100 Best Bars in Mexico City, Mexico

Dark and a little spooky, Gin Gin is a real scene, from the skull-lined, red-lit entryway to the hookah smoke-filled bar area. Enjoy a cocktail at the bar, and watch the night unfold.

You'll find some of the city's most esteemed mixologists slinging drinks in this swanky cocktail bar in a grand old house off Cibeles. The menu changes regularly, but you might try El Viejo Reyes with Ancho Reyes (a poblano and ancho-chile liqueur from Puebla), Siete Misterios Doba-Yej mezcal, Angostura bitters, and flaming orange oil, or Gin Gin's take on a mule with Bombay Sapphire, ginger, yerba buena, cane syrup, lime, and soda. There are tasty food options, too. There are additional locations in Condesa, on the eastern side of Roma Norte, and in Polanco, but this one has the most inviting ambience.

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.

On Roma's northern border with Colonia Juárez, this long and narrow order-at-the-bar beer garden is populated by picnic tables and lushly landscaped, making it surprisingly easy to forget the traffic noise outside (especially if you snag a seat near the back). The beer selection is vast, and you'll find plenty of notable brews from Mexico's up-and-coming artisanal brewers. There's burgers, sandwiches, and other pub fare, too, along with a selection of cocktails.

What was until recently an empty lot on one of the city's busiest avenues is now the closest thing Mexico City has to a beer garden: there's a small green lawn, picnic tables, potted plants hanging from a postindustrial steel grid, and big open windows in the concrete facade that open onto the traffic outside. The bar serves a wide range of craft beers, including several on tap that are made in-house. The food tends toward barbecue standards like burgers and hot dogs. You may occasionally stumble upon a band playing or a trivia night. For more details, check out their website.

This small bar serves up some of the best sushi in Del Valle as well as inventive cocktails featuring Mexican and international liquors. Dark and intimate, the space relies heavily on a Japanese industrial aesthetic, with concrete, stainless steel, and wood all put to good use. There are DJs on the weekends, and it gets pretty rollicking at night. 

This small, lively craft beer bar and garden abuts the eastern edge of the CENART campus and is a great spot for drinks and a light bite before or after seeing a performance or perhaps a movie at the neighboring Cineteca Nacional Churubusco. You'll find one of the city's largest selections of domestic and international beers here, and most everything is available to go.

One of the relatively few terrace bars in the city, La Azotea ("The Rooftop") occupies a small space in the restored art deco building known as Barrio Alameda. Technically a restaurant serving sandwiches and grilled meat, La Azotea is a beautiful place for an afternoon beer (they have a good list of craft brews) with gorgeous views over the trees of the Alameda and the spire of the Torre Latino. It closes early at 10:30 pm.

The largest bar inside the inviting and seemingly always busy Mercado del Carmen, La Barra sits right at the entrance to the food hall and is a great spot for creative cocktails and artisanal mezcal. You can drink at the bar or enjoy your libations with food at one of the hall's communal tables.

A trendy, youthful crowd congregates in this always-busy bar co-owned by actor Diego Luna and decorated with pop-art murals. You can sometimes catch alternative and rock bands performing, and there's better-than-average bar food (burgers, Jamaica quesadillas, seafood tacos, etc.) along with an extensive selection of mezcal and other top-shelf booze.

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.

Many locals consider the merengue and salsa music played at this dance hall, southeast of Colonia Roma, to be some of the city's best. It also offers dance classes and live music. 

Part of a national chain, La No. 20 is an upscale cantina with slick decor and high-end mixology service. Mariachi bands roam the bar, while young professionals dine on satisfying (if pricey) old-school Mexican cuisine. Try to nab a table on the terrace for the full experience.

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.

One of the best, and certainly the most famous, of the city's remaining pulquerías, La Duelistas is most first-timers' bar of choice for sampling fermented agave sap. Always busy, Las Duelistas is a psychedelic trip of a place. Try a sampler of the day's curados (pulques flavored with pureed fruits and vegetables). Just keep in mind that it's cash-only.

Popular with tourists, this cocktail lounge is known for having friendly bartenders and tasty drinks. Food is available as well so it's a great place to spend an evening.

At the W Hotel, Living Room is a lounge-style bar packed with intriguing design touches and creative cocktails. Living Room has a more happening ambience than your average hotel bar, thanks to resident DJs that spin regularly in the evenings.

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.

Zona Rosa's prime hangout for bearish gay guys and their admirers actually draws a pretty varied crowd. It acts as a generally more mature alternative to the more raucous crowds you'll find in many of the bars around the corner on Calle Amberes. It's open only Thursday through Saturday night.

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.

At this long-standing, high-energy, Friday-only "danceteria," DJs spin 1980s pop classics, disco, and techno while the flamboyant patrons, a fairly even mixture of gays and straights, compete in theatrical dance-offs. Prepare to sweat.

An emblematic pulquería of the colonia Doctores, Hija de los Apaches is a perfect place for a prefight drink before wandering a block over to Arena México. Serving up mugs of fermented agave, flavored in house with pureed fruits and vegetables, Hija de los Apaches turns into a salsa club most evenings of the week. There's no doubt it's a lively, down-to-earth, singularly Mexico City kind of place.

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.

This long bustling bar ranks among the city's most popular pool halls. Since there's often a wait for the tables (it's two-for-one games before 4 pm), the bar area is an always buzzy gathering spot. There are often contemporary photography exhibits on the walls, and pretty good pub fare is served, too.