Centro Trip Overview
Join us in our exclusive and original gay and LGBT+ focused tour in town.
Lets bring history out of the closet in an amazing walk three and a half hours long!
Come with us for the most complete introduction to Mexico and its capital city.
Discover the city’s legends as we stroll past the greatest buildings, monuments, museums and open-air spaces in the Historic Center which span seven centuries of stories seldom told.
Additional Info
Duration: 3 hours 30 minutes
Starts: Centro, Mexico
Trip Category: Cultural & Theme Tours >> Historical & Heritage Tours
Explore Centro Promoted Experiences
What to Expect When Visiting Centro, Ciudad de México, Mexico
Join us in our exclusive and original gay and LGBT+ focused tour in town.
Lets bring history out of the closet in an amazing walk three and a half hours long!
Come with us for the most complete introduction to Mexico and its capital city.
Discover the city’s legends as we stroll past the greatest buildings, monuments, museums and open-air spaces in the Historic Center which span seven centuries of stories seldom told.
Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product
Pass By: Museo del Templo Mayor, Seminario 8 Centro Histórico, Mexico City 06060 Mexico
The Templo Mayor (Spanish for “[the] Greater Temple”) was the main temple of the Mexica people in their capital city of Tenochtitlan, which is now Mexico City. Its architectural style belongs to the late Postclassic period of Mesoamerica. The temple was called the Huēyi Teōcalli in the Nahuatl language. It was dedicated simultaneously to Huitzilopochtli, god of human will, and Tlaloc, god of nature’s will, each of which had a shrine at the top of the pyramid with separate staircases.
Pass By: Sagrario Metropolitano, Plaza de la Constitucion, Mexico City 06010 Mexico
The Metropolitan Tabernacle (Spanish: Sagrario Metropolitano) was built by Lorenzo Rodríguez during the height of the Baroque period between 1749 and 1760, to house the archives and vestments of the archbishop. It also functioned and continues to function as a place to receive Eucharist and register parishioners. The exterior of the Baroque styled tabernacle is almost entirely adorned with decorations, such as curiously shaped niche shelves, floating drapes and many cherubs. Carvings of fruits such as grapes and pomegranates have been created to in the shape of ritual offerings, symbolizing the Blood of Christ and the Church. Among the floral elements, roses, daisies, and various types of four-petalled flowers can be found, including the indigenous chalchihuite.
Pass By: Museo de Arte SHCP Antiguo Palacio del Arzobispado, Calle Moneda 4 Lic. Primo, Mexico City 06000 Mexico
The Museo de la Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público is an art museum located in the historic center of Mexico City. It is housed in what was the Palacio del Arzobispado (Palace of the Archbishopric), built in 1530 under Friar Juan de Zumárraga on the base of the destroyed pyramid dedicated to the Aztec god Tezcatlipoca. It remained the archbishphoric’s until 1867 when the Finance Ministry Accountancy Department was established there. The modern museum houses an exhibit dedicated to this god as well as a large art collection.
Pass By: Academia de San Carlos, Academia St. 22, Mexico City 06060 Mexico
The Academy of San Carlos (Spanish: Academia de San Carlos) is located at 22 Academia Street in just northeast of the main plaza of Mexico City. It was the first major art academy and the first art museum in the Americas. It was founded in 1781 as the School of Engraving and moved to the Academia Street location about 10 years later. It emphasized classical European training until the early 20th century, when it shifted to a more modern perspective.
Pass By: Museo Nacional de las Culturas, Calle Moneda No. 13 Centro Historico, Mexico City 06000 Mexico
The Museo Nacional de las Culturas (MNC; National Museum of Cultures) is a national museum in Mexico City dedicated to education about the world’s cultures, both past and present. It is housed in a colonial-era building that used to be the mint for making coins. Prior to this, the site was the home of the location of the Moctezuma’s Black House. The mint was moved to Apartado Street in 1850, and the building was used for various purposes until it was converted to its current use in 1966.
Pass By: National Palace (Palacio Nacional), Avenida Pino Suarez, Corregidora esquina Guatemala Zócalo, Mexico City 06060 Mexico
The National Palace (Spanish: Palacio Nacional) is the seat of the federal executive in Mexico. Since 2018 it has also served as the official residence for the President of Mexico. It is located on Mexico City’s main square, the Plaza de la Constitución (El Zócalo). This site has been a palace for the ruling class of Mexico since the Aztec Empire, and much of the current palace’s building materials are from the original one that belonged to the 16th-century leader Moctezuma II.
Pass By: Ayuntamiento, Zocalo, frente a la Plaza de la Constitucion, Mexico City 06060 Mexico
The City Hall (Ayuntamiento) is a museum and office of the Head of Government of Mexico City. Inside it houses historical heritage such as the Hall of Cabildos and the Francisco Gamoneda Documentation Center. The first City Council met there, on May 10, 1524.
Its construction was ordered by Hernán Cortés at the beginning of the reconstruction of the city in 1522, and was completed between 1527 and 1532. Pedro de Arrieta and José Miguel Álvarez, architecture masters, directed the work according to an account book by Guillermo Tovar y de Teresa. It is located south of the capital’s Zócalo in the Historic Center. Being part of the aforementioned architectural complex in that area of the city, it is consequently a World Heritage Site since 1987.
Pass By: Metropolitan Cathedral (Catedral Metropolitana), Avenida 16 de Septiembre Colonia Centro, Mexico City 06010 Mexico
The Metropolitan Cathedral of the Assumption of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven is the cathedral church of the Catholic Archdiocese of Mexico. It is situated atop the former Aztec sacred precinct near the Templo Mayor on the northern side of the Plaza de la Constitución (Zócalo) in Downtown Mexico City. The cathedral was built in sections from 1573 to 1813 around the original church that was constructed soon after the Spanish conquest of Tenochtitlan, eventually replacing it entirely. Spanish architect Claudio de Arciniega planned the construction, drawing inspiration from Gothic cathedrals in Spain.
