Parque Bicentenario & The Orchid Farm

Opened in 2010, the Parque Bicentenario is, most famously, home to a massive Orchid Farm. The park was opened to commemorate the 100 years since the beginning of the Mexican Revolution and 200 years since the Mexican War of Independence. It was a massive industrial land reclamation project to rehabilitate the long polluted plot of the national oil refinery.

Today, it’s a massive greenspace and a popular neighborhood park. More than anything else, visitors come to admire the nearly 1,300 species of orchids. Some 40% of them are native to Mexico and they make any trip to the Parque Bicentenario into a fascinating and even inspiring experience.

The park actually houses multiple gardens organized into a scheme alluding to Mexica cosmogony and divided into ecosystems to hold even more varieties of plants, trees, and flowers. Of course, the lake and the various walks are among the other star attractions.

The Parque Bicentenario orchid garden is home to more than 7,000 orchid plants, and specializes in their cultivation, preservation, and display. The plants, in addition to being beautiful, require very specific conditions of temperature and humidity, which is why they require greenhouses.

The park is super convenient to the Metro Refinería station, and it’s also home to the Azcapotzalco Historical Archive.

Hours: Tuesdays through Sundays  7 a.m. to 6 p.m.