1. Walking Tour – Centro Histórico
Here is our best walking tour of the historic center of Mexico City. Really you could spend days here discovering everything, but if you have one day, here are our best suggestions:
The 16 numbered stops are the sights. They follow a one-way route with the least walking, about 4.8 km (3 miles) or just over an hour on foot without stops. It starts with breakfast at El Cardenal in the Hilton on the Alameda and ends at Café El Mayor, next to the ruins of the Templo Mayor. Take an Uber or taxi to the start and another back from the end. On the map, tap or click a pin for details; the red dotted line is the route.
Map key: 1Museum of Popular Art · 2Museo Mural Diego Rivera · 3Museo Kaluz · 4The Alameda park · 5Franz Mayer Museum · 6National Art Museum (MUNAL) · 7Post Office Palace · 8Palace of Fine Arts · 9Sanborns – House of the Tiles · 10Madero Street · 11Casino Español · 12Hotel Downtown & Azul Histórico · 13Zócalo · 14National Palace · 15Centro Cultural de España · 16Religious-items passage
Coffee: 17Café El Mayor (Librería Porrúa) (above the Templo Mayor) · 18Triana Café (in the Mercado de San Juan) · Bakeries: 19El Moro (churros)
Before you start: breakfast at El Cardenal
Come early to El Cardenal in the Hilton on the Alameda. It’s weird that we send you to breakfast at a international chain hotel! But El Cardenal is the best place to try a real Mexican breakfast with dozens of egg creations, or alternatively tasty chilaquiles. Definitely order the hot chocolate and some nata, which is kind of a cream that you spread on rolls. There are also branches next to the National Museum of Art and the Zócalo, but they are small and have longer waits.
After breakfast, walk a block south to Revillagigedo street. The next stop is two minutes away.
1. Museum of Popular Art (Museo de Arte Popular)
Revillagigedo 11, a block south of the Alameda · Tue–Sun 10 AM – 6 PM · 60 pesos (~3 USD) · website
Housed in an art deco former firehouse, an amazing collection of folkloric art from across Mexico. Masks, pottery, clothing, altars, Day of the Dead. The best curated shop of this type of material that you may find anywhere, although you will find more quantity at the Ciudadela market, a chaotic ten-minute walk south.
Now walk back north, cross Avenida Juárez and follow Balderas street along the west end of the Alameda to Colón street. It takes about five minutes.
2. Option for Diego Rivera fans
Balderas at Colón, NW corner Alameda · Tue–Sun 10 AM – 6 PM · 45 pesos (~2.40 USD), cash only · map
In the Museo Mural Diego Rivera hangs the huge mural Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in the Alameda Central, one of his best. It first hung in the grand Prado Hotel, destroyed in the 1985 earthquake. The mural survived and moved here. The Hilton now stands on the Prado site.
From here walk a block north to Hidalgo street and turn right. Museo Kaluz is about five minutes away.
3. Museo Kaluz
Hidalgo 85 · closed Tuesdays, 10 AM – 6 PM · price varies by exhibition · website
A private art collection organized by themes, about Mexico and Mexico City, in a colonial hostel for clergy.
From here cross Hidalgo into the Alameda, about five minutes away.
4. The Alameda park
The Alameda, seen from the café at Sears · map
The oldest public park in the Americas. Walk east through the park, then cross back over Hidalgo to the north side. The next stop is about three minutes away.
5. Option for fans of interior design
Hidalgo 45, north side of the Alameda · Tue–Sun 10 AM – 5 PM · 130 pesos (~7 USD), free Tuesdays · website
The Franz Mayer Museum, housed in the 18th century San Juan de Dios monastery and hospital, has Latin America’s largest collection of decorative arts. You will get a great historic perspective, never boring, and usually an excellent current exhibition of some topic of contemporary Mexican design.
The two churches on this square have both sunk so much that they lean. Just walk in to get a fun/weird sense of imbalance.
Continue east along Hidalgo, cross Eje Central and keep going on Tacuba street. It takes about six minutes.
6. Option for art fans: National Art Museum (Museo Nacional de Arte “MUNAL”)
Tacuba 8 · Tue–Sun 10 AM – 6 PM · 95 pesos (~5 USD) · website
In this beautiful 1911 eclectic palace by an Italian architect, built under Porfirio Díaz, you can view samples of art, mostly paintings, from the colonial era through to the mid-20th century. The stairway and lamps are magnificent.
The Post Office Palace is across the street, on the corner of Eje Central.
7. Post Office Palace (Palacio de Correos de Mexico)
Tacuba 1 at Eje Central · Mon–Fri 8 AM – 4 PM, Sat 8 AM – noon · free · website
A 1907 gilded masterpiece by Adamo Boari (the Bellas Artes architect), a mix of Spanish Plateresque, Venetian Gothic and art nouveau. And BTW, it’s a functioning post office. Enter at the north and drop your jaw as you discover the stairway. Buy souvenir stamps here if you’re that kind of person 😉
Cross Eje Central again to the Palace of Fine Arts, about three minutes away.
8. Palace of Fine Arts (Palacio de Bellas Artes)
Av. Juárez at Eje Central · Tue–Sun 10 AM – 6 PM · 95 pesos (~5 USD) · website
One of the symbols of the city. Started under Porfirio Díaz in grand French style, but completed after the Revolution, so the interiors are art deco, with unique Mexican touches (indigenous god figures and the like). The attraction here is the murals by Mexico’s greats like Orozco inside on the upper floors. You’ll need to buy a ticket at the booths. After entering, turn left and face the front door: those booths. (It’s confusing.)
