03 June 2026
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Mexico will become the center of the universe in June as it — along with the U.S. and Canada — hosts the World Cup. Millions of soccer fans are expected to swarm three of its most emblematic cities for matches kicking off June 11 and running for six weeks.
In Mexico City, the iconic Estadio Banorte will become the first arena to ever hold three World Cup openers, a historic honor fitting for this soccer-crazed capital. Monterrey, in the country’s desert north, is ready to show off its cowboy pride. And Guadalajara, near the birthplace of tequila, knows how to throw a party.
For the best restaurants, hotels and things to do while in town, read our guide below.
Mexico City
Where to Eat: Fine Dining
Pujol is the tasting menu that started it all in Mexico City, where Chef Enrique Olvera first took ancestral flavors from the country’s heartland and electrified them with ambitious, contemporary technique. A rethinking in line with the restaurant’s 25th anniversary last year introduced a prix fixe dining style that highlights a different region of Mexico every few months. Come the World Cup opening match in June, the menu will focus on the dishes of Mexico City’s lively cantinas.
In the city’s south, not far from the Estadio Banorte, Chef Edgar Núñez’s Sud 777 is the fine-dining mainstay. The tasting menu here makes creative use of Mexico’s exceptional fruits and vegetables, like in an early course of avocado piped in a swirl and studded with slices of white strawberry, fig leaf and pistachios.
Where to Eat: More Relaxed
Cana from Chef Fabiola Escobosa is a favorite of the capital’s cool class who gather over interesting wines and classic bistro dishes like foie gras pâté, here prepared with a stripe of fig leather paste.
For tacos, choose from cheffy hangouts like Maizajo and old-school haunts like El Vilsito. The former, in the fashionable Condesa neighborhood, is known for tasty grilled meats and hand-pressed heirloom corn tortillas. The latter is a bit more blue-collar — the space, in the neighborhood of Narvarte, is an actual mechanic’s shop during the day.
Where to Stay
Fan zones and watch parties will multiply across the city come June for those who didn’t shell out for stadium tickets. The biggest will be in the city’s downtown square, making the Círculo Mexicano, a stylish boutique property one block away, the perfect perch. The hotel, from the celebrated Grupo Habita collection, has a rooftop terrace with a bar and a small pool — a welcome oasis within earshot of the crowds.
Volga and Hotel Alexander, a pair of well-appointed properties opened in the past few years, are promising their own match screenings with special menus and giveaways. And the sprawling courtyard at the Mondrian Mexico City Condesa will be a popular place for kickoff, especially with a two-for-one margarita deal in the evenings.
What to Do
A number of important exhibits are on display across town this summer for those seeking some high-class counterprogramming.The Gelman Santander collection currently showing at the city’s Museum of Modern Art includes some superb works from Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera that have not been on view in Mexico for nearly 20 years.
At the Museo Jumex, Football & Art: A Shared Emotion includes contemporary works that relate to soccer as a form of aesthetic and social expression, alongside a room of relics from the sport, like the cleats that Pelé wore to victory in the 1970 World Cup.
Leonora Carrington, the British Mexican surrealist whose wonderland scenes are gaining global recognition, gets the immersive treatment at the Magic Labyrinth in the Juárez neighborhood. The 45-minute experience is like stepping into one of her pieces, with oversized character statues and spectacular lights.
Monterrey
Where to Eat: Fine Dining
Two longstanding restaurants in Monterrey command the haute cuisine in this city and have earned MICHELIN Stars each year since the Guide debuted in Mexico: Pangea, from Chef Guillermo González Beristáin, and KOLI, from the Rivera-Río brothers Rodrigo, Daniel and Patricio.
At Pangea, à la carte and tasting menus offer contemporary Mexican dishes that span regions and styles. The braised goat is a Monterrey delicacy and a tribute to the rancher lifestyle, dressed in a beer sauce that winks to the brewing giants that are based in the city.
KOLI serves a masterfully calibrated tasting menu that is rebuilt every few months around a new theme. This summer the dishes are expressions of geometry, reflected through precise technique and playful tributes to form, like the arte course, a plating of melon and a verdant pumpkin seed mole that’s served beneath a film of printed abstract art.
