Self-guided walking tour of Xochimilco in Mexico City - Mexico City Purple Travel Guide

Xochimilco in Mexico City is primarily known for wonderful canals and lake tours in colorful boats with live Mexican music. But there is more to see and do. We provide you a detailed itinerary with the best things to see and we show lots of photos so you know what you can expect.

At the time when the Aztecs originally built Tenochtitlan (now: Mexico City) in 1325 on an island in the center of Lake Texcoco, there was another shallow lake, called Lake Xochimilco, south of Lake Texcoco. The city of Xochimilco was established in 919AD on the southern shore of Lake Xochimilco.

The word Xochimilco means flower field in the native language.

To increase agricultural production, the local Xochimilca people built small floating islands, called chinampas, in Lake Xochimilco. Chinampas can produce up to eight times the amount of crops compared to conventional land.
Over time these chinampas grew and reduced parts of the lake to a series of canals. About 5,000 chinampas still exist - they are all affixed to the lake bottom and are part of the Xochimilco World Heritage Site. The rest have grown into the lake bed and become solid land.

History of Xochimilco

919: The city of Xochimilco was established on the southern shore of Lake Xochimilco

1352: Xochimilco was moved from the shore to the island of Tlilan

1376: Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City) attacked Xochimilco; with the help neighboring Azcapotzalco, Xochimilco repelled the attack, but was forced to pay tribute to Azcapotzalco

1430: Tenochtitlan conquered Xochimilco; in the years ater, the Aztecs built the causeway that connected the two cities therough the lake. As Xochimilco contributed to the army of Tenochtitlan, the Aztecs granted Xochimilco autonomy and both cities coexisted

1521: Before conquering Tenochtitlan, the Spaniards defeated Xochimilco and decimated their army.

Under the Spanish, Xochimilco remained an important agricultural area. Under Spanish rule, Xochimilco’s residents were allowed to retain several of their traditions and the city remained mostly indigenous.

1559: Xochimilco was granted the title of city

1609: the Great Flood of 1609 in Mexico City and Xochimilco spurred the Spanish to drain the lakes. Lake Xochimilco went from 140 square miles (350 km2), 66 square miles (170 km2) of chinampas and 470 miles (750 km) of canals in the early 1600s to no lake, 9.7 square miles (25 km2) of chinampas and 110 miles (170 km) of canals today

1749: Xochimilco became a semi-autonomous area of Mexico City

1824: Xochimilco became a municipality in the State of Mexico

1914: Francisco (Pancho) Villa and Emiliano Zapata met in Plaza Central de Xochimilco which led to the Pact of Xochimilco, which eventually allowed the revolutionaries to take Mexico City

1928: the formerly independent city of Xochimilco became a borough of Mexico City

1931: the current city borders were defined

Today, agriculture is still important in Xochimilco, but the poor water quality has forced a shift to flowers and ornamental plants. Tourism is important too as Xochimilco draws thousands of visitors to boat rides on the remaining canals. The water in the canals is less polluted than it was in the past, as it is now topped with treated reclaimed waster water but is still poluted with bacteria, heavy metals and some untreated wastewater.

Here at Backpack and Snorkel Travel Guides, we typically promote self-guided walking tours.
But we realize that not everybody likes to walk by themselves in a foreign city. So, just in case that you rather go with ab guide: NO PROBLEM! Please see the free GuruWalk and paid Viator tours below.

Traveling to Xochimilco

You can travel to Xochimilco by taxi, uber, with a guided tour or with public transporation. The cheapest way is to take the metro and then change to the Tren Ligero (light rail) and the metro does not go far enough south to reach Xochimilco.

If you want to go with public transportation to Xochimilco, then you must get a network card as the paper tickets that you can use on the metro are not valid on Tren Ligero.

