From the street, Luis Barragán's house looks like nothing. A plain facade in Tacubaya, a mixed and busy neighbourhood of Mexico City, with a wooden door and a few windows, gives no hint of the colour behind it. Barragán, the Mexican architect who won the Pritzker Prize in 1980, built the house in 1948 as his own home and studio, and he lived and worked here until his death in 1988. The UNESCO listing of 2004 recognised it as one of the key works of modern architecture, in which light, colour, silence and simple geometry do all the talking.
Inside, walls are painted in strong pink, ochre and yellow, and a window in the double-height living room is filled with a single sheet of glass divided by a cross of wood, so that the garden appears like a painting. A floating staircase of wooden planks climbs to the upper floor with no balustrade. The garden is wild and shaded, and the whole house feels like a hushed retreat from a very loud city. It is intimate, not grand, and you leave wanting to repaint your living room.
Visiting is by guided tour only, and spaces are limited, so booking ahead is essential. Photography inside is restricted, and the tours run on set days and times, so check the current rules before you go. The neighbourhood is near Chapultepec Park, with its castle and museums, and it is rich in places to eat, from market stalls to good restaurants.
Mexico City is a vast, fast and sometimes chaotic place for a bike, but motorcycles are common and drivers expect them. Fuel is everywhere, parking is the problem, so use a paid lot or leave the bike at your hotel and take the metro or a taxi. For a proper ride, leave early on a weekend and head west toward the Desierto de los Leones, a pine forest national park above the city, or take the old road toward Cuernavaca, which climbs through fir woods past La Marquesa. Air quality is better after rain, and the high altitude, about two thousand three hundred metres, takes a little power from engines and a little breath from riders.