Mexico

Central

• Ciudad de Mexico/ Mexico City
  • Catedral y Sagrario, noblest ecclesiastical building in the Americas (7)
  • Palacio Nacional, 205 meters wide facade (3)
  • +Templo Mayor, Aztec ceremonial center (6)
  • Museo Mural Diego Rivera, containing "El Sueno" (4)
  • La Profesa, baroque church (3)
  • Tlatelolco, Aztec city (5)
  • Pedro Ramirez Vasquez's Museo Nacional de Antropologia, one of the world's great museums (closed mondays) (8)
  • Tenayuca, Aztec pyramids of 1200 AD (6), near village San Bartolo reachable from Autobuses del Norte
  • +Felix Candela's Church of Miraculous Virgin (1955)
  • Universidad Nacional (1950) (architect Carlos Lazo, murales by Rivera et al, ++Central Library, etc)
  • +Murales of Secretaria de Educacion Publica (Republica de Argentina 28,)
  • Torre Latinoamericana
  • Bellas Artes
  • +Luis Barragan's Casa Luis Barragan (12 and 14 of General Francisco RamĄrez Street in the Daniel Garza district)
  • Palacio Nacional (murale by Rivera)
  • Santa Fe: Agustin Hernandez's Complejo Calakmul (1994) "La Lavadora" (45 minutes by bus from Tacubaya station), Arcos Bosques and SAn Josemaria Escrivia church (Note: in 2010 it was forbidden to take pictures of the Lavadora, but you can take great pictures of it from the church)
  • Agustin Hernandez-Navarro's architecture: House in the Air (1991, in Los Bosques de las Lomas), Calakmul (1994), Praxis (1975)
  • Torre Mayor (2002)
  • +Fernando Romero's Museo Soumaya (Plaza Carso, Metro Rio San Joaquin or Polanco of line 7 and then walk 2.4 kms to Plaza Carso)
  • +Ensamble Studio's Teatro Telcel (Plaza Carso)
  • +La Metropolitana's cenotaph in Plaza del Servicio a la Patria (Av. Paseo de la Reforma 50, Miguel Hidalgo & Paseo Campo Marte)
  • +Sordo Madaleno's San Josemaria Escriva' Church in Santa Fe (Joaquín Gallo 101, Zedec Santa Fe)
  • Broissin's Centro Cultural Roberto Cantoralby (Puente Xoco s/n-Puerta A, Xoco, Benito Juarez)
  • Rojkind’s Cineteca Nacional (Av. Mexico Coyoacan 389, Xoco, Benito Juarez)
• Teotihuacan, most important pre-Aztec city (10): Pyramid of the Sun, Temple to Quetzalcoatl
• Cuernavaca (80 kms south of Mexico City): La Tallera's courtyard of Museo Siqueiros
• Naucalpan: +Mathias Goertiz's and Luis Barragan's The Tower of Satellite City
• Tepotzotlan: Museo Nacional del Virreinato with Convent of 16th c, main baroque building in Mexico with + Capilla Camarin/Domestica (7)
• Tula or Tollan, ruins of the ancient Toltec capital (8)
• Cacaxtla, ancient Olmec city (7)
• Xochitecatl, ancient city of (1000-400 BC) (7)
• Puebla: La Immaculada Conception cathedral (6)
• Cholula (2)
• Tlaxcala: Basilica de Ocotlan with + dome of the camarin (6)
• Citlatepetl (hike to the top in may/june)
• Toluca: Nevado de Toluca (extinct volcano, fourth highest mountain, can be hiked any time of the year) and Teotenango, ancient Matlazinca city (5), and Calixtlahuaca, ruins of the ancient Toltec city (6)
• Xochicalco, ancient fortress (7)
• Taxco: Santa Prisca (5)
• Malinalco, Aztec ruins (5)
• Popocatepetl, second highest mountain, november-february (7)

  North of Mexico City

  • Guanajuato (370 km northwest of Mexico City): La Valenciana (4)
  • Morelia, third largest city (3) with La Trasfiguracion de Cristo, cathedral
  • Mapimi (Durango): Puente de Ojuela

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  West

  • Guadalajara, second largest city (3) with Hospicios Cabanas
  • Cuitzeo, Sta Maria Magdalena church (2)
  • Yuriria, San Pablo convent (3)
  • Queretaro, colonial town with imposing churches (Santa Clara, Santa Rosa) and convents (5)
  • Missions in the Sierra Gorda of Queretaro
  • Zacatecas, baroque cathedral (6)
  • La Quemada, ruins (4)
  • San Luis Potosi, El Carmen church (4)

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  East

  • Cempoala, ancient capital of the Totonacs (7)
  • El Tajin, most important ruin of the Totonacs (8)
  • Veracruz (2)

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  South-west

  • Oaxaca: Santo Domingo (2)
  • Monte Alban, ancient Zapotec ceremonial site (9)
  • Yagul, Zapotec ruins (4)
  • Mitla, Zapotec ruins (5)
  • Acapulco: +John Lautner's Arango Marbrisa House (1973)

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  South

  
  • San Cristobal de las Casas (4)
  • Tzotzil villages (8)
  • Villahermosa: Archeological park with colossal Olmec sculptures from La Venta, Museum (7)
  • Palenque, most important Maya ruin in Mexico (10)
  • Bonampak, Maya ruin (6)
  • Yaxchilan, Maya ruin (6)
  • Uxmal, Maya ruin (8)
  • Chichen Itza, Maya ruin (7)
  • Tulum, Maya ruin (5), Jorge Eduardo Neira Sterkel's art gallery IK Lab inside the Azulik resort
  • Merida: Gran Museo del Mundo Maya , Plaza Grande
  • Cancun: Legorreta's Camino Real Hotel

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Must see

1. Palenque, most important Maya ruin in Mexico (10)
2. Teotihuacan, most important pre-Aztec city (10)
3. Chichen Itza, Maya ruin (10)
4. Monte Alban, ancient Zapotec ceremonial site (9)
5. Museo Nacional de Antropologia, one of the world's great museums (8)
6. Tula or Tollan, ruins of the ancient Toltec capital (8)
7. Tzotzil villages (8)
8. El Tajin, most important ruin of the Totonacs (8)
9. Amecameca: hike up Popocatepetl, november-february (7)
10. Xochicalco, ancient fortress (7)
11. Cacaxtla, ancient Olmec city (7)
12. Uxmal, Maya ruin (7)
13. Cempoala, ancient capital of the Totonacs (7)
14. Mexico City's Catedral y Sagrario, noblest ecclesiastical building in the Americas (7)

Links

• Pictures of Mexico

Notes