What to do in the Historic Center of Puebla, Mexico

We show you some of the things that can be done in the historic center of the city of Puebla. We did this tour during our arrival in the city and it can be done in half a day.

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Arriving in Puebla

We flew from Mexicali to Mexico City. Once there, we took a bus that took us directly to the city of Puebla. Once settled in the hotel (link in spanish), we went to get something to eat and began to explore.

Walk through the Historic Center of Puebla de Zaragoza

The cathedral

The first place we went to was the cathedral. When we tried to enter, they were celebrating a rosary ceremony so we had to wait for them to finish to be able to fully take photos 🙂 but patience paid off, since afterwards we were able to walk through it calmly.

The cathedral, whose official name is Nuestra Señora de la Inmaculada Concepción (Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception), was consecrated in 1649 – even before the Cathedral of Mexico City. It has a baroque style, as you can see in the photos (just what I like).

The Zocalo and the Archangel Michael

Right to one side is the zócalo (Main Square), highly recommended to go sit on the benches for a while to relax. We can also see the fountain of the Archangel Michael and a statue with angels. In fact, the name of the city was previously Puebla de los Ángeles (Puebla of the Angels), it was changed to Puebla de Zaragoza, for the battle of the 5th of May (cinco de mayo).

The entire historic center of Puebla has been classified by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1987.

The City Hall

And right in front is the Municipal Palace. It is a building of Elizabethan architecture (it was designed by an Englishman) neo-classical style that was completed in 1906.

The house of the dolls

Very close to the zócalo we find the Casa de los Muñecos (House of the Dolls), a building from the 18th century and which is a remarkable example of the architecture of that time. Currently, it is part of the BUAP (Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla).

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Santo Domingo Temple

After that we went to the Temple of Santo Domingo, unfortunately we could not visit it because they were giving mass. We waited a bit for it to finish to go in to take photos, when we noticed the times of masses and it seemed that there were masses and rosaries one after another so we gave up visiting it. We settled for just taking photos from the outside (and one from the inside thanks to the powerful zoom of the camera).

At that point, we had a mini break and went to our hotel (spanish) to rest for a few minutes. That’s the advantage of staying in the historic center itself 🙂

Artist’s Quarter and El Parian

And once we were rested, we went to the Barrio del Artista (the Artist’s Quarter), the atmosphere is quite pleasant, full of little painters’ workshops and cafes. Making a stop at El Parian that is located on one side of the neighborhood, this is where you will find all the souvenirs that you want to take to your loved ones 😀

Curious anecdote: we went to a cafe, where a boy was singing, all very bohemian. At that, two nuns came to ask for money! o_O amazing, I was open-mouthed. I had never seen anything like this, have you?

Other places…

There are many places in the historic center that we couldn’t visit such as the Palafoxiana Library, the Casa del Dean, etc. This is the tour that we were able to do in half a day 🙂 so you can have it as a reference.

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