Mexico City Guidebooks — What’s on My Shelf
The books I use — some you can order before you arrive, some you’ll need to look for while you’re here, and you might find something newer! Some links in this post are affiliate links. If you buy a book through them, I may earn a small commission — at no extra cost to you. I am only recommending books I already own.
I have been collecting Mexico City guidebooks since about 2017. Some of them I bought locally, browsing a bookshop before a movie or wandering through Gandhi on Mazaryk. Others I ordered online. I love a good guidebook, whether because of beautiful images or off the beaten path recommendations. I have both smaller guides that would be easy to pack, and a few that are at home on my coffee table and never leave home.
They divide naturally into two categories: the books you can order before your trip, and the ones you’ll only find once you’re here. The latter are often the more interesting ones.
What follows is not a comprehensive survey of Mexico City travel literature. It is what is on my shelf, and a few thoughts on the strengths of each.
Books You Can Order Before You Go
The Monocle Travel Guide to Mexico City (No. 32)
Gestalten, 2018 · Available on Amazon
Small enough to travel with, the Monocle guides are well thought out and have a consistent editorial focus — they lean toward the cool, the independent, and the slightly posh. The hotel recommendations in this one reflect that: none are the big chain hotels, and they are all places I’d wish to stay at if I didn’t already live here.
This guide is from 2018, so some of the specific recommendations are out of date — double check websites and opening hours before you travel across the city on a restaurant recommendation. I’ve still found some new and interesting spots through it — notably Tardán, a hat shop in the Centro Histórico that has been making and selling hats since 1847 and is absolutely worthwhile if you’re willing to get a hat home with you on the airplane. The book also includes a series of short essays on the city: religion, dogs, the noises of the street, the volcanoes surrounding the city and their impact on air quality, the lucha libre. These hold up regardless of when you read them.
This book is worth reading for the essays and the editorial curation, with the understanding that you should verify current hours and openings before acting on any specific recommendation.
Art and Fiesta in Mexico City
Cristina Alonso · Hardie Grant, 2020 · Available on Amazon
If you are only going to buy one book for your trip, this is the one I would suggest. It is small enough to pack, has good color photographs throughout, and is easy to navigate — organized by coffee, restaurants, bars, cultural attractions, contemporary art, and markets, with neighborhood coverage and a series of itineraries.
Written by Cristina Alonso, who was born and raised in Mexico City, the recommendations have the specificity that comes from real local knowledge. Her restaurant and bar selections include many of my own favorites — Havre 77, Chiquitito, Xaman — and the institutions that shouldn’t be missed like Contramar. The book covers most of the essential must-see and must-eat things in the city without feeling like a checklist.
One gap worth noting: it does not include hotel recommendations, which I don’t think is a fatal failure — many of us use a Booking.com search anyway, right?
Petit Atlas Hédoniste — Mexico
Thibaut Mommalier & Franck Juery · Éditions du Chêne, 2024 · French language only · Available on Amazon UK
The most recent book on this list, and the only one I read in French. My version is the French edition — the series, Les Petits Atlas Hédonistes, is published by Éditions du Chêne and this one has not yet been translated into English as far as I know.
The atlas covers Mexico City by neighborhood with thematic double-page spreads on subjects like the muralist movement, the lucha libre, the cantinas, and the city’s Asian food scene. The photographs are strong and the perspective is that of a curious outsider who is intimately acquainted with the city — written by a French expat who lived here and knows the city well.
If you read French, this is worth having. If you don’t, it is harder to recommend — though the photographs alone give you a real sense of the city. Available on Amazon UK; not currently available on Amazon US.
Books to Find Once You’re Here
The following books were published locally and are not easily found outside Mexico. Several are institutionally produced — published by the city government, cultural foundations, or independent Mexican publishers — and that is part of what makes them interesting. They represent Mexico City looking at itself, which is a different perspective from the international travel guides I’ve mentioned above. Look for them at Gandhi or Porrúa booksellers, both have large stores in the city.
