Metro Chapultepec

Metro Chapultepec is one of the busiest single-line metro stations in the city. This can be explained by the station’s proximity to the park, which especially on weekends will fill arriving trains to capacity. It’s also a very important transfer station for buses heading to the city’s northwestern suburbs.

Most convenient for the neighborhoods of  western Colonia Juárez, Condesa and Roma Norte, it’s also the regular station for some residents of San Miguel Chapultepec. The station symbol is a grasshopper, from the Nahuatl meaning “Grasshopper hill.” In fact, Chapultepec has been an important part of the city since long before the Spanish conquest in 1521.

The Mexica and their subject peoples took over this part of the Valley of Mexico when they conquered the Tepaneca people  of Azcapotzalco. Both a sacred and strategic site, it was quickly converted to receive the remains of cremated rulers. It was also an important area for fresh water for the main city across the lake.

In 1420, Nezahualcoyotl built a palace in the area which is remembered in the Nezahualcoyotl Fountain of today. Later, Moctezuma II was to build reservoirs and arbors built in the area. As early as 1465, Moctezuma I had the three kilometer Tlaxpana aqueduct built. Although no remains of this aqueduct are known, the echo of the earlier work can be heard in the Fuente de Belen immediately outside and above the present metro station. It was moved to this location from a spot closer to Chapultepec Avenue (where some of the original aqueduct arches can be seen) in 1921.

Having been in service on Line 1 since 1969, the station also boasts a slightly more extensive array of retail stores, including those for clothes and similar items. It’s exceptionally close to the entire western end of the business district of Paseo de la Reforma including:

• The Torre Mayor
• Chapultepec Uno
• Torre Reforma
• Bancomer Tower
• Headquarters of the Secretariat of Health
• Headquarters of the Mexican Social Security Institute
• The Estela de Luz bicentennial monument

Metro Chapultepec is also very convenient to most of the most popular parts of Chapultepec Park among them:

• Chapultepec Castle
• Niños Héroes Monument
• Museum of Modern Art
• Chapultepec Zoo