50 Best Performing Arts Venues in Mexico

A sprawling campus of exceptional museums, art spaces, and performance halls in the heart of Ciudad Universitaria, UNAM's cultural center is an excellent place to see concerts by the superb Orquesta Filarmónica de la UNAM (OFUNAM), which take place in the acoustically renowned Sala Nezahualcóyotl. Neighboring venues include the Centro Universitario de Teatro (CUT), Foro Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, Teatro Juan Ruiz de Alarcón, Sala Carlos Chavez, and Filmoteca UNAM–Sala Miguel Covarrubias. Among these beautifully designed modern buildings, there's virtually always some sort of interesting performance (or several) taking place (except during occasional school breaks), including ballet, modern dance, choral, film, lecture, and theater. Tickets to performances are very reasonably priced. 

Three or four indie and foreign films show daily at this terrific little arthouse cinema in Roma Sur. The space also contains myriad places to hang out before or after your movie, including a roof terrace with occasional live music or stand-up comedy, a bookstore, and a café with good pizzas, burgers, and other casual pub fare.

On a quiet street in the northwestern corner of the neighborhood, this highly regarded performing arts nonprofit presents dozens of plays and other kinds of shows—film, music, dance—throughout the year. Although the name may have you expecting classic Elizabethan fare, Foro Shakespeare is devoted to diversity and social impact, and often presents edgy and provocative material. The organization collaborates with a number of noteworthy partners, including La Compañía de Teatro Penitenciario, which aims to help inmates reintegrate through art and culture. The theater also has an inviting all-day restaurant, La Bambalina, and a great little bookstore, Libreria Paso de Gato.

If you'd like to learn a few local steps, the Instituto Veracruzano de la Cultura provides danzón classes.

From the creators of Cirque du Soleil, this whimsical show follows the adventures of a rebellious teenage girl swept away to a mysterious jungle. Several ticket packages are available.

The biggest cultural center in Puerto Vallarta, Teatro Vallarta is in a modern building with an outstanding sound system that qualifies it to screen New York Met operas. It offers a bit of everything: national theater companies that are happy to include this beach town in their yearly circuit; sporadic international ballet performances or touring musicians; local conferences; dance contests; and all kinds of other events.

A popular concert venue, you can also watch a variety of performing arts here, including opera, ballet, and rock concerts by Mexican artists. The great part about this space is that there are really no bad seats. Tickets can be purchased at the box office or on Ticketmaster. If you buy at the box office, tickets are buy one, get one free on Thursday.

After a brief stint at the newer Teatro Diana, the internationally acclaimed Ballet Folclórico of the University of Guadalajara has returned to perform its traditional Mexican folkloric dances and music in the Teatro Degollado most Sundays at 12:30 pm; tickets are $7–$30.

The world-renowned Ballet Folklórico de México is a visual feast of Mexican regional folk dances in whirling colors. Lavish and professional, it's one of the country's most popular shows. Though the offices and rehearsal space are in the colonia Guerrero, performances are held at the Palacio de Bellas Artes on Wednesday at 8:30 pm and Sunday at 9:30 am and 8:30 pm or 9 pm, with additional shows scheduled intermittently throughout the year (check the website for more information). Tickets range in price MP370--MP1,560 and can be purchased via Ticketmaster or directly at the Bellas Artes box office. Most hotels and travel agencies can also secure tickets.

North of Nuevo Vallarta, Bucerías Art Walk is on Thursday nights from 7 to 9 pm during high season: from the last week of October until late April. Participating galleries are on Boulevard Lázaro Cárdenas 62 around Calle Galeana.

The Celebration of Independence is held on September 15 and 16, beginning on the evening of September 15 with the traditional Grito de Dolores. It translates as "Cry of Pain," but it also references the town of Dolores Hidalgo, where the famous cry for freedom was uttered by priest Miguel Hidalgo. Late in the evening on September 15 there are mariachis, speeches, and other demonstrations of national pride. On September 16, witness parades and charros on horseback through the main streets of town.

A variety of plays, musicals, concerts, and other events are presented in this elegant cultural center's Teatro López Tarso. The building opened in 1887 as a municipal palace and was later used as the government offices of President Álvaro Obregón.

