Exploring Palacio de Bellas Artes – Mexico City, Mexico
One ticket, one building, multiple museums
Our visit to the Palacio de Bellas Artes was a delightful surprise. We had admired the exterior of the building during our walking tour earlier in the week and we’re planning to just visit the the lobby and public spaces but curiosity got the better of us, and we decided to explore the museums and exhibit halls.
Where to stay in Mexico City?
This is the place we stayed in Mexico City – conveniently located, clean, comfortable, and the restaurant downstairs was also a great value!
The Lobby
The lobby and public area is suitably impressive. At one end of the lobby there is a building model on display that provides a sense of scale. If you aren’t interested in the museums housed here, we still suggest to spend 20 to 30 minutes checking out the public area.
The lobby is filled with stunning marble in virtually every direction you look. Construction began in 1904 but was plagued with difficulties ranging from engineering support (the building was sinking into the soft ground) to economic troubles to the Mexican Revolution. When originally proposed in 1901, it was meant to be complete for the Centennial celebration in 1910, Construction effectively ground to a halt in 1913 and wasn’t restarted until 1932. Palacio de Bellas Artes was finally completed in 1934 and the building dedication took place in November, 1934.
Though the original design was meant to be neoclassical and art nouveau, in the end it primarily became art nouveau and art deco. There are interesting details throughout the building so take your time as you wander through.
The public lobby area includes a small archeological display; excavation uncovered some history. The earliest known construction on this site was a 17th century convent but the land was in use continuously. The last building prior to construction of Palacio de Bella Artes was the National Theater. Layering on top of ancient history is a recurring theme here in Mexico City.
The Museums – Palacio de Bellas Artes Museum & National Museum of Architecture
After exploring the lobby, we got our tickets to visit the museums upstairs. We started at the top floor, which houses the Museo Nacional de Arquitectura (National Museum of Architecture). Although most of the information focuses on the Palacio itself, it’s still worth visiting. For U.S. travelers, note that the ground floor is considered “0,” so “Piso 3” (or in some places you may see ‘Tercer Nivel’) is equivalent to the fourth floor in the U.S. system.
Accessibility seemed good here, floors are flat, there are elevators available and very few narrow spaces to traverse.
Exhibits in this top floor museum include a video (about 3 minutes duration) showing exterior details of the Palacio de Bellas Artes that you’d otherwise never see, plus a fantastic cutaway model showing the theater layout as well as the areas that are not open to the public.
Coming down a level to Piso 2 is the Palacio de Bellas Artes Museum and hall of murals. This level is where the Art with a Capital ‘A’ is at. We spent the most time on this level. The main gallery is surrounded by larger than life depictions of beauty, war and tragedy. Start your visit by downloading the informational pdf; you’ll find a QR code located in front of most of the murals. (There is only one download; the document contains info on all the murals displayed here.)
The second floor also hosts temporary exhibitions housed in the galleries around the perimeter of the main hall. When we visited (Feb 2025), all were filled with the works of Alan Glass. That exhibit was only scheduled to run through the 27th of February so it will be gone by the time this is published. Future Exhibition schedule
👋 New Here? We’re Jeff and Sandra, American expat and senior nomads. In 2023 we sold everything, packed our lives into carry-on luggage and dove into fulltime international travel to figure out where in the world we could actually afford to live without draining our savings. If you’re interested in doing the same, following along as we share with you what we learn along the way.
The first floor has more temporary exhibition galleries and some interesting architectural detail. The space with two giant standing lamps and mirrors on each end is kind of cool. Much of what was on display in this space when we visited was solidly in the ‘modern art’ category and didn’t really hold our interest for long. Since we’d easily gotten our money’s worth from the architecture and the permanent exhibitions on the 2nd and 3rd floors it wasn’t any kind of let down. Okay, to be fair, we’re old so we got in for free but even if we’d had to pay the ~US$5 ticket price it would be a bargain.
While some of these pieces are really pretty to look at, not having any context or background makes it more difficult to appreciate them. (For a more thorough look at why we have mixed feelings about ‘modern art’, see “Art for Arts sake” on Medium)
Practical Information:
- Museum Hours: Tuesday – Sunday 10:00 to 18:00
- General Admission: Available on-site for MXN$95 (approximately US$4.75). Note that tickets sold online are for performances, not museum entry.
- Free Admission: For teachers and students with a valid physical or digital ID, senior citizens with ID, people with disabilities, retirees, pensioners, minors under 13 years of age and ICOM members. And on Sundays for everyone – so, if you have an opportunity to visit on a day that is NOT Sunday, it will probably be less crowded. We visited on a Tuesday afternoon and it was plenty busy for our tastes.
Our Budget Breakdown For Visit to Palacio de Bellas Artes
Here’s what we spent (for two people):
- Admission: Free – cuz were over 60 years of age
- Time Spent: We spent 3 hours here but 1 of those hours was having lunch in the cafe.
- Food: It was a good lunch but on the pricier end for our budget. Entree, water and juice, coffee and a shared dessert was US$44.
- Transportation: Free – we walked here from our hotel.
Where to Stay in Mexico City
Mexico City is huge! If you’re like us and have just a few days to spend in the city you don’t want to waste time commuting to and from your hotel just to save a few bucks. That’s why we chose this hotel. It’s within walking distance to the major sites, it was extremely comfortable, and breakfast was included.
Palacio de Bellas Artes turned out to be one of those places where the more you explore, the more you find. What started as a quick visit to admire the architecture turned into hours of wandering through museums, exhibits, and stunning murals. If you’re in Mexico City, it’s worth making time for, whether you just peek into the lobby or dive into the exhibits like we did. And with free admission for many visitors and an affordable ticket price for everyone else, it’s easily one of the best budget-friendly things to do in Mexico City. If you go, take your time—there’s a lot to take in, and every corner has a story to tell. 10/10, would wander again.
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