Trajineras Xochimilco Don Pedro — Attraction in Mexico City

At the southern end of the grandiose Mexico City is a network of 180 kilometers (112 miles) of canals originally constructed by the Aztecs; they used to connect with the now landfilled Lake Texcoco to the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan (now, Mexico City's Zócalo). Today, it is a relaxing, rural-like landscape that welcomes tourists, families, and groups of friends who bring their parties & gatherings to colorfully decorated wooden floats called Trajineras navigated by generations of Remeros who push the floats with thick wooden poles that bury into the canal bed. Artificial islands called chinampas are used for ornamental plant nurseries, farms, and illegally settled homes. The whole park is under an ecological revival with many local and migratory birds making this their temporary homes due to the abundance of available food. You negotiate with the men on the 'embarcadero' who take turns on whose trajinera will be used. It's a flat charge for the trajinera no matter how many people (20 max). The tours will vary from one hour (up & down main canal) to 4 hours (isla de muñecas). We did the 3 hour tour, negotiated to 1,300 mx ($65). This one stops at a native salamander relative sanctuary & isla la Llorona (crying lady) about a local legend. Touring around in this beautiful landscape enjoying food and drinks. It was well worth it and our Remeros tip was...

I visited for the day of the dead evening canal ride. Good selection of craft stalls and cafés. Not the best place to buy from though, prices can be twice as much as in the city craft market. I also had an incident where I bought something from a craft stall and when I paid by credit card, the stall holder claimed that the payment had not gone through-despite my online account showing that it had, the stall holder claimed that that wasn't the name of her business. To cut a long story short, I stuck to my guns and she eventually stated that she would check the business account and low and behold the payment had been received. I recommend to pay by cash for everything there if possible. If you are getting a taxi back in the evening, be careful who you use. I do not recommend the white taxis that are there, no seatbelts in the back and they attempted to rip me off- trying to charge more than stated when I checked with them before the journey (they run on a meter, the driver did not go the most direct route to my destination and got lost twice, despite using a satnav and then tried to charge me extra for...

I have mixed feelings about this place, mostly because we payed 1,500 peso for the boat ride. They would not allow us to share the boat with anyone ‘for our safety’ during COVID 19 outbreak. I would recommend coming with a group or waiting for other tourists willing to share outside of the port to lower the cost, as the boat will cost the same, no matter the number of people. Another option would be to head directly to the eco park for a walk around instead of taking the boat. The canals are beautiful, but the boat ride is very slow. They sell you a 3 hour boat ride so they move at a glacial pace to make it 3 hours. We chose the 3 hour ride because we wanted to see the Axolotl amphibian animals.. When we got to that stop we had to pay 20 peso extra each, and they were in tiny aquariums, seemingly not well treated. Overall happy we went and got to see the pre-Hispanic Mexico City. One last tip- bring alcohol and snacks to make the ride...