Zona Rosa & Reforma
Commonly known as La Diana Cazadora (Diana the Hunter), this 1942 bronze nude sculpture atop a fountain is actually meant to represent the Archer of the…
Must-see attractions in Mexico
Centro Histórico
The Palacio de Minería was where mining engineers trained in the 19th century. A neoclassical masterpiece, the palace was designed by Tolsá and built…
Guadalajara Region
Just opposite Tequila's main plaza and immediately recognisable by the enormous statue of a crow (cuervo in Spanish), Mundo Cuervo, which is owned by the…
Puebla
This long, narrow park is an attractive counter to the centro histórico’s zocálo. The park is festive and crowded in the afternoons, when kids in school…
Veracruz
Tuxpan’s beach, 12km east of town, is a wide strip stretching 20km north from the Río Tuxpan’s mouth, though local holidaymakers tend to bunch up at its…
Morelia
Independence leader José María Morelos y Pavón is king in Morelia – after all, the city is named after him. He was born at the site of this one-time casa…
Museo de la Independencia Nacional
Dolores Hidalgo
Although this museum has few relics, it has plenty of information on the independence movement. The exhibition spans seven rooms and charts the appalling…
Chiapas
This attractive set of cascading rapids and waterfalls is the latest attraction of the tour agencies, thanks to its easy access from the road (other falls…
Coyoacán & San Ángel
The Casa de Cortés, on the north side of Plaza Hidalgo, is where conquistador Cortés established Mexico’s first municipal seat during the siege of…
Veracruz
You don't come to Córdoba’s main plaza to tick off a list of 'sights.' You come here to live life. The square vies with Veracruz city's as the region’s…
Chiapas
Bustling and broad, Tuxtla’s main plaza occupies two blocks flanked by an untidy array of concrete government and commercial structures. At its southern…
Cancún
Also known as the Templo del Alácran (Scorpion’s Temple), Yamil Lu’um was used between AD 1200 and 1550, and sits atop a beachside knoll in the parklike…
Veracruz
Formerly a 4-hectare abandoned lot overrun by ‘delinquents,’ this eco-conscious park is now patronized by cordobeses, who run and walk trails that snake…
Guadalajara
Orozco’s former home and studio, used briefly by the celebrated muralist in the early 1940s, today hosts temporary exhibitions. On permanent display in…
Oaxaca City
Housed in the restored Ex Convento de San Pablo (a 16th-century Dominican monastery), the impressive San Pablo Center stages concerts, films, exhibitions,…
Zacatecas
Zacatecas' former mint (Mexico's second-biggest in the 19th century) now houses the wonderful Museo Zacatecano. Spread over a number of rooms, this…
Guadalajara
This large, leafy park about 2km south of the city center is a nice place to rehab from too much urbanity. There are benches and lawns to lounge upon and…
Xalapa
Xalapa's oldest church was founded back in 1535, with the current building completed in 1770. Architecturally, it displays an unusual blend of baroque and…
Museo de la Ciudad de Veracruz
Veracruz City
Housed in a charming colonial-era building, this museum recounts Veracruz’s history from the pre-Hispanic era. Standout exhibits include some Totonaca and…
Zacatecas
Built in the late 18th century for a mine owner, the building's unusual name ('Bad Night Palace') is accounted for by a local legend that its former owner…
Chiapas
Not open at the time of research due to damage from the 2017 earthquake, when open, the Centro Cultural is home to the wood and lino prints of talented…
San Miguel de Allende
This large 1736 complex, originally the home of the aristocratic De La Canal family, was later used as a Carmelite convent, eventually becoming an art and…
Coyoacán & San Ángel
A pleasant approach to Coyoacán’s central plazas is through the Viveros de Coyoacán, the principal nurseries for Mexico City’s parks and gardens. The 38.9…
Taxco
This well laid-out three-story history and archaeology museum is off an alley behind Templo de Santa Prisca. It contains a small collection of pre…
Querétaro
This lovely old functioning theater, complete with impressive chandeliers, was where a tribunal met in 1867 to decide the fate of Emperor Maximilian…
Xalapa
Xalapeños escape the monstrous traffic just south of Parque Juárez in this serendipitous park, which has 3km of delightful lakeside paths, most commonly…
Centro Histórico
This museum showcases the works of artist Cuevas, a leader of the 1950s Ruptura movement, which broke with the politicized art of the post-revolutionary…
The Copper Canyon & Ferrocarril Chihuahua Pacífico
Once the home and offices of Alexander Shepherd, an American politician who made a fortune in silver mining, the Hacienda San Miguel was built on a very…
Morelia
This mildly interesting museum is staffed by guides in period costume. Visitors are walked through the history of candy-making in Michoacán, from the…
Dolores Hidalgo
Miguel Hidalgo lived in this house when he was Dolores' parish priest. It was from here, in the early hours of September 16, 1810, that Hidalgo, Ignacio…
Mazatlán
One of Mexico’s largest aquariums has tanks with hundreds of species of freshwater, pelagic and reef fish, a display of skeletons, and birds and frogs in…
San Luis Potosí
The altar of the 17th- and 18th-century Templo de San Francisco was remodeled in the 20th century, but the sacristy (the priest's dressing room), reached…
Zacatecas
The Museo Francisco Goitia displays work by several 20th-century Zacatecan artists, including some evocative paintings of indigenous people by Goitia …
Centro Cultural Rosario Castellanos
Chiapas
The Centro Cultural Rosario Castellanos started life in the 16th century as a set of monastic buildings. Since then it's been both a government building…
Parroquia de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe
Bahías de Huatulco
Let it not be said that the age of great church building is dead. Crucecita’s pale-orange colonial-style ecclesial dame dates from – ahem – 2000, but,…
Oaxaca City
This textile museum promotes Oaxaca’s traditional textile crafts through exhibitions, workshops, films, presentations and a library. Themed selections…
Taxco
Built by José de la Borda in 1759, the Casa Borda serves as a cultural center hosting experimental theater and exhibiting contemporary sculpture, painting…
Xalapa
Atop a hill north of the city, this 40-hectare park is actually the heavily wooded cap of an extinct volcano. Spiraling to the top, the park’s paths are a…
Veracruz
Cerro de las Culebras (Snake Hill; Coatepec in the Náhuatl language) is easily accessible from the town center. The walk takes you up cobbled steps to a…
Centro Histórico
Several blocks west of the Zócalo near Alameda Central is this handsome square, named after Manuel Tolsá, the illustrious late-18th-century sculptor and…
