Arrive in Mexico City on suggested flights and make your own way to the hotel. Renaissance Tours or your travel agent can assist you with your flights and other travel arrangements including travel insurance (a condition of travel), private hotel transfer, accommodation before or after the tour and a room category upgrade.

At 18:00, attend a welcome briefing and talk by your tour leader, Julian Droogan, followed by a welcome dinner.

(D)

Following a morning talk by Julian, begin your exploration of Mexico City with a tour of the historic centre. Visit the imposing Metropolitan Cathedral, the oldest and largest Roman Catholic cathedral in the Americas.

Learn about the historical foundation of the city and Tenochtitlán, the ancient capital of the expanding Aztec empire. See the ruins of the Templo Mayor (Great Temple) – one of the most important religious structures in the Aztec capital.

(BL)

Today, travel northeast of Mexico City to the vast archaeological complex of Teotihuacan. This spectacular site contains some of the finest prehistoric urban planning and civil engineering in the world. Once a flourishing pre-Columbian city, discover the imposing Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon, the Avenue of the Dead, and the Temples of Quetzlcoatl and Quetzlpopocatl.

Return to Mexico City in the mid-afternoon and stop en route to visit the Basilica de Guadalupe, a famous pilgrimage site located within the city limits.

(BL)

This morning, visit the National Museum of Anthropology, devoted to the archaeology and history of Mexico’s pre-Hispanic civilisations. The museum contains the largest collection of ancient Mexican art with 600,000 anthropological, ethnological and archaeological artifacts, including the spectacular Stone of the Sun, the jade mask of the Zapotec Bat God and the statue of Xochipilli among many others.

Continue your understanding of the Aztec legacy and discover Xochimilco, an extensive lake and canal system that once connected most of the settlements in the Valley of Mexico. Embark on colourful gondolas called trajineras, and travel through this incredible vestige of the area’s pre-Hispanic past, surrounded by floating gardens.

(BL)

Begin the morning with a talk by Julian, before visiting the National Museum of Art. Located in the historic centre, the museum represents the history of Mexican art from the mid-sixteenth century to the mid-twentieth century. The extensive collection of paintings of Mexican artworks includes early paintings by Diego Rivera and landscapes by Velasco.

Enjoy some time to explore the traditional Sonora market and continue to the National Museum of History, on top of Chapultepec Hill, in the middle of beautiful Chapultepec Park. Located inside the Chapultepec castle, the museum showcases the history of Mexico, from the conquest of Tenochtitlán by the Spanish to the Mexican Revolution.

(B)

This morning, visit the home and studio of Luis Barragán, one of the most important Mexican architects of the twentieth century, where his sense of space, colour, texture and the ascetic solitude of his spaces are best appreciated in his unique home.

In the afternoon, learn about the intriguing lives and compelling personalities of the important Mexican artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. Begin at the Frida Kahlo Museum, housed in her family home known as the ‘Blue House’, where she spent her childhood as well as the final years of her life. Continue to the avant-garde house-studio of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo that features two separate houses joined by a walkway, one of the architectural monuments of the area, where Kahlo and Rivera lived here between 1934 and 1940.

(B)

This morning, visit the Tamayo Museum, dedicated to the former private collection of artist Rufino Tamayo and temporary exhibitions of contemporary art. The building was the first major museum in Mexico built with private funds, with Tamayo participating in its design, and won the National Art Prize in 1982. The permanent collection comprises the Tamayo collection with over 300 paintings, sculptures and more by artists such as Picasso, Joan Miró and René Magritte.

Continue to the Soumaya Museum, one of the most iconic museums in Mexico City housed in a giant silver building with soaring curves and tiled with thousands of silver hexagons. Home to a private art collection of 70,000 pieces, the museum includes a large collection of Auguste Rodin sculptures, works by Diego Rivera and Rufino Tamayo, and by European masters like Henri Matisse and Edgar Degas.

Enjoy the remainder of the afternoon to further explore the city at your own pace.

Tonight, celebrate the conclusion of the tour with a special farewell dinner with Julian and fellow travellers in one of the city’s fine restaurants.

(BD)

Tour arrangements conclude after breakfast.

For those returning home today, make your way to the airport for suggested flights to Australia or New Zealand. Renaissance Tours or your travel agent can assist you with your flights and other travel arrangements, including additional nights’ accommodation either before or after the tour, private airport transfers and travel insurance (a condition of travel).

(B)