Mexico Polanco

Forget the heap of grey concrete leaden under toxic clouds: in Mexico City, Polanco is an enchanted interlude with its tree-lined avenues, charming squares, grand post-colonial mansions, narrow streets named after writers or philosophers, and well-dressed gentlemen on the arm of elegant women. It's an affluent neighbourhood, where it's fashionable for companies to have a representative address, even if a large number of head offices have moved to the west of the city, to the new Santa Fe business district, a far less glamorous destination. So it's hardly surprising that a large number of the capital's business hotels are concentrated in Polanco, almost touching down on the edge of Chapultepec Park.

Polanco's quiet, understated atmosphere might lead you to believe that this affluence is an eternal legacy. Not so: developed from the end of the 1930s onwards, Polanco is a relatively recently built district, whose destiny changed after the 1985 earthquake, which saw many restaurants, embassies and head offices move from the Zona Rosa to this quieter district, better protected against earthquake risks. So beware: while the district now revolves around a few 'institutions' - restaurants, shops and hotels - the landscape is never static...