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The Best Places in Mexico

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  1. Address
    Calle 47 458 Santa Ana 97000 Mérida, Yuc. Mexico · Mérida
    Hours

    Closed now, opens 1 PM

    Friday 1 PM–11:30 PM

    Online
    WebsiteInstagram
  2. Candles throwing shadows onto colorfully plated dishes is the move at Rubra, a modern restaurant inside the W hotel on Punta de Mita's Pacific coast. Daniela Soto-Innes leads the kitchen through a tropical menu that leans on banana flower, passionfruit, and galangal, which sounds like a resort menu until it doesn't. The indoor-outdoor room, all concrete and greenery, earns its keep after dark.







  3. Rank 113. Siembra

    Modern Mexican



  4. Rank 114. Sarde

    Seafood

    A three-story townhouse in Roma Norte where the name tells you everything: "sarde" means sardine, and the kitchen stays fixed on Mexico's coastlines. This is a contemporary seafood restaurant where the cold raw preparations, Japanese-cut fish included, get as much care as the plating. The exposed brick bar does real work for solo diners, and the cocktails hold their own. A Michelin Guide selected restaurant.


  5. Rank 116. Fugaz

    Mexican

    A bright green facade on a Roma Norte corner marks this low-key cafe, where the menu changes weekly and the kitchen leans on vegetables and whatever fish looked good that morning. The chef's background runs through Buenos Aires, Europe, and New York, and a quiet Mediterranean note runs through the Mexican cooking. The Michelin Guide awarded it a Bib Gourmand. Bring a book, bring your mom, or bring a Tinder date you may need to escape.


  6. Rank 117. LINA

    Contemporary Mexican

    An arched door on a Roma Norte side street opens into a warm corridor of blond wood, white walls, and pendant lighting, with an open kitchen built around a wood-fire grill. LINA is an elegant but unstuffy contemporary Mexican seafood restaurant where the menu follows what local farmers are actually growing, and the chef's careful, well-traveled hand shows in things like beautifully charred squash with smoky pine nut sauce. The crowd dresses up just enough to feel like the room deserves it.


  7. A dozen oysters on ice is a perfectly reasonable meal, and this lively oyster bar and grill operates on that premise without apology. The room draws from New Orleans and Buenos Aires in equal measure, which sounds chaotic but somehow works. Bivalves are the point, shucked fresh and served simply, though the grilled and smoked preparations have their own following. A spot on The 50 Best Discovery list and Mexico's Best 100 Restaurants signals the word is out.


  8. A suite-only adults resort on the Riviera Maya where the architect treated the building as a living sculpture, weaving local rock, jungle plants, and water through every common space. The boutique is stocked with Mexican art and textiles by designer Carla Fernández, who also dressed the staff. A spa leans into Mayan mysticism, and dinner at a cenote is on the itinerary. Every suite faces the Caribbean. It holds a Forbes Five Star.


  9. Rank 119. Martínez

    European

    A bistro-sized room in Roma Norte where the kitchen is basically the bar, so ordering a drink comes with a front-row view of the line. Martínez is a contemporary restaurant drawing loose inspiration from French bistro energy filtered through Mexican and Japanese touches, the kind of menu that's short enough to read in one go. Named Mexico's Best New Restaurant in 2023, it fills early and stays loud.


  10. Rank 119. Villa Torél

    Contemporary Mexican

    Lavender and citrus trees frame the terrace at Villa Torél, a casual outdoor restaurant tucked inside the Santo Tomás winery south of Ensenada, with vineyard hills rolling out beyond your plate. The menu is short and built for sharing, contemporary Mexican with French edges, and the whole thing runs on what the chef calls proximity cuisine. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand and a spot on Latin America's 50 Best list at number sixteen.


  11. Elena Reygadas runs this snug European-style bakery in Roma Norte, and the guava and ricotta Danish alone explains the line out the door. In a city where the standard pan dulce leans dry and margarine-heavy, the pastries here pull from an Italian-inflected pantry: airy conchas, chocolate-glazed donuts, focaccia, rustic loaves. Come early, order a coffee, then pick up a box to take to a park.



