7 Best Bars in Mexico

This open-air beer garden is extremely popular with students and ale aficionados and is located a 10-minute walk west of Cholula's pyramid. In addition to the extensive selection of artisanal beers, you'll find plenty of tasty snacks, including empanadas, tacos, and salads. 

This bustling, stylish craft beer bar stands out for its attractive setting inside a high-ceilinged space with vertical-garden walls and an exceptionally varied selection of bottled and draft beers, most of them Mexican. There's also a great menu of elevated tacos, tortas, and other bar food, plus ping-pong and live music many evenings.

A bustling branch of Mexico City's self-proclaimed world beer store, this dark and otherwise nondescript bar and bottle shop stands out for its vast selection of both Mexican and international craft beers. There are about 15 other branches around the city, and light pub fare is available as well.

Like mezcal? Come here. Don't like mezcal? Come here anyway and your mind will be changed. El Refugio serves a constantly changing list of artisanal mezcals sourced directly from small, family producers from across five different states in Mexico. Try them in a cocktail, or better yet, order a flight—but don't forget to read the written descriptions of what each mezcal tastes like; crafted by co-owner Rachel Glueck, they are among the most unhinged segments of creative writing you'll find outside of a hipster poetry slam, and only become more amusing with each pour you consume. It's cash-only and not cheap, so make sure your wallet is packed with pesos.

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, 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.