Chapultepec, which means Hill of Grasshoppers in the Aztec language (Náhuatl), once served as a refuge for the wandering Aztecs before eventually becoming a summer residence for their noble class. In the 15th century, Nezahualcóyotl, ruler of nearby Texcoco, gave permission for the area to be made a forest reserve.

The Bosque de Chapultepec has remained Mexico City's largest park to this day. It now covers more than 4 sq km (1.5 sq mi) and has lakes, a zoo and several excellent museums. Still home to Mexico's high and mighty, it contains the current presidential residence (Los Pinos) and a former imperial and presidential palace (Castillo de Chapultepec).

One of its museums, the Museo Nacional de Antropología (National Anthropology Museum), is one of the finest museums of its kind in the world, and too large to cover in a single visit. The ground-floor halls are dedicated to pre-Hispanic Mexico, and the upper level covers the way modern Mexico's indigenous people, the descendants of those pre-Hispanic civilisations, live today.

Other museums in the park include the Museo del Caracol, which covers the history of the Mexican people's struggle for liberty, and the Museo Nacional de Historia.