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Condesa, Roma, Centro Histórico, Coyoacán, and Polanco stand out as Mexico City's hippest neighborhoods. If you're looking to do some barhopping and want to foot it, you can do so in La Condesa. The Zona Rosa has lost ground to Condesa, Roma, and Polanco in the past few years, but it's still packed on Friday and Saturday nights, and everything is within walking distance. Niza, Florencia, Londres, and Hamburgo streets are teeming with bars and discos.
Night is the key word. People generally take in dinner and a show at 9 or 10 pm, head to bars or nightclubs at midnight, then find a spot for a nightcap or tacos somewhere around 3 am. (Cantinas are the exception; people start hitting them in the late afternoon and most close by 11 pm.)
You should have no trouble getting around on your own Always take official hotel taxis, sitio (stationed) taxis, or use the safe taxi apps Yaxi or Uber; it can be expensive to barhop this way, but your safety is worth the cost.
This stylish mezcaleria and gastropub has a smartly decorated tile-floor interior as well as plenty of sidewalk tables. In addition to artisanal mezcal and cocktails, there's a great wine and craft beer selection and well-prepared modern Mexican food to snack on.
This sleek and rather spare cocktail and natural-wine bar on the ground floor of Casa Nuevo Leon hotel stands out for its long list of expertly prepared cocktails and its well-chosen selection of very interesting wines, including pét-nats and still wines from Baja's Valle de Guadalupe, along with selections from Georgia, Portugal, New Zealand, and other vino-centric parts of the world. There's also a tempting selection of seafood-focused bar bites, including anchovy toast, smoked-oyster pâté, and crab-salad sandwiches.
This grand, cavernous 1940s-era cantina has a long antique bar to one side and a kitchen serving up tasty Asturian Spanish fare. It's filled nightly with the sounds of the tercera edad (a polite phrase for the elder generation) playing exuberant games of dominoes and millennials chatting about their adventures at Roma's latest gallery opening.
The Habita Hotel rooftop showcases a magnificent view of the city from its hip open-air bar and terrace. The lounge area with its fireplace is a great place to chill out without catching a chill. Sipping a selection from the range of mezcals on offer will also do the trick. On some nights, you can watch vintage movies projected onto the building across the street.
Talented mariachis, a long drinks list, and very tasty (though slightly expensive for the neighborhood) contemporary Mexican food are among the draws of this trendy modern cantina across the street from Jardín Centenario. But the biggest boast is the gracious setting: the main dining and drinking area is in a scenic courtyard with giant trees and a glass roof. There's a cozier bar upstairs, and next to the entrance, La Calaca has a cute little shop that sells fun gifts, crafts, and artwork.
Since 1870, this convivial cantina has been a favorite spot for socializing, drinking, and dining on hearty Spanish fare in historic Tlalpan. The long, narrow space with an ornate wooden bar, vintage artwork, and brick archways is lively day or night. You can order delicious tortas and other items to go from a small take-out window up front and enjoy eating them on a picnic bench in nearby Plaza de la Constitución.
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.
Specializing in one thing and one thing only (pulque, the fermented nectar of the agave plant), his bar is decorated with wall paintings of Mexico’s pre-Columbian past. The pulque (about 4.5% ABV) comes in a variety of flavors to sample, and be sure to enjoy the ever-revolving cast of characters here, including students, neighborhood fixtures, and older folks.
Much-lauded and regularly named among the world's 10 best cocktail bars, Limantour looks nevertheless remarkably approachable—a narrow, neatly designed space with one of the city's first truly serious mixology programs (hence its phenomenal reputation). The surprisingly affordable drinks, like the herbal Green Park (with gin, celery bitters, basil, lime, and egg white) and the Machete (San Cosme mezcal with tangerine liqueur, grapefruit and lime extract, agave syrup, and spearmint), delight the senses and explain why ardent cocktail aficionados flock here. You'll find tasty bar snacks, too.
A small group of French and Mexican friends created this inviting, cosmopolitan bar with a top-flight mixology program that features local botanicals and bitters as well as a house-brand Absinthe distilled in Paris. The relatively short cocktail menu changes weekly but always features some novel creations. There's live jazz, blues, soul, and other music once or twice a week. Downstairs, you'll find sister establishment, Loup Bar, which specializes in natural wines.
