San Ángel
I always say I love all of Mexico City, but If I were to choose a favorite neighborhood, it would definitely be San Ángel. To visit this officially declared barrio mágico (magical neighborhood) I usually take the metrobus to 👉La Bombilla (line 1 station), then I take a 5-minute walk down Avenida de la Paz or Monasterio (a more picturesque route) to Avenida Revolución. And as soon as I cross Revolución to Plaza del Carmen I feel like I've crossed over into another world and most certainly into another century. San Ángel still feels and looks colonial. I love its winding cobbled streets, the greenery, the colonial houses and the typical silence broken only by conversations and laughs you might hear from behind tall walls or some dramatic scene of a Mexican TV series being shot in one of the old mansions.
The history of San Ángel starts long before the Spanish conquest. Around 2,000 years ago, the Xitle Volcano erupted and its solidified lava created a wall around the community that lived here. The name of this pre-Hispanic settlement was Tenanitla ('walled-in place' in the Aztec language). The Spanish named the town San Ángel after Colegio de San Ángel Mártir, an important theology school built at the beginning of the 17th century.
In 1934, San Ángel was officially declared a 'typical picturesque town' and in 1987 it became a historic landmark area by presidential decree.
1. What to see
1.1. Plaza San Jacinto
1.2. La Parroquia de San Jacinto
1.3. Museo de El Carmen
1.4. Museo Casa del Risco
1.5. The houses
1.6. Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo
2. Where to eat
2.1. Saks San Ángel
2.2. San Ángel Inn (est. 1963)
2.3. Café De Las Artes
2.4. Churrería del Carmen
What to see
📷 Plaza San Jacinto
The heart of San Ángel, Plaza San Jacinto is the most touristic and therefore crowded part of the neighborhood. Every Saturday, handicraft vendors and painters gather here for the Saturday Bazaar (Bazar del Sábado). You will find the most beautiful furniture and traditional home decor stores at the end of the park. Make sure you visit María Bonita (Plaza San Jacinto 17) and Toca Madera (Plaza San Jacinto 15).
This park is also associated with a sad event in the history of Mexico. In 1847, 71 Irish and German soldiers from the San Patricio Battalion, who had joined the Mexican army in the war against the United States (1846-1848), were executed on this site. A commemorative plaque was placed on the wall of a colonial house where the Toca Madera store is currently located.
Toca Madera, Mexican home decor store in the heart of San Ángel
📷 La Parroquia de San Jacinto
8 am - 1 pm, 4 pm - 8 pm Mon-Fri
8 am - 8 pm Sat
8 am - 9 pm Sun
Free entry
This 16th-century church was built by Dominican friars soon after the Spanish conquest and, together with its vast green spaces, it still preserves the colonial atmosphere of the former town. The church was one of the most important religious education centers for the indigenous population that lived in the area. Walk around the convent and enjoy the tranquility of its gardens.
📷 Museo de El Carmen
10 am - 5 pm Tue-Sun
Entry fee: 75 MXN
The former college and temple was built in 1615-1617 and it was probably the most prominent institution in this area at the time. The reform laws led to the closing of the convent in 1861, when the buildings were claimed by the local government.
The exhibition includes paintings, sculptures, altarpieces, reliquaries, and miniature wax figures of traditional dancers . During the Mexican revolution, the army came here to look for the friars' treasures and their excavations revealed twelve naturally mummified bodies that belonged to members of the Carmelite Order. The mummies are still on display in their crypts.
📷 Museo Casa del Risco
10 am - 5 pm Tue-Sun
Free entry
This 18th-century house was bought and renovated in the 1930s by diplomat Isidro Fabela. Now it houses Fabela's collection of paintings, sculptures and photographs, as well as a library and an impressive Ultra Baroque fountain. In 1847, during the Mexican-American War, the house was the headquarters of the United States army.
📷 The houses
El Zacatito
Exploring the streets lined with beautiful old mansions is an unforgettable experience in itself and it is my favorite thing to do when I am in San Ángel.
These are some of the most beautiful houses in the neighborhood 👇
🏡 Casa de Chucho el Roto (Plaza del Carmen 6)
This 19th-century mansion was the den of famous bandit Chucho el Roto, the Mexican Robin Hood.
🏡 Casa del Mayorazgo de los Fagoaga (Plaza del Carmen 25)
It is an 18th-century Neoclassical residence that belonged to Spanish viceroy Alonso Núñez de Haro y Peralta and Mexican politician Francisco Fagoaga.
🏡 Casa del obispo Madrid (Calle Benito Juárez 1)
Mexican dictator Antonio López de Santa Anna lived in this 17th-century house. It was named after the bishop who owned it in the 19th century, Joaquín Fernández de Madrid y Canal.
🏡 El Zacatito (Calle Reyna 1)
TV series Cadenas de Amargura, very popular in the early '90s, was filmed in this beautiful quaint house.
🏡 Casa de la Marquesa de Selva Nevada (Calle Reyna 3)
This New Spanish Baroque mansion was a country house that belonged to the Marquise of Selva Nevada in the 18th century. There is one more impressive building in Mexico City that belonged to this family, el Palacio del Marqués de Selva Nevada, a palace located in the historic center (Venustiano Carranza 49).
Feel free to explore any street you want in San Ángel. Apart from exceptionally beautiful, the neighborhood is also very safe.
📷 Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo
10 am - 5:30 pm Tue-Sun
Entry fee: 45 MXN
Designed by Mexican architect Juan O'Gorman and built in 1930-1931, the two houses belonged to Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, who lived here from 1934 to 1940. There is a third house behind them that belonged to O'Gorman.
The white house was Diego's and you can still see his studio here with paintings, art tools and Mexican papier-mâché figures. What surprised me was the size of his bedroom. Diego was a tall man (6 ft 1 in / 1.85 m), so I was expecting to see at least a bigger bed. The bedroom is strangely small in comparison with the size of the other rooms. Frida's house, the blue one, functions as an art gallery, and so does O'Gorman's house. Another thing that intrigued me was the walkway that links the two houses, which is quite symbolic of the relationship Diego and Frida had, always connected yet deeply rooted in their own world.
Where to eat
For breakfast:
Saks San Ángel
📍 Plaza San Jacinto 9
📅 7 am - 10 pm Mon
7 am - 12 am Tue-Fri
8 am - 12 am Sat
8 am - 8 pm Sun
💚 Try: omelette de rajas poblanas (poblano pepper omelet topped with squash flower sauce and served with refried beans)
For lunch and dinner:
San Ángel Inn (est. 1963)
📍 Diego Rivera 50, Álvaro Obregón
📅 7 am - 12 am Mon-Fri
8 am - 12 am Sat-Sun
8 am - 10 pm Sun
💚 Try: chile en nogada (poblano pepper stuffed with fruit, meat and spices, and topped with a walnut sauce with pomegranate seeds and parsley)
📜 In 1821, the nuns of the Santa Mónica Monastery in the state of Puebla created the chile en nogada recipe to celebrate Mexico's independence from the Spanish crown. This recipe was recognized by UNESCO in 2010.
📜 The restaurant is located in a former colonial building that was initially supposed to be a monastery, but then became the Spanish viceroys' favorite place of respite.
For coffee:
Café De Las Artes
📍 Plaza San Jacinto 16
📅 9 am - 9 pm daily
For dessert:
Churrería del Carmen
📍 Plaza del Carmen 4
📅 8 am - 10 pm daily
My favorite corner of San Ángel, somewhere in the San Jacinto Convent