4 Best Places to Shop in Mexico City, Mexico

Remarkable for its sheer enormity, the country's largest shopping mall is in the heart of the appropriately upscale (although a bit soulless) modern Santa Fe commercial district. Centro Santa Fe contains more than 500 shops and restaurants, a huge central ice-skating rink, a luxury multiplex cinema, and a kids theme park; it's also in immediate proximity to a giant convention center and several hotels. Anchor stores include some noted Mexican brands, including Casa Palacio, Liverpool, and El Palacio de Hierro, and you'll find a number of luxury boutiques, most of which have branches in Polanco or other more central neighborhoods. For ardent shopping enthusiasts, it's worth the 18-km (11-mile) trip from downtown. Until the Toluca–Mexico City commuter rail opens by the end of 2024, a car is the best way to get here.

In the affluent Bosques de las Lomas neighborhood near Santa Fe, in the rolling hills west of the city center, this exclusive shopping mall stands out as much for its chic boutiques as for its location inside the iconic Arcos Bosques towers. They were designed by Teodoro González de León in 1996 and comprise two angular 35-story towers joined at the top by a four-story lintel. The shopping center isn't huge, but it contains an upscale food court and restaurants along with such retailers as Brooks Brothers, Kiehl's, and Lululemon.

In the early 2010s, the 17th-century palace of the Miravalle family was turned into Centro's coolest hotel, which brought with it a collection of worthwhile shops arranged around its interior patios. The stores range from clothing stores like Casilda Mut, a tea shop, and a number of jewelry stores.

Set around a modern, attractive courtyard landscaped with cacti and succulents, this fashionable cluster of boutiques contains some shops worth seeking out, especially the contemporary Mexican fashion label Pineda Covalin, known for its colorful-print handbags, shoes, scarves, and neckties, and Casa Mendiola, with its selection of stylish housewares crafted by artisans from throughout the country. A jewelry shop and a couple of other clothiers round out mix, and there's also a café and rooftop bar, both of which have lovely settings if fairly ordinary food and drinks.