Must-see attractions in Mexico City

The Museo de la Basílica de Guadalupe, at the rear of the Antigua Basílica, has a fine collection of colonial art interpreting the miraculous vision.

Smaller and less hectic than nearby Zócalo, this plaza has long served as a base for scribes and printers. Descendants of those who did the paperwork for…

Representing the new face of the Alameda zone, the row of chain restaurants, bars, stores and a Hilton hotel facing the park resembles an outdoor shopping…

Diego Rivera painted a series of murals for the inauguration of Cárcamo de Dolores, Chapultepec's waterworks facility built in the 1940s. Experimenting…

In this tropically abundant, pruned park spreading east of Avenida Insurgentes, paths encircle the Monumento a Álvaro Obregón, a monolithic shrine to the…

Opposite Torre Mayor, the 104m-high Estela de Luz was built to commemorate Mexico's bicentennial anniversary in 2010, though due to delays in construction…

Mexico City's mega-library holds over 500,000 volumes and an extensive maps collection. Design and architecture fans should visit just to witness the…

Historical exhibits chronicle the period from the rise of colonial Nueva España to the Mexican Revolution. On display are iconic objects such as the sword…

The six marble columns marking Chapultepec park's eastern entrance commemorate the ‘boy heroes,’ six young cadets who perished in battle. On September 13,…

Often garbed in a sequined white gown, wig and clutching a scythe in her bony hand, the Saint Death figure is the object of a fast-growing cult in Mexico,…

The Templo de San Francisco is a remnant of the vast Franciscan monastery erected in the early 16th century over the site of Moctezuma’s private zoo. The…

Two kilometers south of San Ángel, the Ciudad Universitaria is the main campus of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). With about 3330,000…

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…

The Palacio de Minería was where mining engineers trained in the 19th century. A neoclassical masterpiece, the palace was designed by Tolsá and built…

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…

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…

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…

Several blocks west of the Zócalo near Alameda Central is this handsome square, named after Manuel Tolsá, the illustrious late-18th-century sculptor and…

There’s a sublime simplicity about this chapel, located inside a convent for Capuchin nuns. Designed by modernist architect Luis Barragán in 1952, the…

This single-nave church and its adjacent former monastery dominate the east side of Plaza Hidalgo. First erected in 1592 by the Franciscan order, the…