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Antiguo Palacio Federal
Little Plaza Cinco de Mayo faces the grand facade of the 1928 Antiguo Palacio Federal, now home to the post office and tourist office.
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Art Museum
The Art Museum in the Casa De La Cultura De Nuevo León has temporary displays that are usually good enough to warrant a stop on your way to or from the nearby Museo Del Vidrio.
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Barrio Antiguo
This is the most atmospheric part of town, with cobbled streets and some fine colonial houses, many of which have been converted into fashionable cafes, restaurants and art galleries. Its boundaries are the Av Constitución ring road in the south and east, Dr Coss to the west, and Matamoros in the north. On Friday and Saturday nights, the streets around Padre Mier become a major party zone with an array of bars and clubs.
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Capilla de los Dulces Nombres
Monterrey's smallest, and, after the cathedral its oldest, church, is the adorable 1830 Capilla de los Dulces Nombres.
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Cathedral
Built in stages between about 1725 and the 1890s. The neon cross at the top just doesn't seem out of place in Monterrey.
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Centro Cultural Alfa
The center is 7km south of the city center. Sponsored by the Alfa industrial group, its striking museum building looks like a wonky water tank. Most floors are devoted to science and technology exhibits, but there are also superb Mexican antiquities hidden away on the 5th floor. All are labeled in Spanish only. In the center of the building, what was once the planetarium is now an IMAX cinema.
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Cervecería Cuauhtémoc
Brought to you by the maker of Bohemia, Dos Equis and Tecate beer, this complex in the gardens of the old Cuauhtémoc Brewery now features a baseball hall of fame and brewery tours (with free beer). This is the oldest brewery in Mexico (established in 1890) and there's a very pleasant outdoor garden, which is a nice place to sit even if you don't partake of the free mug of Carta Blanca.
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Cuauhtémoc Brewery
The Cuauhtémoc Brewery, the oldest brewery in Mexico (established in 1890), fills six million bottles of Bohemia, Dos Equis and Tecate and other beers every day. Free brewery tours are given more or less hourly. Reservations are recommended (especially if you'd like a tour in English), but you can just show up and see if there's space. Tours start in front of the pleasant outdoor beer garden where they hand out free mugs of Carta Blanca.
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Explanada de los Héroes
Explanada de los Héroes has statues of national heroes in each corner. It's the most formal and traditional of the spaces in the Gran Plaza and has the 1908 neoclassical Palacio de Gobierno on its north side.
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Fuente de la Vida
Fuente de la Vida shows Neptune riding a chariot and being chased by naked women.
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Gran Plaza
A grandiose monument to Monterrey's ambition, this series of interconnected squares was created in the 1980s and its charm has increased over the years as once-naked urban space has been softened by parks, trees, fountains and pools. The Gran Plaza is lined with classically designed municipal buildings and cutting-edge modern structures housing some of Mexico's finest museums.
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Horno3
Blast Furnace No 3, which feels like it could start up production again anytime, has been converted into Horno3, a high-tech, hands-on museum of steel and Mexico's steel industry. Don't miss the overly dramatic furnace show. Last tickets are sold one hour before closing.
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La Casa de los Títeres
La Casa de los Títeres has an extensive collection of antique and modern puppets from all corners of the globe, including European marionettes and Vietnamese water puppets. An excellent puppet show (around $50 ) is held on Sunday at .
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Monumento Homenaje al Sol
At the very southern tip of Gran Plaza, the Monumento Homenaje al Sol is a soaring sculpture designed by Rufino Tamayo on a traffic island.
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Mundo de Adeveras
Some 10km southwest of Monterrey, Mundo de Adeveras is a hands-on 'town' where kids can work at various jobs like firefighter and pilot.
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Museo de Arte Contemporáneo
Facing the southeast corner of Plaza Zaragoza is the terrific Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, its entrance marked by Juan Soriano's gigantic black dove sculpture. Inside, its idiosyncratic spaces are filled with water and light and major temporary exhibitions. The Sala México, as you probably guessed, has national works, while the other galleries could host just about anything else. Call in advance and you can get a tour in English. Marco also has a fine bookstore and restaurant.
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Museo de Historia Mexicana
This sleek modernist museum presents an exhaustive but easily manageable chronology of Mexican history. There's also an Earth section full of mounted animals and realistic-looking plants at its heart. All explanations are in Spanish only, but English tours can be arranged by phoning in advance.
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Museo de la Fauna y Ciencias Naturales
Museo de la Fauna y Ciencias Naturales with stuffed wildlife in dioramas of natural habitats from Saharan Africa to the Arctic.
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Museo del Noreste
Technically it's a separate institution from the Museo de Historia Mexicana, but practically speaking its galleries on the culture and history of Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, Coahuila and Texas, packed with video screens and artifacts, function as a new wing of the history museum with one ticket working for both. Begin on the bottom floor to follow the displays chronologically.
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Museo del Palacio de Gobierno
The displays survey the history of government in Nuevo León, but you'll want to visit just for a look at the building.
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Museo del Vidrio
At the back of the Vitro bottle factory (enter from Zaragoza), which has many glass walls so you can watch production, the wonderful Museo de Vidrio focuses on the history, manufacturing and especially the artistic use of glass. The main museum has a bunch of old household objects and a reproduction of a 19th-century stained-glass workshop. The gallery hosts phenomenal temporary exhibitions of glass art in a restored warehouse and has artist workshops attached.
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Museo Metropolitano de Monterrey
The 19th-century Palacio Municipal now houses the Museo Metropolitano de Monterrey. There's a brief, Spanish-only summary of city history on the ground floor and lovely upstairs galleries featuring the work of contemporary painters and sculptors.
