16 Best Museums In Mexico City To Visit
If youโre looking for a guide to help you discover the best museums in Mexico City, youโve come to the right place!
The Mexican capital has loads of fascinating places ๐ where you can learn about the millennia-long history of the region, as well as immerse yourself in the country’s rich artistic heritage.
๐ฑ๐ปโโ๏ธ๐ฑ๐ปโโ๏ธ We live part of every year in CDMX, so weโve had plenty of time to explore not just the top museums that every first-time tourist must see but also some of the lesser-visited exhibitions that are ideal for people looking to dig a little deeper into the culture.
A couple of quick tips before we get started. First, bear in mind that even some of the most modern, heavily frequented museums in CDMX, for some reason, still ๐ซ donโt accept cards, so make sure you have pesos ready to hand. Second, ๐ซ Monday is the day when most of the best museums in the city take the day off, so plan your itinerary accordingly.
๐คซ And let us tell you the secret, many cultural venues in the city have free admissions on Sundays, so check out our detailed guides below โฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธ to find out which ones.
โ ๏ธ 10 Survival Tips For Your Trip To Mexico City. We live here and know both the amazing and the ugly sides of the city. โก๏ธ โก๏ธ Get your FREE Guide here.x
5 Must Visit Mexico City Museums
If itโs your first visit to CDMX and youโre only in town for a few days, you probably wonโt want to spend all your time ogling exhibits! Thatโs why weโve made a shortlist of the 5 best museums in Mexico City that we think are absolutely essential.
#1 Frida Kahlo Museum
Arguably the most famous museum in Mexico City, the Frida Kahlo Museum, is a dazzlingly blue building thatโs hard to miss. Also known as the Casa Azul, this popular art museum was formerly the birthplace and childhood home of Kahlo, later becoming the marital residence for her and her husband Diego Rivera.
Today, the building contains a mixture of Kahloโs artwork and artefacts from her life.
Mal is a big fan of Frida and her work. She admires her expression of feminism and self-acceptance. Our favourite area is the studio, which has been preserved to showcase how it would have looked during Kahloโs lifetime, but there are plenty of fascinating little things to discover for Frida fans.
๐Location: The museum is located in Coyoacan, south of the city centre. The Coyoacan neighbourhood is a scenic, safe spot to wander on a sunny day and boasts one of the best food markets in CDMX โ we particularly recommend the tostadas stand.
๐ How to get there: The museum is about 20 minutes from the Coyoacan metro stop on Line 3.
๐๏ธ Entrance cost: 250 pesos ($15).
โฑ๏ธ Opening Hours: 10 am to 6 pm from Tuesday to Sunday (closed on Mondays, Wednesday 11 am to 6 pm).
#2 National Museum of Anthropology
Another of the best museums in Mexico City is the National Museum of Anthropology, often cited as the most visited attraction in CDMX. An enormous collection of 600,000 pieces is contained within its walls, spanning a diverse array of Mesoamerican cultures, from the Olmec to the Toltec, Maya to Aztec.
There are lots of cool pieces to see here, including the elaborately carved Aztec sunstone, giant Olmec heads, and a Zapotec jade mask, as well as recreations of temples and tombs from different eras that really bring the past to life.
๐Location: Situated at the northern end of Bosque de Chapultepec (Chapultepec Park), the National Museum of Anthropology isnโt far from Chapultepec Castle, the Angel of Independence statue, and the upmarket neighbourhood of Polanco.
๐ How to get there: The Auditorio metro station on Line 7 essentially deposits you right outside the museum.
๐๏ธ Entrance cost: 90 pesos ($5). Free tours can be taken throughout the day from Tuesday to Saturday.
โฑ๏ธ Opening Hours: 9 am to 6 pm, from Tuesday to Sunday (closed on Mondays).
#3 Tamayo Contemporary Art Museum
Founded in 1981 by the artist and collector Rufino Tamayo, the Tamayo Contemporary Art Museum is arguably the finest modern art museum Mexico City has to offer, blending a solid permanent collection of artworks by 20th-century greats like Picasso and Magritte with visiting exhibitions dedicated to avant-garde painting, video, and sculpture.
The building itself is also a work of art, composed in a very modern concrete style but with nods to pre-Hispanic architecture.
๐Location: Along with several of the most famous museums in Mexico City, the Tamayo is found inside Chapultepec Park, just a short walk from the National Museum of Anthropology.
๐ How to get there: Auditorio (Line 7) and Chapultepec (Line 1) metro stations are about equidistant from the museum, though if youโre coming from downtown, then the latter is more convenient.
๐๏ธ Entrance cost: 90 pesos ($5), free on Sundays. Guided tours are available from Tuesday to Friday.
โฑ๏ธ Opening Hours: 10 am to 6 pm, from Tuesday to Saturday (closed on Mondays).
