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If you find yourself staying at Hotel Las Alcobas on a Saturday, ask staff to point you in the direction of Parque Lincoln (Lincoln Park), just a three-minute walk from the hotel, so you can stroll through Polanco’s Saturday tianguis, or street market. Tianguis are a beloved tradition in Mexico City, and many neighborhoods, including Polanco, host these weekend markets. At a tianguis, you can find everything from fresh fruits and vegetables to “fast food” snacks, from tacos to tropical fruit adorned with lime and chile. Prices are more than reasonable and the scene is entirely local. It’s a perfect way to spend part of your Saturday.

Located across from Chapultepec Park in the upscale Polanco neighborhood, this 42-story hotel is one of the toniest addresses in Mexico City, boasting not one but three presidential suites that routinely host celebrities and heads of state alike—including President Barack Obama. All 700 guestrooms were refurbished in 2015 so even standard rooms boast sleek, modern appointments, while suites offer varying levels of space and luxurious amenities. Whichever you choose, be sure to ask for a room on the highest possible floor to better enjoy the jaw-dropping views over the park, skyline, and mountains beyond.

The hotel’s main restaurant, Au Pied du Cochon, is open 24 hours a day, just like the Parisian bistro from which it takes its name. Other on-site dining options include the Palm Steakhouse, a hip Mexican restaurant, and an Italian eatery with an outdoor terrace. Guests are also within walking distance of some of Polanco’s trendiest restaurants. When it comes time to unwind, there’s an intimate, Nordic-inspired spa on the hotel’s 10th floor.

Housewares designer Maggie Galton works with Mexican artisans to create clay bowls, woven rebozos (shawls), and hand-etched lacquer trays (pictured). Find these items at Galton’s showroom, along with pillows inspired by huipiles, tunic-like garments worn throughout the country. By appointment only. Hegel 346, Polanco, 52/(01) 55-5255-2230. This appeared in the October 2013 issue.

The name sounds as if this corner spot on Presidente Masaryk had been imported directly from Cuba, but it’s Argentinean alfajores that are the specialty at this upscale cafe in Polanco. If you become addicted to the chocolate-covered alfajores that are so popular here, be sure to buy a box to go. You can also purchase jars of dulce de leche, boxes of bonbons, or packages of lemon cream cookies if you just can’t decide what looks best.

The famed Brasserie Lipp in Paris has only one international outpost. No, it’s not in New York; it’s in Mexico City. Located in the JW Marriott in Polanco, Brasserie Lipp is a late-night bistro, open until 2:00 am every day but Sunday, when it’s open until midnight. Besides the fact that it’s a reliable spot for a delicious late-night French food, including oysters on the half shell, Lipp has an extensive wine menu (nearly 600 different labels) and an incredibly well-stocked bar with top-shelf bottles.

Design lovers thrill to Onora Casa at the same time they support local artisans. Maggie Galton (from the US) and Mexico City-born María Eladia Hagerman’s Polanco emporium spotlights high-end handicrafts in collaboration with local creators who master both age-old technique and contemporary design. Everything from textiles to home and fashion accessories, all handcrafted, will tempt you to stuff that return-trip valise.

Located in Polanco amid a cluster of familiar, brand-name hotels, the W Mexico City features all the usual amenities and contemporary design touches you expect from this hotelier, including toiletries by Bliss. On-site, you’ll find a restaurant and bar, spa, and fitness center. If you’re traveling with a pet, this hotel is an especially good option because of its signature “Pets Are Welcome” program.

Chef Jorge Vallejo spent time in the kitchen at Pujol before he and wife Alejandra Flores opened Quintonil, giving the former boss a run for his money. Their place, too, has become a fixture on best-restaurants lists, and is changing how people understand Mexican food. Taking its name from a weed that not long ago “decent” Mexicans wouldn’t dream of eating, Quintonil seeks to rescue and preserve discarded Mexican ingredients—particularly heirloom vegetable and herbal varieties—as part of the progressive and sustainable eating program it so elegantly advocates. Menus change seasonally, but a recent bill of fare included an avocado tartare with ant eggs and quelite-herb chips; chilacayote squash in mole with basil; and a rich chocolate-and-pinole-flour parfait. A tasting menu of Neronian proportions is also available.

