4 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. 

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.

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.