To get to Xochimilco, take the blue Metro line 2 all the way to the southern terminal Tasquena. At Tasquena, take the exit and then you will see the signs to Tren Ligero towards Xochimilco.
Tren Ligero operates with the same starting times as the Metro, but service ends at 11:30pm. A ride on Tren Ligero costs 3 Pesos. Tren Ligero trains only have a few passenger cars and therefore fill up quickly.

Tren Ligero starts at Tasquena and ends at Xochimilco, where you exit for your self-guided tour of Xochimilco.

Mercado de Xochimilco

Located in two gigantic halls along Avenida 16 de Septiembre, Mercado de Xochimilco. You will come to building 2a first. In this building you can find pretty much anything from produce to meats, kitchen ware, souvenirs and lots of food vendors serving inexpensive and delicious Mexican street food. We ate lunch here – be advised that nobody speaks English.
The next building to the north has lots of flower vendors and otherwise similar offerings as building 2A.

Plaza Central de Xochimilco

The Town Square of Xochimilco lies directly north of the Mercado de Xochimilco.
It is a good place for people watching, taking a selfie with the Xochimilco sign and to buy some souvenirs.
What is now Plaza Central de Xochimilco used to be the atrium of the Catedral de Xochimilco. The plaza is a popular venue for concerts and other performances to educational events.
In 1914, Francisco (Pancho) Villa and Emiliano Zapata met in the plaza which led to the Pact of Xochimilco, which eventually allowed the revolutionaries to take Mexico City. A monument on the plaza commemorates this event.

Catedral de Xochimilco

Catedral de Xochimilco (Catedral y exconvento de San Bernardino de Siena) is the parish church of the borough of Xochimilco.

After the Spaniards conquered Xochimilco, they built a small church on this site where an old pre-Hispanic temple used to stand.
The small church was deemed insufficient for Xochimilco’s rising importance and the current church and Franciscan monastery were constructed from 1535 to 1600.
Both were declared a national monument in 1932.

Since its construction, the church has become the centerpoint for much of the history and social life of Xochimilco and it is a center of social cohesion and identity for the town.

The church faces east and the cloisters are located on the south side.
The main facade is a simple wall which emphasizes the church’s main portal. The merlons on top of the wall were built to help defend the church.
The main highlight of the church is the 16th century altar. It is one of only two altarpieces in the world that has no columns, architraves or other obvious supports. It was built in Plateresque style with Renaissance elements.
The paintings on the altarpiece were painted from the 16th-17th (or possibly 18th) centuries.

Floating Gardens of Xochimilco

The canals are what is left of Lake Xochimilco and the floating islands (chinampas) that the indigenous people built for increased agricultural productivity.
There are various canals and many embarcaderos where you can hire a colorful boat with driver. It seems everyone has their own favorite embarcadero and we don’t think that there is one that is better than the others.

We chose Embarcadero Xochimilco as it fits nicely into our Self-Guided Walking tour of Xochimilco and because it is the closest embarcadero to the Tren Ligero station. In case that you want to skip all other stops on the tour, you can follow the signs directing you how to get there from the Tren Ligero station.

The floating gardens are especially busy on the weekends. This can be good or bad. Good, because you will see and meet lots of other people and hear music everywhere. Best of all, the boat rides are paid by time and not be the amount of people. So, if you can join a ride with other people, then you can get a fairly inexpensive ride.
If you go during the week, expect to be the only ones on the boat besides the driver.
Prepare to haggle. When we asked for a boat ride, they wanted us to pay 600 Pesos for 45min and they were very firm on the price. Only after we declined and walked away, they came running after us and offered the same ride for 450 Pesos, which we accepted.

The boats are beautifuly painted in bright colors. If you like, you can pay extra for drinks and even meals and for a Mexican band on your boat.
The driver will push the boat through the canals with a long stick and once in a while you will encounter other boats.
The whole area is quiet and you can see some birds. We really enjoyed the ride and would go again.

This concludes your second last full day in Mexico City.

Self-guided walking tours of Mexico City

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