Situated a little east of Coyoacán and adjacent to Estudios Churubusco, CENART is the largest and most important film studio in Latin America. It was built in 1994 by a group of acclaimed Mexican architects led by Ricardo Legorreta, who clearly had Luis Barragán in mind with the design, which relies heavily on bright colors and geometric shapes. Created by the country's National Council for Culture and the Arts, the huge campus consists of performing arts schools and several venues, and there's virtually always something interesting going on, from dance and theater to music of all kinds. Check out the terrific bookshop and hip little café on-site, and during the day, take a stroll through the surrounding gardens and walking paths. There's also now a satellite branch of the famed indie film center, Cineteca, on the east edge of the campus.

Facing Plaza Gertrúdis Bocanegra (aka Plaza Chica) is a lovely old theater recently restored to its original glory and now showing art films from Wednesday through Sunday at super-bargain prices. Films are in their original language with English or Spanish subtitles.

This easy-to-access movie theater is in the heart of the Hotel Zone, on the second floor at the south end of the Plaza Caracol mall. The latest movies are shown on its 10 screens. Tickets are around 50 MXN (less than $3), with a 25% Wednesday discount.

On a sweltering hot or rainy afternoon, slip into Cinepolis. The modern, multiscreen theater shows current hit films in Spanish and English at afternoon matinees and nightly shows. When buying your ticket, select your seats on the computer screen and then head over for some reasonably priced food and drinks at the snack bar.

Cinépolis presents a selection of American movies for lower prices, generally a few weeks behind what's showing in the United States. There are usually six to eight films playing, with the last feature starting around 11 pm.

Leather reclining sofas with trays and blankets are just the beginning of the VIP experience at this cinema, which is rounded out by full gourmet menus and alcoholic drinks.

The city goes all out to celebrate Mexican dance, music, folklore, and culture for a week in early February each year. Local artists and several of the downtown galleries hold special events in conjunction with the festival.

Guanajuato is completely mobbed each fall for the Festival Internacional Cervantino. For nearly three weeks each October, world-renowned actors, musicians, and dance troupes perform nightly at the Teatro Juárez and other local venues. Plaza San Roque, a small square near the Jardín Reforma, hosts a series of Entremeses Cervantinos—swashbuckling one-act farces by classical Spanish writers, such as Cervantes. Grandstand seats require advance tickets, but crowds often gather by the plaza's edge to watch for free. Guanajuato's nightlife also reaches a peak during the festival, and revelers from different parts of Mexico walk through the city streets and display their regional pride by jumping up and down and chanting the name of their hometown. If you're going to be among the hundreds of thousands who attend the festivities annually, contact the Festival Internacional Cervantino office well in advance to secure tickets for top-billed events, or contact Ticketmaster. However, if you're not a fan of elbow-to-elbow crowds morning, noon, and night, you should avoid the festival.

Puerto Vallarta's most important celebration of faith—and also one of the most elaborate spectacles of the year—is Fiestas de la Virgen de Guadalupe, designed to honor the Virgin of Guadalupe, the city's patron saint and the patroness of all Mexico. Exuberance fills the air as the end of November approaches and each participating business organizes its own procession. The most elaborate ones include allegorical floats and papier-mâché matachines, or giant dolls (for lack of a better phrase), and culminate in their own private mass. Groups snake down Calle Juárez from the north or the south, ending at the Cathedral in Old Vallarta.

One of the most traditional events in downtown Vallarta is the Historic Center artWalk, which showcases artwork at several dozen galleries. The galleries stay open late, sometimes offering an appetizer or snack, wine, beer, or soft drinks. Browse among the paintings, jewelry, ceramics, glass, and folk art while hobnobbing with some of PV's most respected artists. If you don't have a map, pick one up from one of the perennially participating galleries, which include Galería Córsica I & II, Galería Colectika, Galería Pacífico, Galería Caballito de Mar, The Loft, and Galería de Ollas. This walk is held every Wednesday from 6 pm to 10 pm, from the last week of October until late May.