Mezcal, mariachis and jazz in a bank vault: Mexico City after dark

Mexico City drinks in many keys: under the gold-leaf ceilings of a 19th-century bar, with mariachis playing at your table on Plaza Garibaldi, in the cocktail rooms of Roma and Juárez and in a jazz club behind a vault door. An evening, with the places in our guide.

An evening in Mexico City can take you through a century and a half of drinking. You might start under the gold-leaf ceiling of a bar that began as a pastry shop, move on to a square where mariachis wait to be hired by the song, and end in a basement club where the jazz plays on past midnight. Each room has its own manners, and they are well worth learning.

The old bars of the Centro

Bar La Ópera began in 1876 as a pastry shop and moved in 1895 to Avenida 5 de Mayo 10, where it became a bar. Its Belle Époque room keeps its gold-leaf ceilings, walnut cabinets and a back bar from New Orleans. The official page lists Monday to Saturday 1pm–midnight and Sunday 1pm–6pm, so it suits an early start, with the Centro still busy outside.

Garibaldi and the mariachis

North of Bellas Artes, on the Eje Central, Plaza Garibaldi is where the city’s mariachis gather and are hired by the song. Mariachi music was inscribed by UNESCO on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2011.

On the square, at number 12, the Salón Tenampa is Garibaldi’s best-known cantina, its walls and ceiling covered in murals of the great singers. The music is acoustic and on request: mariachis, norteño trios and son jarocho groups come in from the square and play at your table. Agree the price per song before they begin.

The cocktail map

A newer city drinks in Roma, Juárez and Condesa. Licorería Limantour, on Avenida Álvaro Obregón in Roma Norte, is the bar that put Roma on the world’s drinks map. In Colonia Juárez, Handshake Speakeasy and Hanky Panky both take reservations on their websites, and you should make one. Baltra pours in Condesa and Kaito del Valle in Colonia del Valle.

The music is acoustic, and it plays on request.

For a late night in Polanco, Gin Gin is at Calderón de la Barca 72, open every day from 4pm until 3am, with more bars in Roma Norte and Condesa.

Mezcal

Mezcal deserves an evening of its own. Tlecān, in Roma, describes itself as a mezcalería of artisans, a place to taste slowly and ask questions.

Jazz underground

To finish, go underground. Zinco Jazz Club, at Motolinia 20 in the Centro, is down a staircase and through the steel doors of an old bank vault. The lineup runs from traditional jazz and bebop to funk and fusion, with Mexican and touring musicians, from Wednesday to Saturday from 9pm; book a table on its website.

Our advice: start at La Ópera before dark, go to Garibaldi in a group and agree every price first, book the cocktail bars of Juárez a few days ahead, and take an app car between neighbourhoods late at night.