Gliding across Xochimilco’s canals, it’s hard to believe you’re in one of the most populous cities in the world. Birds ski onto the water searching for fish. Farmers work the land just as their grandparents did. And rowers sink sticks below the surface, propelling forward the colorful, flat-bottomed boats that have become emblematic of these waters.
Frida Kahlo used to come here for a peaceful trajinera ride, navigating waterways carved out by the Xochimilcas and Aztecs more than 1,000 years ago. The biodiverse reserve is located south of the bright blue Coyoacán home she shared with Diego Rivera, now the famous Casa Azul museum, where Frida fans make the pilgrimage to walk in the artist’s footsteps.
Where Ancient Agriculture Still Feeds a City
At the heart of Xochimilco’s working landscapes are its chinampas, or “floating gardens”: agricultural islands engineered by Indigenous communities that became a major food source for the Aztec empire. Corn, beans, squash, flowers, medicinal herbs, the same crops that fed Tenochtitlan, the great Aztec city-state built over the lakes that once covered modern-day Mexico City, still grow here today. Xochimilco is all that remains of that cultural landscape, the last gatekeeper of Aztec agricultural tradition and biodiversity, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Frida’s Xochimilco
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For Frida, Xochimilco was more than a day out on the water. It was a place to root herself in the Indigenous identity that was central to everything she stood for: Mexican life as anti-colonial, nature-led, community-made. That philosophy ran through everything she did: the Tehuana dress, the Mexican flowers and fruits from local markets that appeared again and again in her paintings, her Xoloitzcuintle dogs padding through the Casa Azul courtyard, long dinners planned around traditional food, mezcal, and handcrafted tableware.
Xochimilco has always held the thread between ancient and modern life, nurturing Indigenous traditions, planting native seeds, sustaining farming families, never stopping in its tending of both the land and the culture rooted in it. It was the source for Frida. It remains a source for travelers looking to connect with a deeper, quieter side of Mexico’s heritage.
Chinampas Up Close with Arca Tierra
The best way to understand what drew Frida here is to get onto the water and into the land yourself. Journey travelers experience Xochimilco from the inside through a visit with Arca Tierra, a Mexican NGO working hand in hand with local farmers to reactivate and preserve the chinampa tradition, supported by Journey Mexico’s Positive Impact Fund.
Aboard a manually steered trajinera, you drift through surviving canals to arrive at one of Arca Tierra’s active chinampas. This is Xochimilco as Frida knew it: hands in soil that has been farmed for centuries, conversations with the families still doing that work today, a quiet understanding of what it actually takes to keep this place alive.
“I didn’t fully understand the significance of the chinampas before I spent the day out there with the farmers. You get out on the water and realize these aren’t just gardens floating on a lake. They were built up from the lake bed, strip by strip, centuries ago. That’s how ancient Mexico City was fed. Arca Tierra has been bringing the abandoned ones back into cultivation, and the scale of what’s growing out there now is genuinely encouraging.” — Renata Johnson, Global Marketing Manager, Journey
The visit ends around the table: a chinampa-to-plate lunch, ingredients harvested steps away, dishes rooted in the same culinary traditions Frida herself celebrated. It’s the kind of meal that makes the journey feel complete, not just as a traveler passing through, but as someone who has stepped into the cultural history of Xochimilco.
Get in touch with Journey Mexico’s expert team to start planning a trip that includes Xochimilco and the other hidden layers of Frida Kahlo’s Mexico.