Where to Eat: More Relaxed
The signature taco in Monterrey, distinct to this city of industry, is the taco mañanero, an especially hearty variation that serves as workers’ favorite morning fuel. Three spots specializing in the dish impressed our Inspectors: Tacos Piedra 1, Tacos Doña Mary La Gritona and Tacos “El Compadre.”
For expertly grilled meat — another Monterrey staple — reserve a table at Vernáculo. The grill there was custom built for Chef Hugo Guajardo with racks for hanging salted meat and ample space for the mesquite logs and dried local winery vines that he uses to build his fire.
What to Do
The views of the rolling ridges of the Cerro de la Silla mountain through the open roof of the Estadio BBVA make it one of the most scenic soccer stadiums in the world. With its highest peak at nearly 6,000 feet, the mountain has become an emblem of the city and is a designated protected area. A number of hikes are popular with outdoor adventurers when weather permits, first among them being the route to the Antena peak, a difficult 7.2 mile out-and-back trail. The Cascada Guadalupe trail, terminating at a waterfall, is still challenging but clocks in at a shorter 3.1 miles.
Guadalajara
Where to Eat: Fine Dining
Guadalajara’s debut in the MICHELIN Guide at a ceremony in May was headlined by the arrival of the city’s first two Starred restaurants, Alcalde and Xokol.
Alcalde has been Guadalajara’s most prestigious reservation since 2013. The intimate space, with an à la carte and tasting menu, reflects the flavors of Chef Paco Ruano’s local upbringing and his training at MICHELIN-recognized kitchens across Europe. Case in point: a delicate tartlet filled with a mole made from the sweet, fleshy bonete fruit.
Xokol represents a more dramatic introspection into indigenous Mexican ingredients and preparations. At a 50-foot shared table, guests enjoy tortillas with inky swirls and imagery alongside dishes like suckling pig in a pistachio and kale mole.
Where to Eat: More Relaxed
In landlocked Guadalajara, La Docena is the odd seafood spot, but their well-executed menu has made it a local institution and spawned outposts across the country. There’s a raw selection — from Baja oysters to delicate tuna tostadas — and a number of worthwhile items from the grill.
Birria is a Guadalajara street food specialty, and two longstanding establishments known for traditional servings of this rich goat stew made it into the city’s MICHELIN Guide debut. Birriería ”David,” a small counter on the second floor of a downtown market, has a recipe that’s been perfected over 60 years. The meat here is especially tender and served with a pour of consommé over the top. Birriería las 9 Esquinas is a more homestyle space with a brightly tiled kitchen and clay pots hanging from the wall. The birria comes in small or large servings, or folded into crispy golden tacos.
Where to Stay
Grupo Habita’s entry in Guadalajara is the sophisticated Casa Habita located in the Americana neighborhood close to some of the city’s best dining and bars. The 37-room boutique hotel is spread across a converted 1940s home and a new tower outfitted in sharp minimalist design.
While still centrally located, the Quinta Real Guadalajara is a departure from the bustling city, set in a stately hacienda-style building with pink quarry stone walls that are crawling with ivy.
In the city’s financial district, the voco Guadalajara Neruda has sensible rooms and a seventh-floor terrace restaurant with skyline views, plus live music on Friday nights.
What to Do
The countryside around Guadalajara is covered in patches of starburst blue agave, the succulent that’s baked, milled, fermented and distilled into tequila. This is the homeland of the national drink and a growing scene of cocktail bars and distillery tours tell its story in a modern way.
El Gallo Altanero is the city’s most acclaimed bar with an impressive inventory from independent tequila producers mixed into a menu that changes with the seasons.
La Hacienda, a stunning new distillery and brand experience from Clase Azul located about an hour and a half outside the city, offers windows into the process of making tequila and the company’s iconic ceramic bottles.
Or ride the Jose Cuervo Express, an elegant passenger train, from the center of Guadalajara to the colorful colonial town of Tequila, where the brand gives tours and tastings at La Rojena, the oldest operating distillery in Latin America.
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Hero image: Where to Eat, where to stay and what to do. © Quinta Real Guadalajara, © Jose Miguel Ramirez/Maizajo, © Miguel/Adobe Stock
Thumb image: © Miguel/Adobe Stock
