Zócalo the heart of the city

The Zócalo — Mexico City’s main square, has a Cathedral, the National Palace, and other impressive structures. Zócalo is very lively at any time of the day. A huge group military police parades into the plaza to raise the Mexican flag in the morning and again lower it in the evening. This is the biggest flag in the country, so raising and lowering requires many hands. And it is a very very lively event to witness.
Lots of vendors spread colorful Mexican handicrafts around Zócalo which adds to the liveliness of the place

  • ♿️Zocalo is very accessible with mostly smooth sidewalks. There are some wheel chair access points at each corner of the square

The National Palace

The National Palace is where the Presidents of Mexico worked, and it remains an important site for presidential meetings and national events

  • ♿️The security check is intense here.
  • ♿️The guards are very helpful in directing wheelchair users through the long entry lines and directing them all the way to elevators, which takes the wheelchair visitors to the palace’s various levels.
  • ♿️Fabulous murals by Diego Rivera are on the second floor which is fully accessible .
  • ♿️The highly political murals actually cover the grand staircase, but the second floor provides an excellent view point for visitors who are unable to climb the steps.
  • ♿️There is access to many formal rooms and grand courtyards

Museo de Templo Mayor

This massive cathedral is the unearthed Aztec remains of a great pyramid which the Spanish dismantled after their arrival in the 16th century.

  • ♿️ Half of the museum is wheelchair-accessible and the visitors can see the shelter-protected artifacts, such as the haunting Altar of Skulls.
  • ♿️There are elevators inside and the layout of the floor is very modern through which wheel chair visitors can access the collection of masks, figurines, tools, jewelry, and other artifacts, including the huge stone wheel of the moon goddess Coyolxauhqui excavated from the relatively small plot in front of the museum.

Palacio de Bellas Artes

This is the performing arts center. It is well worth a visit even if you don’t have tickets to a show. The exterior is covered in Italian Carrara marble which is definitely an art Nuevo. The controversial Rivera mural “Man, Controller of the Universe” appears here in its full anti-capitalist glory.

  • ♿️There is an accessible entrance that is routed through the delivery area, where an elevator takes you to the main lobby to buy tickets.
  • ♿️Another set of elevators provides perfect wheelchair access to the third level, which is a veritable shrine to Mexico’s big three muralists: Rivera, Orozco, and Sequires

Parque Alameda to Zocalo

Alameda Park is a very convenient place to experience the Centro Historico. In the eastern side of the park is t he National Art Museum. This museum features work from the period 1810-1950. It is close to Casa de los Azulejos which has the flagship Sanborns Restaurant

  • ♿️This museum is accessible by a series of elevators
  • ♿️ There is an accessible restroom in the ground floor of Casa de los Azulejos
  • ♿️There is a pedestrian street Calle Francisco I. Madero, beautifully surrounded by restaurants, churches and colonial buildings which ends in the big square of Zócalo

Zócalo, Mexico City, Ciudad de México, Mexico