  12. Rank 124. Propio

    Northern Mexican

    The sundeck at the back of this Roma Norte restaurant hints at something relaxed, but the cooking is quietly serious. The team behind Propio trained at Quintonil and Eleven Madison Park, and the menu is rooted in Northern Mexican tradition without feeling like a history lesson. The room is midcentury-handsome, reservations fill up fast, and the MB100 named them Emerging Chefs of the Year in 2024. Book ahead.



  13. The spinning trompos and roaring grill share a parking lot with an auto repair shop, which tells you most of what you need to know about this famous late-night taqueria. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand and everyone comes for the al pastor, shaved pork with pineapple stacked improbably high. Order the gringa on a flour tortilla with melted cheese if you don't mind getting your hands involved.


  14. Rank 127. Al Andalus

    Middle Eastern


  15. Rank 127. Cara de Vaca

    Northern Mexican Barbecue



  16. This Spanish taberna skips the dark wood and hanging hams for bright white walls and enough air to linger for hours. It doubles as a market, and much of what ends up on the plate is shipped in from Spain. The house vermouth comes on tap, the arroz meloso arrives rich and creamy, and the '80s and '90s Spanish pop will have you inventing a Eurail trip you never took.


  17. Mezcal is the spine of the menu here, which makes sense given that Oaxaca is basically ground zero for the stuff. Selva is a cocktail bar that leans hard into local and seasonal ingredients, building drinks around the landscape rather than the back bar. A spot on North America's 50 Best Bars says the room is doing something worth noticing. Come for the cocktails and stay because the food snacks keep arriving and nobody seems to be in a rush.


  18. Most seats are outside, the way Roma Norte tends to prefer it, and Bar Nino earns that open-air ease with an elegant take on Italian fine dining. The team behind Hugo El Wine Bar opened this one nearby, and the two feel like a matched set: food that knows what it's doing, a wine list worth drinking by the glass, and service that reads as genuinely warm rather than just correct.



  19. A tree-lined street in Condesa, a terrace made for lingering, and a menu that treats Baja California's coastal larder as a serious argument for Mexican fine dining. Chef Jair Téllez keeps the cooking direct, balancing seafood and meat without fuss. The room is contemporary but warm enough that the tasting menu doesn't feel like homework. Michelin has it in the Guide.


  20. A courtyard garden with a classical fountain sits at the center of this Reforma luxury hotel, giving the whole place the quiet logic of a colonial estate dropped into one of the city's busiest corridors. Rooms are calm and neutral, bathrooms run to sunken tubs and Floris products, and the pool deck overlooks a second tucked-away courtyard. Fifty Mils downstairs has its own following. Forbes Four Star.


  21. Perched on the cliffs of Punta Ballena where the Pacific meets the Sea of Cortez, Esperanza is a 57-suite Auberge resort with the only private beach in Los Cabos, so the seclusion is structural, not just a vibe. Casitas have terraces and ocean views; the Cocina del Mar restaurant is carved into the bluff. The palapa spa goes deep on traditional medicine wheel treatments. Forbes Five Star and two Michelin Keys. Celebrities come, and the Frette linens apparently come standard.

    The awards


  22. An open-air restaurant carved out of the jungle just off the Tulum road, where the menu changes daily and lives on a blackboard. The wood-fire grill does most of the talking, and whatever looked good at the market that morning ends up on your plate. Solo diners can usually slip in at the bar, but everyone else plans ahead. The crowd and the candlelit jungle canopy are half the draw, and nobody seems to mind.



  23. Red sauce and thin-crust pizza in the Hipódromo, from the chef behind Cana and a former beverage lead from Enrique Olvera's orbit. Gia is a casual Italian American restaurant doing the New York red-sauce joint thing with enough conviction that it doesn't feel like a tribute act. Saucy pastas, focaccia, meatballs, a green goddess salad buried in Parmigiano, and a pizza list that runs from pepperoni to mortadella.



  24. Floors 37 through 47 of one of the city's tallest towers, with floor-to-ceiling windows aimed straight at Reforma Avenue and Chapultepec Park. This luxury hotel puts you so far above the neighboring skyline that Mexico City stops feeling chaotic and starts feeling almost legible. The spa, indoor pool, and a rooftop cocktail bar keep you happily on-property, though the whole point is the view that greets you every time you look up.


