15 Best Bars in Centro Histórico, Mexico City

One of Centro's most atmospheric cantinas, La Mascota seems perpetually packed, even when in reality only a few tables are full. Cheerful, bright, and frenetic, it's also among the relatively few remaining cantinas to offer free botanas (snacks), listed on a short rotating menu, with every drink.

It housed conquistadors during the 16th century; today the Centro is a Spanish cultural center with daily art exhibits, plays, films, and other events, including occasional live indie, electronic, and rock bands on the terrace of the bar-restaurant.

Set in the vault of an art deco bank in the heart of Centro, the capital's coolest jazz joint hosts local and international acts. The intimate setting and enthusiastic audiences seem to bring out the best in performers. It's open Wednesday through Saturday, and offers a small menu of international dishes.

Dim and elegant with a long wooden bar, stained glass, and high-backed chairs, Bar Mancera is perhaps the best preserved of all Centro's early 20th-century watering holes. Founded in 1912, just two years after the beginning of the Mexican Revolution, this is the perfect place to sit back with a tequila or a beer and imagine yourself living in the optimistic days after the fighting had ended and a new political order had emerged.

The tiny, gritty Cabaret La Perla dates from 1946 and is now one of several popular gay bars lining the western end of Calle República de Cuba. Weekend drag shows are some of the city's best, with performances focusing on Mexican pop divas. 

Centro's branch of one of the city's best craft beer bars has a handful of outdoor tables on a pretty pedestrian street and serves up to 150 beers, roughly 80% of them made in Mexico. Look out for beer brands like Colimita, Wendlandt, and Insurgentes.

Open since 2005 as part of a larger project to revitalize Centro Histórico, La Bota has since become a neighborhood institution. Set in a long, convivial room, its walls plastered with pictures and objects, the space participates in cultural and literary projects for the neighborhood while providing one of the warmest, coziest places around for a beer and Spanish-inflected snacks like pan de tomate and cheese and meat boards.

A small mezcalería located in the Hotel Downtown, La Botica is easily the best place in Centro Histórico for a mezcal. Though mezcalerías have proliferated in the area in the hopes of luring in tourists, few serve as respectable a selection in such a pleasant spot, with a list of 35 distillates from across the county and balcony views over the street below.

With its endearingly faded elegance and beguiling collection of vintage bullfighting artwork, costumes, and memorabilia, this cavernous cantina from the 1950s feels decidedly from another era. Along with its wonderful neighbor, Bar Mancera, it occupies the 1535 Palacio del Marqués de Selva Nevada. Although international hipsters have gained a foothold, La Faena still entices a steady flow of old-timers and often features mariachis, live Latin jazz, and dancing.

One of the city's classic watering holes has attracted top personalities since it opened in 1870. Don't forget to have your waiter point out the bullet hole in the ceiling allegedly left by Mexican revolutionary hero Pancho Villa. Come at night for live mariachi and good tequila.

Over a decade after opening its doors on the gay-friendly end of Calle República de Cuba, El Marra (as this chaotic little slip of a place is affectionately known) remains as wild, crowded, and joyful as ever. Open to everyone, the crowd here skews young, queer, and ready to dance.

In the early 2000s, this became one of the first bars to draw hip crowds from other parts of town to Centro. Since then, things have calmed down, but the bar remains a pleasant spot for an afternoon beer and a lively spot for live music, which might range from salsa to hip-hop to cumbia, on weekend nights after 9 pm. For a complete listing of upcoming events, visit their Facebook page.

The famed cervecería opened this flagship cantina in 1928, three years after Corona beer was launched. Still a popular hangout for people who live or work in the neighborhood, it is one of the friendliest joints in town, and now boasts three other locations in Centro (all inexplicably within a two-block radius) and another in the Zona Rosa. Try a torta of pulpo (octopus) or pierna (roast pork leg) with your giant mug of beer. Photos on the wall show the clientele reacting to the 1986 World Cup at the heartbreaking moment defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory by the national team.

Juan Hernández opened Salón Tenampa in 1925, and was the first to introduce mariachi, originally a folk music of his home state of Jalisco, to Plaza Garibaldi. Now Plaza Garibaldi is the place to hear (and hire) not only mariachis, but also groups playing regional music styles from around Mexico. Spend the night under Salón Tenampa's historic brick arches sipping on tequila and hiring the mariachis by the song (prepare, if you can, to sing along). 

A moody subterranean jazz bar tucked into the basement of an art deco building straight out of Gotham, Zinco is as chic a place to pass a night as Centro has to offer. Keep an eye on their website for up-to-date performances of some of the city's best musicians.