4 Best Sights in Puebla, Side Trips from Mexico City

This narrow and charming pedestrian lane, whose name means "Alley of the Toads," cuts diagonally behind the cathedral. The adjacent square has a bustling weekend antiques market with all sorts of Mexican art and crafts, from elaborately carved doors to small paintings on pieces of tin offering thanks to a saint for favors. There are also hip cafés filled with people listening to live music on weekends.

This impressive art and history museum is housed in a pair of adjoining Spanish Colonial hospital buildings from the 1800s with a gorgeous contemporary atrium, several galleries, and a dramatic rooftop terrace with a bar, glass walls, and grand views of the Zócalo. Home to the private collection of pre-Columbian and colonial-era art of Mexican banker and philanthropist Manuel Espinoza Yglesias, Museo Amparo exhibits unforgettable pieces from all over Mexico, including nearly 5,000 pre-Hispanic artifacts. The collection includes colonial-era painting, sculpture, and decorative objects as well as a small modern art section notable for works by Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Miguel Felguérez, and Vicente Rojo.

Located in a modern business district in Puebla's southwestern outskirts, a 15-minute drive from the city center, this striking white contemporary building with curving white-concrete walls facing a courtyard with a reflecting pool is arguably as famous for its architecture as for the collection within. Renowned Japanese architect Toyo Itō designed the museum, paying homage to Puebla's rich history of Baroque art and design, which traces back to the city's settlement by the Spanish in the 1530s. One exhibit that interprets this relationship with a particular flourish is an interactive scale-model of Puebla's Centro Histórico that lets you see just how many buildings have been influenced by this important movement that spanned the early 17th through the mid-18th centuries. Other galleries are devoted to Baroque paintings, classical music, literature, theater, and other disciplines. On the second level, a stylish restaurant continues the building's beautiful design and serves quite tasty contemporary Mexican cuisine.

Founded in 1824, this is one of the few authentic Talavera workshops left today. To be the real deal, pieces must be hand-painted in intricate designs with natural dyes derived from minerals. That's why only five colors are used: blue, black, yellow, green, and a reddish pink. English- and Spanish-language tours take place daily except for Sunday, but visitors are also welcome to visit the shop and terrace for free.