Escapadas
Things to do

Spend the Day in Parque Bicentenario

Once a refinery and now an environmental center, this park holds a floating chinampa garden, Mexico City’s largest orchid garden, and ecosystems from around the country.

The names of the park’s zones, which spotlight the country’s biodiversity, are a nod to the Mexica people’s theory of the origin of the universe.

Jardín Natura encompasses five kinds of forests—coniferous, holm oak, mountane, tropical deciduous, and tropical evergreen—plus deserts and xeric shrublands. It is also houses the orchid garden. The perfume and warmth of the greenhouses sheltering seven thousand of these plants are as good an excuse as any to spend a long time looking at them.

Long bike trails connect Jardín Viento—with its playing fields, skate park, and amphitheater—to Jardín Tierra and its picnic areas, playgrounds, outdoor gyms, and areas for group events and activities. Cyclists and walkers can continue on to Jardín Sol, holding the Museo de la Energía (energy museum) and areas filled with holm oaks, magnolias, and other green spaces dotted with small white wild mushrooms.

Bordering it, the Jardín Agua offers a place to cool off with its lake with a pier and fountains. This space was reclaimed to improve air quality as one of the public works carried out to commemorate 200 years of Mexico’s Independence.

Family

Nature

Location

parque bicentenario refinería, Refinería 18 de Marzo, Mexico City, CDMX, Mexico

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