Although the world’s second-largest city lies just a few hours by plane from much of the United States, it remains a mystery to most Americans, in part due to some outdated assumptions. Yes, at one point in the 1990s, Mexico City was quite dangerous, but now its homicide rate is far lower than that of Washington, D.C. Yes, it used to be more polluted than Los Angeles, but now it boasts blue skies much of the year. After moving factories out, the city replaced the old smoke-belching buses with electric ones, and the VW Beetle taxis no longer travel the roads.

A lot has happened in Mexico City the past few years, and it clearly feels like a municipality on the upswing. The most dramatic changes in appearance resulted from a continual sprucing up of the historic center, with ongoing cleanup and new private development projects, plus a complete renovation of Alameda Park. The city pledged to spend $23 million this year on sidewalk improvements for pedestrians, and the popular free bike share program now enjoys more cycling lanes. Thousands come out on Sundays to ride for miles down streets closed to traffic.

It is now completely appropriate to call D.F. (for Distrito Federal) one of the world’s great urban travel destinations. It offers attractions most other cities can only dream of — including four UNESCO World Heritage sites — and boasts a long list of superlatives. Its culinary scene has few equals in the Americas, from the lowly taco stands to fine-dining spots with unique character that show up frequently on “the world’s best restaurants” lists.

Meeting planners see Mexico City as a dream destination in terms of air connectivity. Hundreds of daily flights from 26 airlines go in and out of Benito Juárez International Airport, where a monorail connects the two terminals. Traffic is up 10 percent year over year in 2014, with 1.7 to 2 million passengers a month passing through. As a bonus, the airport is just a few miles from the city center. You can get to most hotels quickly in an official prepaid taxi from the airport for $20 or less.

Three major convention centers attract events to Mexico’s capital. Centro Banamex is the largest, with more than 100,000 square feet of space spread across 25 meeting rooms and a giant convention hall. The International Convention Center at the World Trade Center provides another 65,000 square feet. The Expo Bancomer offers 60,000 square feet in the suburban Santa Fe area, which looks more like Silicon Valley than Spain’s first colonial foothold in the Americas.

Hotel capacity in the city is good and growing, with plenty of large international hotels with familiar brand names. Several homegrown brands with strong operations include the Fiesta Americana and Camino Real chains. Most hotels are conveniently located in a corridor between Alameda Park and Polanco, near local attractions and dining. The office park area of Santa Fe, outside the city, houses a second cluster of hotels.

Camino Real Polanco Mexico has been a fixture here since 1968 — starring in several movies, including The Matador with Pierce Brosnan and Greg Kinnear. It features 712 guestrooms in a variety of types and plenty of space for outdoor events around pools and gardens, as well as 23 meeting rooms and a ballroom with a capacity of 1,700.

A Sheraton Maria Isabel Hotel & Towers meeting room © Sheraton Hotels & Resorts

The Presidente InterContinental Mexico City, facing Chapultapec Park, offers 661 guestrooms and 19 meeting rooms. Hyatt Regency Mexico City, on the Polanco edge of the park, ties for first with the Sheraton as the largest hotel by number of guestrooms, with 755. Its 16 meeting rooms contain more than 28,000 square feet of event space. In the center of Paseo de la Reforma, next to the U.S. Embassy and two blocks from the stock exchange, the Sheraton Maria Isabel Hotel & Towers not only offers 755 guestrooms but also 29 meeting rooms, including a ballroom that can seat up to 1,500.

With its own two-story convention center, the Hilton Mexico City Reforma boasts a total of 45,000 square feet of meeting space, including a ballroom that seats 1,500. The 458-room hotel, just a few miles from the airport, sits right on the edge of the historic center, at the start of wide Paseo de la Reforma.

Mexico City houses more museums than any other city, and the latest on the list is a major development. Eugenio Lopez, the heir to the Jumex juice empire, built a contemporary art gallery that opened at the end of last year in a building designed by architect David Chipperfield. As is typical here, the museum prices admission for the masses, at just $4 for foreign adults, $2.50 for locals.

The largest aquarium in Mexico, Aquarium Inbursa, opened June 11. Carlos Slim Helú, the first- or second-richest man in the world (depending on how Bill Gates is doing) is the principal investor in the $20 million project through his Inbursa finance company. Filled with crowd-pleasers like sharks, piranhas, sea turtles, jellyfish and rays, the five-level structure houses 3,000 marine animals now and will eventually host more than 10,000. The aquarium is across from Slim’s Soumaya art museum, which charges no admission.

Mexico City mayor Miguel Angel Mancera made tourism promotion one of his major priorities since taking office in 2012, and it seems to be paying off, especially with the neighbors to the north. The number of visitors rose 12 percent last year, and a third of those visitors arrived from the United States. The city promotes its offerings beyond the usual urban prospects, highlighting its culinary riches with food writers and appealing to Americans with Mexican roots.

Many visitors to Mexico’s capital are surprised at its accessibility and the short distances between their hotel and local attractions. This sprawling megacity may seem overwhelming on paper, with some 21 million people in the statistical area, but the population within the city limits is closer to 9 million — about the same as London. The section where most foreign visitors meet and explore is a relatively easy-to-navigate area more on par with Manhattan than Tokyo.