Ciudad de México: Capital Gastronómica
Travesías / CDMX · Bilingual Spanish-English · Find it locally
If you want to understand Mexico City’s food scene — where it came from, who is driving it, and why it matters — this is the book. It profiles the chefs who have put the city on the international culinary map: Elena Reygadas at Rosetta, Enrique Olvera at Pujol, Eduardo García at Máximo Bistro, and Jorge Vallejo at Quintonil. It also covers the history of the city’s ethnic food traditions — Lebanese, Asian, Italian — and has a dedicated chapter on the cantinas.
This is not a book you travel with. It is large format, hardcover, and beautiful — the kind of thing you leave on the guest room coffee table, which is exactly what I do. If you happen to find it at Gandhi or Porrúa during your trip, and love a good coffee table book as much as I do, you might want to take a copy home.
CDMX Almanaque 2017
Time Out México / Fondo Mixto de Promoción Turística · Bilingual Spanish-English · Find it locally if at all
A bilingual snapshot of the city at a specific moment — 2017, when Mexico City had recently been rediscovered by the international travel press and was in the middle of a cultural and gastronomic surge. The Almanaque covers museums, galleries, markets, nightlife, gastronomy, and design. It is like a Lonely Planet guide that has been locally curated and published..
I would not recommend actively hunting for this one — it was a one-time publication and is now nine years old. But if you come across it in a second-hand bookshop or at a market stall, it is a good document of a city in transition, and many of the recommendations will still be current.
LOCAL.mx
Travesías Media · Spanish language · Find it locally
LOCAL is a periodic special publication from Travesías Media — each edition explores a different theme, and mine covers art and culture, gastronomy, shopping and nightlife. The editorial sensibility is design-focused and aspirational — which is to say, I wish I were as cool as this guidebook is.
I have not been able to find this available for purchase anywhere online. If you are interested in the LOCAL perspective on the city, their website — local.mx — is an excellent alternative: updated daily, covering restaurants, galleries, culture, music, and what to do this weekend. It is in Spanish, but if that is not your language and you’re interested in reading one of their articles, Google Translate or an AI platform can do a quick translation for you.
Miscelánea
Ediciones El Viso / Fideicomiso Centro Histórico · Find it locally
The Centro Histórico is still organized according to the guilds that once determined what shops could open where in the colonial city. There is a street of wedding and quinceañera dresses — an obligatory visit for brides-to-be. There is a street of music shops, and I once found the most extraordinary beeswax candles with intricate flower bases. There is a hidden courtyard famous for its letterpress stationers. Miscelánea is a guide to this system: what is where, and the history behind it.
I do occasionally use it to locate something specific in the Centro. Its limitation is that many storefronts have changed in recent years and it is not fully current, but it does give you a sense of where to find what you’re looking for. You can find almost anything in the Centro, if you know where to look.
I would not recommend purchasing this unless you have a particular interest in the Centro Histórico’s commercial history. For the average visitor it is probably more information than you’ll ever use in one trip.
Cantinas — ¡Salud por las Capitalinas!
Ambar Diseño · Spanish language · Find it locally
I found this one browsing a bookshop before a movie and bought it immediately. It is a coffee table book dedicated entirely to the cantinas of Mexico City — each of the greats has its own chapter: La Ópera, El Mirador de Chapultepec, Casino Español, Bar Mancera, Salón Tenampa, La Covadonga, and more. There are also recipes and a directory at the back.
I wish I could say I have visited every cantina in this book, but I have not. Maybe someday. In the meantime, it sits on my shelf as both an aspiration and something to help visitors from home understand the culture — not just a bar, but a specific institution with its own rituals, its own food, its own relationship to the city’s history. It’s a great example of some of the local treasures you might find browsing the local bookshops.
A note on where to find books in Mexico City: Gandhi has large stores across the city — the branch on Av. Presidente Masaryk 218 in Polanco is a convenient option for most visitors. Porrúa has several locations and tends to carry a broader range of locally published titles. El Péndulo is both bookshop and restaurant/café and has locations in Polanco and Condesa among others.
If you have a Mexico City guidebook you love that is not on this list, please leave it in the comments! I am always on the lookout for new guides and would love your recommendations.