Pass By: Museo Archivo de la Fotografia, Calle Republica de Guatemala 34 Downtown area, Mexico City 06000 Mexico
The Museo Archivo de la Fotografía (MAF; Museum of the Photographic Archive) is a museum in the Historic center of Mexico City located in “La Casa de las Ajaracas”, built at the end of the 16th century, at Guatemala street #34. The museum is dedicated to the conservation, research and distribution of photography.
Pass By: Centro Cultural Espana en Mexico, Pasaje cultural Guatemala 18-Donceles 97, Mexico City 06010 Mexico
The Centro Cultural de España (Cultural Center of Spain in Mexico) is located at 18 Guatemala Street in the historic center of Mexico City. In the late 1990s, this old mansion just behind the Cathedral was in ruins when the Mexico City government ceded it to the Spanish government. When restoration work was finished, the new Centro Cultural de España was inaugurated by the King of Spain with the President of Mexico in 2002.
Stop At: Iglesia Nuestra Senora del Pilar “La Ensenanza”, Calle Donceles – Cuauhtemoc 102, Mexico City 06000 Mexico
La Enseñanza Church (The Teaching Church) (1772-1778) is located on 104 Donceles Street in the historic center of Mexico City. The Mexican Churrigueresque style of this church, especially that of its altarpieces, is upheld as the pinnacle of the Baroque period in Mexico, as this style soon gave way to the Neoclassic shortly after this church was built. The church’s official name is Iglesia de Nuestra Señora del Pilar (Church of Our Lady of the Pillar). The former convent was called El Convento de la Enseñanza La Antigua (The Old Convent of the Teaching), from which is derived the church’s popular name. After the Reform War, the convent was disbanded. The complex has had various uses, but the church has been returned to its sacred function.
Duration: 10 minutes
Pass By: Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso, Mexico City Mexico
San Ildefonso College (Spanish: Colegio de San Ildefonso) currently is a museum and cultural center in Mexico City, considered to be the birthplace of the Mexican muralism movement. San Ildefonso began as a prestigious Jesuit boarding school, and after the Reform War it gained educational prestige again as National Preparatory School. This school and the building closed completely in 1978, then reopened as a museum and cultural center in 1992. The museum has permanent and temporary art and archeological exhibitions in addition to the many murals painted on its walls by José Clemente Orozco, Fernando Leal, Diego Rivera and others. The complex is located between San Ildefonso Street and Justo Sierra Street in the historic center of Mexico City.
Pass By: Edifice of the Secretaria de Educacion Publica, Republica de Cuba, Mexico City Mexico
This Federal Department is located at the Old Dominican Convent of the Holy Incarnation in the oldest borough of Mexico City, and has been extended to the House of the Marqués de Villamayor, (also known as the Casa de los adelantados de Nueva Galicia, built in 1530), the Old House of don Cristóbal de Oñate, a three-time governor and general captain of New Galicia (also built in 1530), and the Old Royal Customs House (built in 1730–1731). Some of the buildings were decorated with mural paintings by Diego Rivera and other notable exponents of the Mexican muralist movement of the twentieth century, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Raul Anguiano, and Manuel Felguerez.
Pass By: Ex Old Customs, Calle Republica de Brasil 31 Centro Historico, Mexico City 06000 Mexico
The Old Customs Building is located on the east side of Santo Domingo Plaza between Republica de Venezuela and Luis Gonzalez Obregon Streets just to the north of the main plaza of Mexico City. The land here originally belonged to several nobles, including the Marquis of Villamayor. The Royal Customs office was in charge of the regulation of imported merchandise into New Spain and taxing the same, becoming the largest source of revenue for the government. The office originally was on 5 de febrero Street but was moved into the Villamayor house in 1676 because of its location next to Santo Domingo Plaza. Eventually, the government bought the house and rebuilt it in 1730, which is the building that survives today.[2] Eventually, the Customs office in Mexico City closed and it was taken over by the Secretariat of Public Education in the early part of the 20th century. It remains as offices of this government agency.
Pass By: Plaza de Santo Domingo, Republica de Cuba y Republica de Brasil, Mexico City 06060 Mexico
Plaza Santo Domingo is flanked to the west by the Portal de Evangelistas, which is a Tuscan colonnade with round arches. Scribes with typewriters and antique printing machines work in this Portal. Scribes offer their services to illiterate clients, often offering services similar to that of lawyers, counselors, and financial consultants. A statue of Josefa Ortiz de Dominguez, a heroine of the Mexican War of Independence stands in a fountain in the middle of the plaza. It was sculpted by Enrique Alcati.
Pass By: Santo Domingo, Ciudad de México, CDMX, Mexico
The Church of Santo Domingo is located on the north side and faces the Santo Domingo plaza. This monastery was established soon after the Dominicans arrived to New Spain in 1526. They moved into houses that were donated to them by the Guerrero family, where later the Palace of the Inquisition would be built. They initially replaced the houses to found a church, living quarters and a jail for those found guilty of religious crimes. (The Dominicans were in charge of the Inquisition.) A couple of decades later, it was decided that expansion was needed and the first church on the Santo Domingo site was consecrated in 1590. Around it was built the monastery, funded by Philip II of Spain, with four patios as well as a main hall, a rectory, a library and an infirmary. However, poor construction, the soft soil and earthquakes made rebuilding a necessity. The second church was built between 1556 and 1571. The current church is the third to be built on this site.
