Mexico City Entertainment

  1. Altavista 154

    This San Ángel club has three rooms: red, yellow and blue. Superior DJs rule the red room, laying down such dense grooves that even certified non-dancers must get up and move their butts. A lounge and bar occupy the other rooms. Admission is free though cocktails are typically pricey for the zone.

    Read more about Altavista 154

  2. Área

    Atop the Hábita Hotel, this open-air roof lounge does a brisk trade in exotic martinis, with sweeping city views as a backdrop and videos projected on the wall of a nearby building for entertainment. On chilly evenings beautiful scenesters gravitate toward the wall-length fireplace; in warmer weather they cool their toes in the pool on the deck below.

    Read more about Área

  3. Auditorio Blas Galindo

    This good-size auditorium in the south of the city has a regular program of classical music concerts performed by the Carlos Chávez Symphony Orchestra, and visiting international youth orchestras; check listings in the local press. The auditorium is also one of the main venues for performances by musicians participating in the Foro Internacional de Musica Nueva, (International Competition for New Music), an annual event since 1977.

    Read more about Auditorio Blas Galindo

  4. Auditorio Nacional

    Tickets for all the major venues.

    Read more about Auditorio Nacional

  5. Bar El Vicio

    With liberal doses of politically and sexually irreverent comedy and a genre-bending musical program, this offbeat cabaret is appropriately located in Frida Kahlo's old neighborhood. It's also the showcase for Las Reinas Chulas, an all-girl troupe who put a feminist spin on the normally macho-intensive grupera genre.

    Read more about Bar El Vicio

  7. Bar Mancera

    This atmospheric gentlemen's salon seems preserved in amber, with ornate carved paneling, flowery upholstered armchairs and well-used domino tables. Lately it's been adopted by young clubbers who set up turntables Friday nights from around .

    Read more about Bar Mancera

  8. Bar Milán

    Tucked away on a quiet backstreet, this casual hangout is the closest you can get to riding the metro at rush hour, with a college crowd jamming three narrow rooms. Purchase beer tickets, then make your way over to the cactus-trimmed bar. The soundtrack ranges from classic rock to Café Tacuba; don't be surprised if the crowd spontaneously bursts into chorus.

    Read more about Bar Milán

  9. Barfly

    Upstairs at the Plaza Masaryk shopping mall, this small supper club jumps to live Cuban sounds most nights. This being Polanco, it's a well-coiffed crowd that fills the tiny dance floor, situated just below the stage.

    Read more about Barfly

  10. Bengala

    This low-lit concept bar evokes a desert trek, with decor influenced by Casablanca and The Sheltering Sky, though disco-friendly DJs may put you on an entirely different plane. Its slightly out-of-the-way location only adds to the conspiratorial air. Have a 'Module' (a green cocktail of cucumber, Pernod and mescal) and mingle with the film and TV figures who customarily pop up here.

    Read more about Bengala

  11. Big Red

    Big Red is a volume dealer. Drinks are priced by the ounce (around $14 for Bacardi, around $16 for Centenario tequila), plus whatever mixer you choose. Thus the place attracts a broader cross-section of the populace than the usual Polanco antro . And rather than the icy electronica favored by such places, Big Red dares to blare banda (brass band music from northern Mexico)and pop.

    Read more about Big Red

  12. Advertisement

  13. Black Horse

    It isn't just because they prepare bangers and mash and screen the soccer match that this authentic British pub has earned a spot on the Condesa map. The place also boasts an international social scene and has excellent bands playing the back room mid-week.

    Read more about Black Horse

  14. Butterflies

    Just outside metro Salto del Agua, Butterflies is an hangar-sized space that still manages to get densely packed, with five bars, a snack bar and elaborately campy choreographed stage shows. It's fun for straights, too, as long as you don't mind crowds, thick smoke and loud, loud music.

    Read more about Butterflies

  15. Café 22

    This chilled-out theater-club in the informal environment of a café stages experimental contemporary productions like Ni Princesas Ni Eslavas with a three-woman cast, described as being more daring than Desperate Housewives, and more revealing than Sex & the City . The cover price includes a beer, or similar.

    Read more about Café 22

  16. Café Bola De Oro

    An outlying branch of the Xalapa coffee purveyor, this is a good place to score a bag of Coatepec beans or simply enjoy a cup of Veracruz' fine, full-bodied blends.

    Read more about Café Bola De Oro

  17. Café Corazón

    Folk singers in the Silvio Rodríguez mold take the small stage at this temple of trova near San Ángel's Plaza San Jacinto.

    Read more about Café Corazón

  19. Café De Carlo

    Coffee connoisseurs head for this unassuming sidewalk café, with an aromatic roaster and vintage espresso machine. Across the street is a relic of 1950s Roma, La Bella Italia, an old-fashioned ice cream parlor that sees few customers these days.

    Read more about Café De Carlo

  20. Café El Jarocho

    This immensely popular joint churns out around $7 cappuccinos for long lines of java hounds. As there's no seating inside, people have their coffee standing in the street or sitting on curbside benches. The branch just around the corner makes great tortas, and both branches have terrific doughnuts.

    Read more about Café El Jarocho

  21. Café Jakemir

    Run by a family of Lebanese coffee traders from Orizaba, this old distribution outlet was transformed into a popular café and has excellent and inexpensive cappuccinos, as well as baklava and other pastries. Bulk buyers will find bins of beans from Veracruz, Oaxaca and Chiapas below the counter.

    Read more about Café Jakemir

  22. Café La Habana

    This grand coffeehouse is a traditional haunt for writers and journalists, who linger for hours over a café americano . Legend has it that Fidel and Che plotted strategy here prior to the Cuban revolution.

    Read more about Café La Habana

  23. Café Villa De Madrid

    With just a few sidewalk tables at the top of the Plaza Villa de Madrid (aka Plaza Cibeles), this longtime storefront operation roasts beans from the family finca in Chiapas (they also roll their own cigars). Espressos are just around $9 a shot (about half what Starbucks charges).

    Read more about Café Villa De Madrid

  24. Advertisement

  25. Cafetería Gabi's

    Cluttered with caffeine-related paraphernalia, this family-run coffeehouse perks with conversation midmornings and early evenings, when the occupants of neighboring offices pour in for a rich café con leche (coffee with milk) and a crispy banderilla (stick-like glazed pastry).

    Read more about Cafetería Gabi's

  26. Caffé Toscano

    This sidewalk café opens onto a delightful corner of Parque México, making a fine setting for a latte and the morning paper - grab one off the rack.

    Read more about Caffé Toscano

  27. California Dancing Club

    More popular (low-brow) than the Colonia Roma clubs, this old-fashioned hall has marathon dance sessions, with half a dozen bands on the bill. Hundreds of couples bounce around a vast tiled floor flanked by stout mirrored columns as groups like Los Escorpiones de Durango keep the cumbias (Colombian dance music) coming. Beer and soft drinks are dispensed from two humble bars.

    Read more about California Dancing Club

  28. Cantina Covadonga

    Echoing with the sounds of clacking dominoes, the old Asturian social hall is a traditionally male enclave, though hipsters of both sexes have increasingly moved in on this hallowed ground.

    Read more about Cantina Covadonga

  29. Cantina El Centenario

    Behind the swinging doors is an enclave of tradition in the heart of modish Condesa, brimming with bullfighting memorabilia and adorned with Spanish azulejo tiles. Sure, hipsters fill the place every evening, but the domino bouts, roving musical trios and tasty drinking snacks are the same as ever.

    Read more about Cantina El Centenario