#4 Teotihuacan Museum
The Teotihuacan architectural complex is one of the best-preserved ruins of pre-Hispanic civilisation youโll see in Mexico, containing one of the worldโs largest pyramids, the Pyramid of the Sun.
As part of the entry ticket, you get entrance to the Museo de Siteo (also known as the Museo de la Cultura Teotihuacana), which contains exhibitions and explanatory plaques that contextualise the incredible buildings of Teotihuacan. We also find it makes for a refreshing, air-conditioned respite from the sun on hot days!
๐Location: Teotihuacan is located to the northeast of CDMX, about an hourโs drive from downtown, though public transportation usually takes longer, depending on where you start from.
๐ How to get there: There are regular buses that head out from the Northern Bus Station to Teotihuacan. Alternatively, you can join a tour or rent a private car.
๐๏ธ Entrance cost: 90 pesos ($5).
โฑ๏ธ Opening Hours: 9 am to 4:30 pm, from Monday to Sunday, every day of the year!
#5 Diego Rivera Mural Museum.
The main reason to visit the Diego Rivera Mural Museum is to see the artistโs 15.6-metre-wide Sueรฑo de una tarde dominical en la Alameda Central (Dream of a Sunday Afternoon at Alameda Central Park). This iconic work features many famous figures from the history of Mexico gathered in a colourful group portrait.
While itโs one of the smaller art museums Mexico City has to offer, itโs an essential visit for anybody whoโs interested in the work of one of Mexico’s most famous painters. Plus, itโs easy to incorporate into a wider exploration of downtown CDMX.
๐Location: The museum is right off the cityโs main thoroughfare, Paseo de la Reforma, about 10 minutesโ walk across the Alameda Central Park from the Palacio de Bellas Artes.
๐ How to get there: The Hidalgo metro station on Line 2 and Line 3 is just across the road.
๐๏ธ Entrance cost: 90 pesos ($5).
โฑ๏ธ Opening Hours: 10 am to 6 pm from Tuesday to Sunday (closed on Mondays).
Best Art Museums In Mexico City
If youโre a true art aficionado, there are loads of Mexico City art museums that you can visit beyond the Tamayo, Casa Azul, and the Diego Rivera Mural Museum. Some of these provide interesting spaces to explore contemporary Mexican creations, while others focus on pre-Columbian collections.
#6 Museum of Modern Art
One of the best contemporary art museums in Mexico City, the Museum of Modern Art (MAM) is a distinctive circular building set amidst a garden of sculptures. Thereโs a nice mix of pieces here, covering international and Mexican artists.
Frida Kahloโs Two Fridas is the most famous work on display, though we also enjoyed learning more about the art of surrealist Remedios Varo, who seems to be something of a speciality of the MAM.
๐Location: Given its location inside Chapultepec Park, this Mexico City art museum can easily be combined with scenic strolls around the nearby lake as well as a visit to the nearby Tamayo Contemporary Art Museum.
๐ How to get there: The Chapultepec metro station on Line 1 is a short walk away.
๐๏ธ Entrance cost: 90 pesos ($5), free on Sundays.
โฑ๏ธ Opening Hours: 10:15 am to 5:45 pm from Tuesday to Saturday (closed on Mondays).
#7 Anahuacalli Museum
The Anahuacalli Museum is another building that is a stunning work of art in its own right. Conceived by the artist Diego Rivera, it is made from black volcanic rock and pays homage to pre-Hispanic architecture.
Inside is Riveraโs extensive collection of Mesoamerican artefacts, making it one of the best art galleries in Mexico City for pre-Columbian pieces.
๐Location: Anahuacalli is in the depths of Coyoacan, quite a way away from the Frida Kahlo Museum and a fair stretch from, well, pretty much anything else!
๐ How to get there: Take Line 2 down to the Tasquena metro station, then change to the Xochimilco Light Rail and alight at Xotepingo.
๐๏ธ Entrance cost: 100 pesos ($6), free on Sundays.
โฑ๏ธ Opening Hours: 11:00 am to 5:30 pm from Tuesday to Saturday (closed on Mondays).
#8 National Palace
The seat of the Mexican government, the National Palace, is an elaborate building with a unique tezontle (porous volcanic rock) faรงade of earthy red. While not all the Palacio is open to the public, there are still plenty of opulent interiors to explore.
For art lovers, the building also houses another iconic Rivera mural entitled The History of Mexico, an enormous, vibrant work that covers several walls and depicts the countryโs rich past.
๐Location: The National Palace is right off CDMXโs main square (aka the Zocalo), beside the incredible Metropolitan Cathedral (Latin Americaโs oldest and largest cathedral) and the remnants of the Aztecan Main Temple (Templo Mayor).
