Mexico City’s Public Transports: Affordable Marvels Beneath and Above the Megacity, Chapultepec Park Gondola Flyover

Chapultepec from Above, Mexico City Public Transportation

Chapultepec is one of the best places to understand the extraordinary reach of Mexico City’s public transportation.

Metro Chapultepec, on Line 1, provides access to the First Section of the forest. Auditorio and Constituyentes, both on Line 7, reach its northern and western sides. Constituyentes also connects with Los Pinos station on Cablebús Line 3, while nearby Observatorio, on Line 1, is one of western Mexico City’s most important transportation gateways.

Together, these stations connect passengers with Chapultepec Castle, the National Museum of Anthropology, Auditorio Nacional, Los Pinos and the park’s four immense sections.

They are part of a Metro system that remains one of Mexico City’s greatest achievements.

Five Pesos to Cross Mexico City

The Mexico City Metro covers 218.55 kilometers through 12 lines and 195 stations, linking neighborhoods, universities, hospitals, markets, museums, bus terminals, the airport and the Historic Center.

During 2025, it provided more than 1.241 billion passenger journeys—an average of approximately 3.4 million every day.

Its trains traveled more than 40.13 million kilometers during the year, equivalent to circling Earth at the Equator more than 1,000 times.

Yet a regular journey still costs only five Mexican pesos, whether the passenger travels one stop or crosses much of the network without exiting.

Foreign visitors regularly express astonishment at the fare, especially when comparing it with transportation prices in London, Paris, New York, Madrid or Tokyo. For Mexico City residents, however, this affordability is essential. The Metro is not merely transportation; it is one of the capital’s largest daily social programs.

A Metro Built Beneath a Former Lake

Building an underground railway in Mexico City required exceptional engineering.

Much of the capital rests on soft, water-saturated sediments left by the lakes that once surrounded Tenochtitlan. Engineers had to construct tunnels and stations through unstable ground while protecting historic buildings, archaeological remains, water systems and densely populated neighborhoods.

The first Metro section opened on September 4, 1969, between Zaragoza and Chapultepec. It included 16 stations and approximately 12.7 kilometers of track. Within little more than a year, Lines 2 and 3 were also operating.

More than 56 years later, the network continues to move millions of people beneath, across and above one of the world’s largest cities.

A Visual Language for Everyone

Every Mexico City Metro station has its own pictogram.

Chapultepec is represented by a grasshopper, reflecting the Nahuatl meaning of its name: “hill of the grasshopper.” Auditorio shows the façade of Auditorio Nacional, Constituyentes evokes the Constitution of 1917 and Observatorio is represented by the dome of an astronomical observatory.

The Metro’s original visual identity was developed by Lance Wyman, Arturo Quiñones and Francisco Gallardo under the architectural leadership of Pedro Ramírez Vázquez.

Names, colors, numbers and images were combined so passengers could navigate the system regardless of literacy or language. A child, a foreign visitor or someone unable to read could recognize a destination through its symbol.

The result became an international landmark in graphic design and inclusive public communication.

A Museum Beneath the Streets

Mexico City’s Metro is also an enormous decentralized museum.

Murals, sculptures, photographs, archaeological objects and historical exhibitions appear throughout its stations and corridors. At Mixcoac, the Metro Museum preserves original maps, models, artworks and materials documenting the system’s development.

At Pino Suárez, passengers encounter a Mexica shrine dedicated to Ehécatl, the deity of wind, discovered during Metro construction and preserved inside the station.

Zócalo/Tenochtitlan presents the history of Mexico City’s central square, while Bellas Artes and Copilco contain major murals and cultural installations.

The station names themselves form a journey through Mexican history: Tenochtitlan, Cuitláhuac, Cuauhtémoc, Moctezuma, Hidalgo, Morelos, Juárez, Zapata, Revolución and Constitución de 1917.

Others preserve ancient Nahuatl place names, including Chapultepec, Popotla, Tacuba, Tacubaya, Mixcoac, Coyoacán, Iztacalco, Iztapalapa and Pantitlán.

A five-peso journey can therefore become a history, archaeology, art and architecture experience.

Cablebús Line 3: Chapultepec Park Gondola Flyover

At Constituyentes, passengers can leave Metro Line 7 and connect with Los Pinos station on Cablebús Line 3.

Opened in September 2024, this aerial system travels 5.5 kilometers across Chapultepec through six stations:

• Los Pinos/Constituyentes

• Panteón de Dolores

• Charrería

• PARCUR/Colegio de Arquitectos

• Cineteca Nacional Chapultepec/Bodega Nacional de Arte

• Vasco de Quiroga

The complete journey takes approximately 21 minutes and costs seven pesos, paid separately with the same Integrated Mobility Card used on the Metro.

Its 71 cabins can transport approximately 34,000 passengers daily. Within its first two months, Line 3 had already carried more than 1.1 million people.

The line connects Chapultepec’s four sections and provides access to Los Pinos, Panteón de Dolores, PARCUR, the Bodega Nacional de Arte and Cineteca Nacional Chapultepec.

It is both useful public transportation and one of Mexico City’s most spectacular sightseeing journeys. From the cabins, passengers can appreciate the scale of Chapultepec as an immense green landscape surrounded by one of the largest urban areas on Earth.

Experience Chapultepec With Mex at Max

Our three-hour Chapultepec Park Gondola Flyover reveals this extraordinary landscape from the ground and the sky.

Presented by Mexico University, the experience combines expert historical interpretation with a journey aboard Cablebús Line 3. In a small group of no more than ten guests, we explore Chapultepec at a relaxed pace, with breaks and carefully selected opportunities for photographs.

It is much more than a gondola ride. We connect Chapultepec’s forests and monuments with Indigenous history, imperial power, presidential residences, military memory and Mexico City’s continuing transformation.

Discover the Mexico most visitors never see—and experience Chapultepec and Mexico City at their Maximum.