The 2026 FIFA World Cup is happening right now. Mexico versus South Africa at the Estadio Azteca — the stadium that hosted Pelé in 1970, Maradona’s Hand of God in 1986, and is now hosting its third World Cup. If you are in Mexico City today, the match is 90 minutes. The city is the rest of the trip.

Precisely 16 years after Siphiwe Tshabalala’s screamer opened the 2010 tournament in Johannesburg — the draw that still gives South African football its most famous moment — the same two nations play each other again on June 11. This time in Mexico City. This time Mexico are the hosts. This time 87,523 people are inside the Azteca, and the whole city is alive around it.

This is the travel guide for everyone already there — and everyone watching from home wishing they were.

The Estadio Azteca is the only stadium in the world to have hosted two FIFA World Cup finals — 1970 and 1986 — and it is now hosting its third tournament. Nothing in football has been decided at more significant altitude, on more historic turf, or in front of louder crowds. The ground opened in 1966 and holds 87,523. It sits in the Coyoacán borough, about 12 kilometres from the city centre, at the same dizzying 2,240 metres above sea level that makes Mexico City simultaneously the most breathtaking and literally breathtaking city in the world.

Mexico City is 7,000 years old, sits at 2,240 metres above sea level, has 22 million people, and is ranked among the world’s top five food cities every year without exception. The Templo Mayor — the excavated Aztec main temple — sits in the middle of the city, discovered in 1978 when workers were laying electrical cable near the Zócalo. The Frida Kahlo Museum in Coyoacán is in the same borough as the Azteca. The Roma and Condesa neighbourhoods have more good restaurants per block than most European cities have in a district.

The match is today. The city is the rest of the week.

Match day — June 11

Most World Cup fans stay three to five days. The match is one of them. Here is what the other four look like in Mexico City, starting with the day trip that most visitors under-plan and immediately wish they had more time for.

Teotihuacan — the pyramids, one hour from the city

The Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan is the third-largest pyramid in the world. It sits one hour from Mexico City by bus from the Terminal del Norte and was built before the Aztecs existed — the civilisation that built it is still not fully identified. The Avenue of the Dead connects the main pyramids across two kilometres. Go early (it opens at 8am) to avoid both the midday heat at altitude and the tour groups that arrive from 10am. Wingman’s Teotihuacan route covers the full site with audio context at each pyramid. Buses run every 15 minutes from Terminal del Norte and cost about 80 MXN (~$4) each way.

Practical information

Arriving in the world’s largest North American city during the opening days of the biggest sporting event in history — in a city that operates at altitude, in a language most visitors do not speak, across a metro area the size of a small country — is the exact situation a good city guide is built for.