Ultra-modern Hotel Habita sits on upscale avenue Presidente Masaryk, in the midst of the Polanco’s fine restaurants and shops. Opened in 2000 and renovated in 2012, the hotel, which looks like a glass cube, continues to attract travelers who appreciate its sleek design and superb location. Rooms are typical of Grupo Habita hotels-spare and uncluttered, with luxurious toiletries and high-tech amenities, like flat-screen TVs and free Wi-Fi. The staff is accommodating and will help guests with everything from transportation recommendations to securing reservations at top nearby restaurants, such as Biko, Pujol, and Quintonil. All three appeared on the 2015 “Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants” list.

La Balance is a French-style bakery and café, complete with macarons, madeleines, and other Parisian confections, all of which go down nicely with a freshly pulled espresso. La Balance has several cafés around the city; more central locations include this one in Polanco and the light-filled, corner café on Calle Cozumel in the Colonia Condesa neighborhood.

El Péndulo elevates the café-bookstore concept exceptionally well, inviting you to linger for hours over coffee and pastries in its large, two-level cafe (there are even tables on the second floor’s balcony). Books in Spanish and English line sagging shelves and sit in precarious piles on the floor, and staff will happily help you search for music or a movie from their extensive inventory of CDs and DVDs. The store has a large selection of novelty gift items, too, including journals and pens so you can document your visit. Be sure to give a nudge to the pendulum for which the store is named on your way out; suspended from the ceiling, the sand-filled, cone-shaped pendulum swings back and forth, making patterns as customers give the pendulum a gentle push.

Mexico City is often depicted—and not incorrectly—as a capital city teeming with buildings, people, and cars. It also, though, has a surprising number of green spaces and parks, the most expansive of which is Bosque de Chapultepec, right on the edge of Polanco. It’s easy to while away a good bit of time in Chapultepec; the park has a zoo, a lake where you can rent pedal boats, street performers making music and magic, and the Castillo de Chapultepec—Chapultepec Castle—which houses the National History Museum. If you’re hungry, you’ll find plenty of vendors peddling everything from roasted corn on the cob to cotton candy.

Hacienda de los Morales is probably my favorite Mexican restaurant in Mexico City. This is a must-try appetizer: duck chicharron tacos on black tortilla. Add a little lemon and salsa... bingo!!

First established in 1945, in an odd no-man’s-land between Chapultepec and Polanco, Los Panchos calls up the Mexican restaurants you may have known in childhood, with a wide-ranging (laminated) menu, whitewashed walls, and potted plants (not an Edison bulb in sight), plus a garrulous, family-friendly set-up serving trough-sized platters of classic Mexican grub like enchiladas, gorditas, moles, and chicken taquitos, tortilla soup, and tostadas, multi-colored margaritas and, most especially, Mexico’s answer to confit, carnitas: utterly delicious, ferociously caloric chunks of pork, fried in their own fat. The restaurant is perfect for larger groups who make their own tacos seasoned with cilantro, chopped onion, and the full hot-sauce portfolio. Nostalgic and lively, nobody leaves hungry.

The Museo Soumaya, financed by Carlos Slim, the richest man in Mexico, has the ambitions of the Guggenheim Bilbao from the outside. It’s a stunning building whose sweeping, soaring curves couldn’t help but make it an instant landmark near Polanco, one of Mexico City‘s ritziest neighborhoods. Inside, the museum recalls the Guggenheim New York, with galleries off of a ramp which spirals down (or up) the building. Unfortunately the museum’s permanent collection isn’t as impressive as those at either Guggenheim. The Soumaya does have some strengths—one of the world’s largest collection of Rodins and some especially noteworthy colonial Mexican works—but it can feel hit or miss, with many undistinguished pieces. Slim’s museum is free, however, so you won’t regret paying admission even if you just pass through quickly to take in the building itself and some highlights.