Xochimilco food tour through the markets and canals
Market shopping, a bicitaxi ride to the pier and a taco placero built on board a trajinera, inside 3.5 hours.
Updated 3 November 2026
In shortA Xochimilco food tour that begins in the market streets of Xochimilco's historic centre and finishes on the water: coffee or tea with sweet bread or a tamal, the ingredients for a taco placero, hibiscus flower water on board, a working chinampa (hand-built farming plot) and an axolotl sanctuary. It lasts 3.5 hours, from 1,900 pesos, hosted in English by a Xochimilco native who works with local chinamperos. It suits travellers who want to see where the food comes from and are happy to carry the shopping to the boat.
3.5 htour length
from MXN 1900per adult
★ 5.012 reviews
What the Xochimilco food tour covers
The morning opens at Patio ciento 20, a small restaurant in the historic centre of Xochimilco, with coffee or tea and either sweet bread or a tamal. Then comes the shopping. The host grew up here and works with chinamperos, the farmers who still plant the raised plots along the canals, so the ingredients for the day are bought from market stalls while you watch. Xochimilco's own market sits on Av. Nuevo Leon in Santa Crucita, opens daily 8:00 to 20:00 and spreads across two buildings with roughly 450 vendors, acting as the distribution point for everything grown in the borough.
A bicitaxi carries the group and the bags down to the pier. On board you assemble a taco placero from what you bought, with agua de jamaica, hibiscus flower water, poured along the way. The route takes in a traditional chinampa and an axolotl sanctuary; the axolotl is the amphibian that has become the emblem of Mexico City, and the protected wetland around these canals is the reason it still has somewhere to live.
No single-use plastic is handed out at any point, and the money for ingredients goes to the stalls and growers you meet. The whole thing is 3.5 hours, from 1,900 pesos, rated 5.0 ★ (12 reviews). Go on a weekday morning if you can: boats on the canals generally run about 8:00 to 17:00 since there is no lighting out there, and Sunday afternoons are the slowest time to reach Xochimilco from the centre.
Guacamole a Tasty Adventure Through Xochimilco Markets and Canals
3.5 hours in the markets and on the canals, from 1,900 pesos. Coffee or tea with sweet bread or a tamal to start, a bicitaxi down to the pier, then taco placero and hibiscus flower water on the trajinera, with a stop at a chinampa and an axolotl sanctuary.
Meeting point: Patio ciento 20, a small local restaurant between Vicente Guerrero and Francisco I. Madero streets. Another business fronts the street, so walk through to the back part.
Getting to the centre of Xochimilco: Metro Taxquena on Line 2, then the Tren Ligero to Terminal Xochimilco, a single 18-station line of 13 km that takes about 30 minutes end to end. Allow 75 to 90 minutes by metro and light rail if you set out from Roma Norte, or 45 to 70 minutes by car or ride-hail.
All the ingredients to prepare a taco placero, and hibiscus flower water along the boat trip
A traditional chinampa and an axolotl sanctuary
Bicitaxi ride from the markets to the pier
Other Xochimilco food and canal tours compared
The three alternatives below spend their time differently. The private Xochimilco and Coyoacan tour runs 8 hours and from $130, which makes room for the Frida Kahlo neighbourhood as well as the canals and markets. The two mezcal boats are short, 2 and 2.5 hours, from 970 pesos and from 1,160 pesos, and they are drinking trips with food brought on board rather than tours where you shop and cook.
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Guacamole a Tasty Adventure Through Xochimilco Markets and Canals (this page)
