Mexico City With Kids

At 2,240 metres children feel what adults feel — tiredness, broken first-night sleep, less appetite, breathlessness on stairs — and they are worse at explaining it. The answer is the same as for adults and more important: a flat, short first day, plenty of water, an early night, and no climbing on day one. The altitude page has the detail.

Practically: put Chapultepec park or the Centro on day one, keep Teotihuacán — higher again, and two kilometres of unshaded walking — for day three, and treat the first afternoon as a park afternoon rather than a museum one.

Pavements are the problem, not the people. Cracked, lifted by tree roots, blocked by parked cars and frequently without ramps. A carrier or a small folding buggy is easier than a full pushchair almost everywhere, and the Metro's stairs and crush make a carrier the obvious choice at rush hour.

The Metro is free for children under five and has women-and-children carriages at the front at busy times, which are genuinely calmer.

Changing facilities are patchy: reliable in the big museums and malls, rare elsewhere. Nappies, formula and medicines are easy to buy — pharmacies are everywhere and Farmacias del Ahorro and similar chains are open late. Restaurants are relaxed about children at lunch, less so late in the evening; the local pattern of a two-o'clock comida suits families anyway.

Tap water is not for drinking, including for teeth; bottled and purified water is universal and hotels supply it. Restaurants use purified water for ice and washing as a matter of course — the eating page sets out where the real risks are.

Day one, flat. The Zócalo in the morning while it is empty, the cathedral, and then the Centro streets rather than a museum; lunch at two; the Torre Latinoamericana deck late afternoon, which children generally like more than adults expect.

Day two, the park. Chapultepec all day: the lake and boats, the park train at MX$40, the castle for older children, and two hours — not three — in the Anthropology Museum, aimed straight at the Mexica hall and the Olmec heads.

Day three, the water. Coyoacán market for lunch and Xochimilco from two, which is the day most families report as the best one. Skip the Casa Azul unless the children are older and interested; it is small, timed and full of people.

A fourth day goes to Teotihuacán — enormous, open, and with no climbing permitted, which removes the one argument you would otherwise have.

The city's ordinary rules apply: app cars rather than street taxis, bags in front on the Metro, the districts in where to stay. With children, two things matter more: crowds — the Metro at rush hour and the Basílica on a Sunday are not places to lose a small child — and traffic, because crossings are advisory in places and drivers treat them that way.

The city runs a seismic alert that sounds through street loudspeakers before shaking arrives; it is worth explaining to children in advance so it is not frightening. Buildings mark safe zones with green signs, and the people around you will move calmly to them.

Keep day one flat, give day two to Chapultepec and only two hours of museum, and give day three to Xochimilco — the boat is the day families remember. Book nothing except a Casa Azul ticket if you are taking older children, and use a carrier rather than a pushchair.

The standard version of the same trip is the three-day itinerary, and the whole guide starts at the Mexico City city guide.