๐ How to get there: The Zocalo/Tenochtitlan metro station on Line 2 is right outside.
๐๏ธ Entrance cost: Thereโs no price to enter the National Palace, but you can only visit as part of a guided tour from Tuesday to Sunday (no tours on Mondays).
โฑ๏ธ Opening Hours: 9 am to 5 pm (closed on Mondays).
#9 University Museum of Contemporary Art
Solely housing artworks that have been created since 1952, UMAC is one of the best museums in Mexico City if your focus is staunchly on the contemporary.
The permanent collection centres mainly on Mexican creators working across all kinds of media, while the temporary exhibitions have a more international bent.
๐Location: The University Museum of Contemporary Art in Mexico City is part of the sprawling main campus of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. We recommend visiting as part of a wider exploration of the college campus, which has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its unique architectural plan.
๐ How to get there: The university has its own metro stop on Line 3, and then you can hop on a free university Pumabus (Route 3) to get to the museum.
๐๏ธ Entrance cost: 40 pesos ($2), 50% discount on Sundays.
โฑ๏ธ Opening Hours: 11 am to 6 pm from Wednesday to Saturday, 11 am to 6:30 pm on Sundays (closed on Mondays and Tuesdays).
Best Science & History Museums In Mexico City
So far, weโve largely focused on CDMXโs art museums purely because there are so many great ones to check out! Not all the best museums in Mexico City, however, are about painting and sculpture, and some of our fondest memories in the capital have been digging into treasure troves of little-known historical facts.
#10 National History Museum
Found inside Chapultepec Castle, the National History Museum covers thousands of years of history in brief. The collection contains a mixture of coins, carriages, and innumerable decorative objects in what feels to us like a fascinating, if jumbled, hodgepodge.
Itโs worth visiting just to see the fantastic interiors and enjoy the great views from the outdoor terrace.
๐Location: At the highest point of Bosque de Chapultepec, the National History Museum is a short walk from the National Museum of Anthropology, the Museum of Modern Art, and many other small museums that are found within the sprawling parkland.
๐ How to get there: The Chapultepec metro station on Line 1 is a brief stroll away.
๐๏ธ Entrance cost: 95 pesos ($6).
โฑ๏ธ Opening Hours: 10 am to 5 pm from Tuesday to Sunday (closed on Mondays).
#11 Templo Mayor Museum
Once upon a time, the Templo Mayor was the most important place of worship in Mexico City. Following the arrival of the conquistadors, however, the once proud temple was ripped apart to make way for the Metropolitan Cathedral, leaving the Aztecan remnants a rather underwhelming site today.
Thatโs why, for history buffs, the Templo Mayor archaeological museum in Mexico City is a must, showcasing some of the best signage weโve seen in CDMX to tell the story of what once was. There are eight main rooms here, each one covering a different topic, from ancient gods to agriculture and commerce.
๐Location: The Templo Mayor is just off the Zocalo, beside the Metropolitan Cathedral and the National Palace.
๐ How to get there: The Zocalo/Tenochtitlan metro station on Line 2 is a couple minutes walk.
๐๏ธ Entrance cost: 90 pesos ($5), free on Sundays.
โฑ๏ธ Opening Hours: 9 am to 5 pm from Tuesday to Saturday (closed on Mondays).
#12 Leon Trotsky Museum
One of the best museums in Mexico City for people who enjoy their political intrigues, the Leon Trotsky Museum is dedicated to one of the most important communist thinkers of the Russian Revolution. And since Leon Trotsky has a love affair with Frida Kahlo, it was on Mal’s bucket list for a long time!
The museum occupies the house where Trotsky lived the final years of his life. Rather macabrely, everything in the house has allegedly been left exactly as it was when Trotsky was murdered with an axe in his study by a Stalinist goon.
๐Location: The museum is a few streets over from Frida Kahloโs Casa Azul in the neighbourhood of Coyoacan.
๐ How to get there: Eje Central on Line 12 is about 15 minutes away, while Coyoacan on Line 3 is a slightly longer but still manageable walk.
๐๏ธ Entrance cost: 70 pesos ($4).
โฑ๏ธ Opening Hours: 10 am to 5 pm from Tuesday to Sunday (closed on Mondays).
#13 Memory and Tolerance Museum
Despite the grim subject matter, we found the Memory and Tolerance Museum a very informative, worthwhile visit. Itโs been very thoughtfully arranged, with audio guides supplying information in a range of languages.
The content of the permanent exhibitions principally focuses on the Holocaust but also touches on other genocides that have taken place in recent memory.
๐Location: The museum is just south of Alameda Central, a short walk from the Palacio de Bellas Artes and the Diego River Mural Museum.
๐ How to get there: The Bellas Artes metro station is just 5 minutes away.
๐๏ธ Entrance cost: 140 pesos ($8).
