Mexico City - Chapultepec Park Bosque de Chapultepec

The Bosque de Chapultepec (Náhuatl, "hill of the grasshoppers") is Mexico City's principal park and, with an area of 4sq.km/2.5sq.mi, its largest. It was once a stronghold of the Toltecs, and the Toltec ruler, Huémec, is said to have hanged himself here in 1177 after fleeing from Tula. In 1200 the Aztecs (Mexica) settled on the hill after their long wanderings but were driven away again twenty years later by neighbouring tribes.

Legend has it that the park was originally laid out in the first half of the 15th c. by Netzahualcóyotl, the poet king of Texcoco. As the power of Tenochtitlán increased the hill became a summer residence of the Aztec rulers, and water from the springs here was conveyed to the temple precinct in the capital by means of an aqueduct, remains of which can still be seen in Avenida Chapultepec between its junctions with Calles Praga and Warsovia. Portraits of the Aztec rulers were carved from the rock on the slopes of the hill, and remnants of these can still be seen on the eastern slope.

Leisure

The park still preserves numbers of fine old trees, the most imposing being some massive specimens of cedars and ahuehuetes (swamp cypresses, Náhuatl for "old man of the water"). Lakes, sports facilities, botanic garden, zoo, museums and castle attract crowds of city- dwellers, especially at weekends, to walk, ride, picnic or enjoy the wide range of entertainments available here, such as concerts, theatre, childrens' programmes, etc.

The major part of the park lies south of Paseo de la Reforma.