hermanos RodríguezA 4.3 km ribbon of asphalt where two brothers gave their names — and their lives — to Mexican motorsport.
- Aztec Sun StoneA 24-tonne disc of olivine basalt that spent centuries buried under Mexico City's main square — then mounted on a cathedral wall — before anyone called it art.
- Palacio de Bellas ArtesStarted in 1904, halted by revolution and a sinking city, finished in 1934 — thirty years of delay show in every detail.
- University Olympic Stadium (Estadio Olímpico Universitario)This is where Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fists to the sky in 1968 — one of sport's most charged political moments, in a stadium that held 83,700 people.