Craft cocktails are served in this tiny but fashionable bar ideal for a date or catching up with a close friend. Owned by tour guide Anais Martinez, the space has a hip and charming allure, with a location in the welcoming and laid-back neighborhood of Narvarte Oriente. Small snacks are available to accompany the fine cocktails and wine.
Behind the colorfully muraled facade of this wildly popular pulqueria, you'll find three floors to enjoy plain and flavored (blackberry, guayaba, mamey, apricot, mango) versions of the milky millennia-old beverage distilled from the fermented sap of the very agave plants that give us mezcal and tequila. The most popular seating area, especially on warm evenings, is the expansive roof-deck. Top DJs and occasional live bands provide a nice beat to the socializing. And if you're not much for pulque, fear not: there's a full selection of liquor and beer, plus nachos, tacos, burgers, and the like.
Reservations are a good idea, especially on weekends, at this beautiful bar perched on the rooftop of a dapper early 20th-century town house that houses the similarly trendy restaurant Fonico on the ground floor. You can sample the superb, inventive cocktails before deciding on which one you'd like to order.
A favored fixture along the voguey nightlife row that is Avenida Álvaro Obregón, Félix is a popular, dimly lit cocktail bar at first glance. Head down the side hallway to the back, however, and you'll find a chatter-filled garden pizzeria that rakes in sizable crowds until late into the evening—the pies here are pretty tasty, too.
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 young and the hip favor this bar, a 10-minute walk northeast of Zona Rosa. Upon entering, you need to change pesos into milagros (miracles), which are notes necessary to buy drinks throughout the night. The trick is to remember to change them back before last call.
Ensconced within one of the most opulent Porfirian mansions in Roma, this urbane bar is a dramatic setting for well-crafted cocktails and tasty tapas. Located in the mansion's former courtyard, the bar is just one element of the building's rambling series of dining spaces (which also includes an oyster bar and a more formal high-end farm-to-table restaurant), but it's also arguably the most delightful of the venues to pass time in.
The lounge in the Camino Real Hotel, southeast of Polanco, has a sophisticated crowd, mellow music, and good martinis—a relaxing stop if you're staying in the hotel or just passing through. Lighting and overall color schemes are, as you probably guessed, blue tinged. There are several seating areas; furnishings are eclectic but are heavy on mid-century modern pieces. One area has a translucent floor that's lighted from below and set over water—very cool, very blue.
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.
One of a handful of cantinas competing for the title of oldest in Mexico (it was founded over a century ago), Tío Pepe is about as atmospheric as it gets. A Tiffany-style stained glass window, a heavy wooden bar running the length of the room, swinging wooden doors, and unflattering fluorescent lights add up to make this the paradigmatic Mexico City cantina.
Midway between Coyoacán's plazas and the Cineteca Nacional film center, this spacious, conversation-filled bar and grill stands out for its extensive selection of both Mexican and international craft beers on tap and by the bottle. But there's also a big all-day-and-night food menu featuring pretty tasty pizzas, burgers, pastas, sandwiches, and the like.
Meant to evoke the inviting, laid-back trappings of a friend's (very large) departamento—or apartment—this often packed lounge has DJs spinning trancy tunes on turntables. It's a fun place to chill and mingle before going clubbing, or a place to enjoy while the night is winding down. Some nights there's live music.
Although this dramatic space in a former 16th-century convent is better known as a restaurant, having drinks on the cloistered central patio is the best way to enjoy a visit here. The food is fine, but it's more about the setting, which is especially lovely around dusk, making it a great option for predinner cocktails. There's live music some evenings, too.
Domestic and international beers take the spotlight here. With a weekday happy hour and plenty of food options, this is a great choice for anyone who just wants a place to hang out without any of the pretentiousness that can frequently come with nightlife in this area.
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.
Students and intellectuals of all ages pack "the Raven's Son," thanks to an interesting mix of rock, jazz, and other live music performances as well as intriguing art shows on the walls. Set on the northwest corner of Jardín Centenario, it's also a nice spot to enjoy a beer or a light bite to eat on the patio. It stages occasional theater shows, too.
There's no signage outside this darkly seductive bar with blue-and-gold velvet seats and an intentionally distressed exterior, but everyone from postgallery-goers to hipster cocktail enthusiasts make their way here, six nights a week (they're closed Monday). The atmosphere is low-key, and the kitchen turns out pretty good bar food.