  25. A promontory perch above the Sea of Cortez, where the Pacific and the Cortez waters meet at the tip of Baja, gives this Forbes Five Star, Michelin two-key resort a setting that does a lot of the work. The 55 acres of cliffside villas and suites come with butler service, a sprawling spa, a Jack Nicklaus golf course, and one of the few swimmable beaches on this stretch of coast. The crowd runs younger and more photogenic than the Bing Crosby era, but the instinct is the same.



  26. Cesar Pelli's Torre Libertad glass tower on the Paseo de la Reforma is a hard building to miss, and the St. Regis fills its upper floors with the kind of service that other hotels quietly gave up on years ago. Every guest gets a dedicated butler around the clock, the staff learns your name fast, and the rooms come with deep soaking tubs and city views that stretch to the mountains on a clear day. A Forbes Four Star hotel.








  27. A jungle road narrow enough to make you question the GPS leads to this intimate beachside resort sprawling across fifty acres between Tulum and Playa del Carmen. The main house was once a European duchess's home, and the guest rooms, jungle suites, and freestanding bungalows still carry that privately owned feeling. Three restaurants, an organic spa, and two pale blue pools sit between you and the white sand beach. It holds a Forbes Five Star and Michelin's 3 Keys.


  28. Every room at this Ritz-Carlton Reserve comes with its own plunge pool, which tells you something about how seriously the place takes leisure. A 115-room resort on the Sea of Cortez where the architecture takes its cues from Baja rather than a European palace, the décor leans into local motifs, and butlers come standard. The spa draws a devoted crowd, and the restaurants track Los Cabos' food culture. It holds a Forbes Five Star and two Michelin Keys.






  29. Rank 153. Bruma Wine Garden

    Contemporary Mexican

    Lunch under the trees on a working winery property in Valle de Guadalupe, at one long communal table or a smaller one off to the side. The kitchen turns out contemporary Mexican plates, birria pizza among them, which sounds like a dare and eats like a plan. The setting is entirely open air, so the vibe follows the weather, which in Baja wine country is usually doing its part. A Michelin Selected restaurant.





















  30. Rank 153. La Docena - Roma

    Cajun & Creole Seafood

    The raw bar is the main event here, a New Orleans-leaning oyster and seafood spot in Roma Norte that hums with the same energy as its Polanco and Guadalajara siblings. Tostadas, fish fillets, and a cured meat counter where some of the charcuterie gets sliced to order round out a menu that keeps things unfussy on purpose. Come thirsty and don't overthink it.





  31. Complimentary salsas and hand-cut crisps land on the table the moment you sit down, which softens the blow of the wait outside, often close to an hour. This upscale taquería in wealthy Las Lomas fills fast and takes no reservations, so arrive with patience and leave the diet at home. The tacos lean rich, truffled mushrooms, suckling pig, Black Angus seared on a trompo spit, and the music is loud enough that nobody's talking about the bill.



















  32. The rooms at this Rosewood resort start at over 900 square feet and come with pebble-inlaid floors, adobe fireplaces, and a semi-private plunge pool on the patio, which sets a fairly clear tone for everything else. The infinity pool along the Sea of Cortez is vast enough that you can genuinely pretend you've swum out to meet the porpoises. It holds a Forbes Five Star, two Michelin Keys, and a spot at number 44 on the World's 50 Best Hotels list.


  33. Rosewood San Miguel de Allende holds a Forbes Five Star and looks like it has always belonged to the city's UNESCO-listed colonial centro, which is either a feat of restraint or a very long con. The rooms lean hard into 19th-century aesthetics while quietly hiding deep soaking tubs and fireplaces, and the rooftop bar trades the best views in town for a tequila. Three pools, a spa, and weekend crowds who dressed for exactly this.


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Eat Score

The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

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    Drink Score

    The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

      How we score →

      Stay Score

      Four fifths of the score is the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin Key outweighs a listicle. The last fifth is where it is: the ranked places to eat and things to do around it, and how safe the country is. When you sort by what's nearby, distance from you changes the order, never the score.

        How we score →

        Do Score

        The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

          How we score →

          Best Place Score

          The Best Place Score rates the area around a point, not any one place. The places are 60% of it: the best of what's within reach, weighed by distance. The setting is the other 40%: how life goes in that country (how people rate their own lives, how long and how well they live, how safe they are) and what it's like right there (the air, and the weather). If the score looks low, we probably haven't found enough critics out here yet.

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