There is usually a special exhibition here (a great artist, Soviet art, etc.) with a separate ticket. Huge art bookstore. Missable craft shop. Option for architecture fans: small architecture museum on the upper floor. If you can see the Ballet Folklórico here, do.
In front of the Palace is Juárez street, the main upscale shopping street in the city before the rich moved out to Polanco and the suburbs in the mid-20th century. It’s having a comeback now and you’ll even see Starbucks and other midrange chain stores. If you’re lucky you’ll see Street Frida painting as in this snap:
Street Frida
Otherwise cross the busy Eje Central (“Central Axis” boulevard) to the blue-tiled building on the corner of Madero street, two minutes away:
9. Sanborn’s at the House of Tiles (Casa de los Azulejos)
The House of Tiles, with our Swedish friend
This is the flagship of a chain of what Americans would call a diner or coffee shop, but in truth a sit-down restaurant full of middle-middle-class families and a national tradition. It was actually founded by two brothers from California! It also is a mini-department store, with an inexplicable selection of merchandise, from a full pharmacy, to televisions, to purses, to cakes. The food is (for Mexico) unremarkable, but reliable.
Amazingly, it’s located in the “House of the Tiles”, the 18th-century palace of the Counts of the Orizaba Valley. So you’ll be admiring the outside first, covered in blue tiles.
Stairway with Orozco mural inside the House of the Tiles
Now go inside to the central part of the building, and look up. You’ll see the mural by Orozco on the landing, but also a stunning tile ceiling. Continue up to the second floor, Instagram pics from the balcony, and imagine what this place was like as a residence in the 18th century.
10. Madero Street
Exit the south side of Sanborn’s and you will be on Madero street, now pedestrianized. Ahead of you is a church courtyard and the entrance to the Torre Latinoamericana if you’d like to go up to the observation tower. Turn left towards the Zócalo. This is a crowded shopping street for the middle-middle-class, now with a Zara and a Starbucks. You’ll pass some beautiful colonial, French belle-époque, and art deco buildings on your way to the Zócalo.
After four blocks at Isabel la Católica street, turn right. Half a block down are two unmissables. And if you’re hungry, here are some great options.
11. Casino Español
Casino Español: Doric, Ionic, baroque, Moorish, neoclassical and art nouveau, all in one 1903 building
This social club for the Spanish expat community was built in grand eclectic style at the beginning of the 20th century. Go in and look up. No photos are allowed. But on the second floor there is a good Spanish restaurant and generally no one will stop you from taking pictures from the balconies there.
The Hotel Downtown is just across the street.
12. Hotel Downtown and Azul Histórico restaurant
Isabel la Católica street #30, half a block south of Madero street · Hotel Downtown website · Azul Histórico website
Azul Histórico restaurant in the courtyard of the Hotel Downtown (Palace of the Countess of Miravalle)
The trendy hotel group that runs the Condesa DF opened the Hotel Downtown in this former palace of the Countess of Miravalle, the “Condesa” after which the Condesa neighborhood was named. Azul Histórico restaurant is one of the best options for culinary (but not fussy) Mexican cuisine, and there are others if Azul is too full. On the mezzanine there are design and foody shops, and take the elevator to the roof to check out the roof bar and pool.
Go back to Madero Street and turn right towards the Zócalo, about five minutes away.
13. Zócalo (main square)
The Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo · map
Officially called Plaza de la Constitución, it is the centerpoint of the city and of the country, built on and with the ruins of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlán.
On the north side is the Cathedral, grand from the outside but lamentably uninteresting inside. Stick your head in. Meh.
Then cross the square to the east side, about six minutes on foot.
14. National Palace
Moneda 4 · Tue–Sun, guided tours only, 10:30 AM – 4 PM · free; bring your passport · map
On the east side of the Zocalo is the unmissable National Palace, with murals by Diego Rivera inside, one in particular which illustrates the history of Mexico from the days of the indigenous empires through to the revolutionary days of the early 20th century. Entry is free but by guided tour only. Register from 10 AM at Moneda 4 (walking east from the northeast corner of the Zócalo) with photo ID and ask for the circuit with the Rivera murals. Tours get cancelled at short notice, so have a plan B.
For your next stop, about five minutes away, you need to go behind the Cathedral, and find the:
15. Centro Cultural de España
República de Guatemala 18 · Tue–Sun · free · website
A moderately interesting modern cultural center by architect Javier Sánchez, but the handy part is that you can walk through to Donceles street, a few steps from your next stop, which saves a lot of walking.
16. Option for devout Catholics or lovers of religious kitsch
A few steps east of the Spanish Cultural Center is a passage lined with shops selling religious items, including the most gigantic statues of Jesus and the Virgin Mary you are ever likely to see. You can also walk through to República de Argentina street this way. Do that, and walk north on Argentina to the corner of Justo Sierra for the last stop.
To finish: coffee at Café “El Mayor” atop the Libreria Porrúa bookstore
República de Argentina street #15 at Justo Sierra · website
The ruins of the Templo Mayor, seen from Café El Mayor
It’s a bookstore, but go inside and take the elevator to the roof to have coffee, drinks or a pretty decent high-end Mexican lunch. There is an unbeatable view of the ruins of the Great Pyramid of the Aztec capital. Take a moment to think how this place looked before 1521. The capital of a great indigenous empire, built on an island in the center of a lake.
This is where the walk ends. Take an Uber or taxi from here, or walk back to Metro Zócalo on the main square.