Avenida Ámsterdam is Condesa's defining street: a wide, tree-lined oval that traces the exact outline of the Hipódromo de la Condesa, the horse-racing track that occupied the site until the 1920s. When the track closed, the loop was preserved as a boulevard with a planted central walkway, and the blocks inside and around it filled with the Art Deco apartment buildings that give the neighbourhood its character.
Walking the full circuit takes about half an hour and is one of the best free things to do in the city — a slow loop past curved façades, wrought-iron balconies and pavement cafés, with Parque México sitting at the centre of the ring. It is at its best in spring when the jacarandas bloom purple overhead.