โฑ๏ธ Opening Hours: 9 am to 6 pm from Tuesday to Friday, 10 am to 7 pm on Saturday & Sundays (closed on Mondays).
Best Museums Mexico City Has To Offer For Kids
Many of the best museums to visit in Mexico City are kid-friendly โ plus most of them offer free entrance to youngsters โ but the three weโve highlighted here have been specially designed to entertain children. You may find these particularly useful when one of CDMXโs rainy spells strikes!
#14 Papalote Museo del Niรฑo
Filled with interactive as well as educational activities to keep the kids occupied, the Papalote Childrenโs Museum has everything from an axolotl aquarium to a pretend supermarket.
Workshops are run throughout the day so children can indulge their creative side โ just bear in mind that the place is primarily geared towards local Spanish speakers.
๐Location: Another Chapultepec local, Papalote Museo del Niรฑo, is just a short distance from the parkโs major lake.
๐ How to get there: Constituyentes metro station on Line 7 is 5 minutes walk away.
๐๏ธ Entrance cost: 195 pesos ($11).
โฑ๏ธ Opening Hours: 10 am to 6 pm from Tuesday to Friday, 10 am to 7 pm on Saturday & Sunday (closed on Mondays).
#15 Universum, the Science Museum
The Universum boasts three floors of exhibits aimed at getting children interested in all kinds of science topics, from the wonders of nature to the enormity of the universe.
As you would expect, given the name and the location, the Universum is a bit more education-focused than the Papalote, but we still saw plenty of interactive aspects for kids.
๐Location: The Universum is in another part of University City, not far from the University Museum of Contemporary Art.
๐ How to get there: Catch Line 3 to the Universidad metro stop, then hop on a free Pumabus.
๐๏ธ Entrance cost: 90 pesos ($5) for adults and 80 pesos for children.
โฑ๏ธ Opening Hours: 10 am to 5 pm from Wednesday to Sunday (closed on Mondays and Tuesdays).
#16 KidZania
KidZania has locations throughout the world, including two on the outskirts of CDMX. Leaning into the edutainment concept, the brand creates role-playing experiences for children where they can take on the occupation of an astronaut, a restaurateur, a scientist, or several other jobs.
Keep in mind that KidZania is all about the children, so parents are largely relegated to hanging around, which might not be your ideal way to spend a family holiday.
๐Location: KidZania has two Mexico City locations, one in ritzy Santa Fe and one near the Cuicuilco archaeological site.
๐ How to get there: Metrobus 1 will take you all the way down to Villa Olimpica, from where itโs about 10 minutesโ walk to KidZania Cuicuilco. To get to KidZania Santa Fe,
๐๏ธ Entrance cost: 210 pesos ($12) for adults and 485 pesos ($29) for children, though there are discounts for younger kids depending on the park.
โฑ๏ธ Opening Hours: 9 am to 3 pm on Thursdays, 9 am to 7 pm on Fridays, and 11 am to 6 pm on weekends. Most of the year, KidZania is open Tuesdays to Sundays and closes on Mondays, though, over the winter, Tuesdays & Wednesdays are also often closed, so make sure to check ahead.
Best Museums In Mexico City: FAQ
Are there any famous museums in Mexico?
Many of the best museums in Mexico City are among the capitalโs most famous attractions, including the Frida Kahlo Museum, the Tamayo Contemporary Art Museum, and the museum in the Teotihuacan archaeological site. Several famous landmarks in Mexico City have also been converted into museums in recent years, including Chapultepec Castle, which is now the National History Museum.
What is the most visited museum in Mexico?
The most visited museum in Mexico is the National Museum of Anthropology, which contains a fascinating examination of the various Mesoamerican cultures that have thrived at one time or another around Mexico. It may even be the most visited attraction in CDMX, though itโs hard to say for sure as some very popular places arenโt ticketed.
Are there free museums in Mexico City?
Yes, there are several free museums in Mexico City, including the striking Museo Soumaya, with its diverse collection of world art throughout the ages. Other museums, like the Museum of Modern Art and the Tamayo Contemporary Art Museum, offer free access to the public on Sundays.
How many museums are there in Mexico City?
While we havenโt tallied the exact total ourselves, there are estimated to be more than 150 museums in Mexico City โ and a lot of them are in Chapultepec Park! While weโve highlighted some of our favourites here, there are also some fun alternatives that are worth visiting for their quirkiness, including the MUCHO Chocolate Museum and MODO, a museum dedicated to the story of daily objects.
Best Museums In Mexico City: The Wrap-Up
And there you have it, our pick of the best museums in Mexico City! Weโve tried to include something for everybody, but inevitably, we couldnโt include everything that CDMX has to offer. There are more than 150, after all!
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