Mexico City for The Thrill Seekers: a Friday-to-Monday weekend

A day pass on the city bikes and the protected lane down the avenue to the Alameda at rush hour, which at 2,240 metres counts as a warm-up.

Friday night at the cathedral of lucha: three hours of técnicos against rudos, a beer in a plastic cup, and a mask you will regret buying.

Monterrey-style trompo and chicharrón tacos at a bright counter that runs past three in the morning, with the papas as the recovery carbohydrate.

Lift off at first light and drift over the Pyramid of the Sun with forty other balloons; the pick-up from the city leaves at four, so sleep on the van.

Walk the two-kilometre Calzada de los Muertos from the Ciudadela to the Moon; climbing the pyramids has been off since 2020, the heat has not.

Monterrey-style tacos at a counter in the Hipódromo, chicharrón and bistec off the grill and a salsa bar to work through: the recovery meal after a day of sun and stairs.

The city's own volcano: three hours up through pine to 3,880 metres, with Popocatépetl smoking on the horizon if the morning is clear.

Rent a kayak at the Cuemanco pier and paddle the quiet chinampa channels the trajineras ignore, past herons and the axolotl refuge.

A corner stand with a queue of neighbours, costra tacos with the cheese fried into a crust, and a Coke in a glass bottle. Legs will forgive you.

The second section's lake loop is flatter and emptier than the first; two circuits make five kilometres before the fountain is switched on.

A breakfast fonda that opens at half past five and closes when the clay pots are empty; huevos in salsa verde and the frijoles with chorizo.

Thermal springs under a hill ten minutes from the airport, with private tubs and a steam room run the same way since the 1930s. Soak, then fly.