As the world prepares to descend on the capital for the FIFA World Cup 2026, The Traveling Beetle, Mexico City’s premier architectural tour specialist, is setting expectations early: they will not be explaining the offside rule — or anything related to football, for that matter. Instead, the company focuses on everything surrounding the game: the city itself.
Parque Quetzalcóatl by Javier Senosiain. Photo © The Traveling Beetle
“We never selected our guides for their football expertise. In hindsight, that may have been an oversight,” Nicolas Caillens of The Traveling Beetle commented “But if you’re looking to skip the crowds without skipping the city, you’ll be in very good company.”
During the tournament, The Traveling Beetle invites visitors beyond the stadium walls to discover a different side of Mexico City shaped by architecture, landscape, art, and a deeply rooted design culture. Traveling in vintage VW Combis and convertible Beetles, guests explore residential masterpieces, modernist landmarks, hidden gardens, and ambitious urban interventions through the work of masters of Mexican architecture, including Luis Barragán, Juan O’Gorman, Félix Candela, Mathias Goeritz, Javier Senosiain, Alberto Kalach, and more. All tours are led by architects, ensuring that what guests see is not only admired, but understood. For those unwilling to stray too far from football, The Traveling Beetle will also offer a stadium focused experience exploring the architectural legacy of past tournaments, the design of the venues themselves, and the graphic identities that have shaped these global events across generations. Still, expectations should be managed: no tactical insights will be offered, and no referee grievances will be entertained.