Hotels near Museo Soumaya

Museo Soumaya is impossible to miss - its curving aluminium-clad facade, covered in 16,000 hexagonal tiles, rises from Plaza Carso in the Polanco district like a warped silver column. The museum was funded by billionaire Carlos Slim Helu and named after his late wife. Inside, six floors display 66,000 works spanning 30 centuries. The collection includes the largest grouping of Auguste Rodin sculptures outside France, along with paintings by El Greco, Dali, Renoir, and Mexican masters like Diego Rivera and Rufino Tamayo.

Admission is completely free, seven days a week. The museum is open from 10:30 to 18:30 (until 20:00 on Saturdays). The top-floor gallery, reached by a spiralling ramp, offers close-up views of the dimpled exterior through floor-to-ceiling windows. Budget at least 90 minutes for the full circuit.

> Pro Tip: Visit on a weekday afternoon when the galleries are nearly empty. Pair it with a walk through Plaza Carso, where the neighbouring Museo Jumex (contemporary art) charges only 50 MXN.