Hotels near Palacio de Bellas Artes

Palacio de Bellas Artes is Mexico's most important cultural venue, a building that took 30 years to complete due to the Mexican Revolution and engineering challenges caused by the soft lakebed soil beneath the city. The exterior is white Carrara marble in the Art Nouveau style, while the interior pivots to bold Art Deco geometry. Inside, murals by Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Rufino Tamayo, and Jose Clemente Orozco cover the upper floors. Rivera's famous recreation of "Man at the Crossroads" - originally commissioned and then destroyed by the Rockefeller Center in New York - hangs on the third floor.

The palace also hosts opera, ballet, and the renowned Ballet Folklorico de Mexico, which performs on Wednesday and Sunday evenings. Museum admission is 85 MXN (about 4.50 EUR). Performance tickets range from 300 to 1,600 MXN depending on seating. The rooftop terrace of the nearby Sears building offers a direct overhead view of the Bellas Artes dome at no cost.

> Pro Tip: Book Ballet Folklorico tickets at least a week ahead on the INBA website. The Sunday morning show is slightly less packed than the Wednesday evening performance.