Puebla de Zaragoza is Mexico's fourth largest city (1.5 million in the city, 3.5 million in the metro) and the capital of Puebla state — a city founded by the Spanish in 1531 as Ciudad de los Ángeles (City of the Angels) at 2,135 m altitude on the Central Mexican Plateau, surrounded by four volcanoes (Popocatépetl at 5,426 m, Iztaccíhuatl at 5,230 m, La Malinche at 4,462 m, and Pico de Orizaba at 5,636 m — the highest peak in Mexico and the third highest in North America), and one of the best-preserved colonial cities in the Americas (UNESCO World Heritage 1987). The historic centre of Puebla has the second largest concentration of colonial Baroque architecture in Mexico (after Oaxaca) — 70 temples, 5 monasteries, 18 convents and 1,000+ colonial civil buildings within the historic centre; the Talavera tile tradition (brought by Dominican friars from Talavera de la Reina in Spain in the 16th century, now a Puebla specialty with UNESCO intangible heritage status) covers the church domes, facades and kitchens with brilliant polychrome geometric patterns. Puebla is the culinary capital of Mexico — the origin of two of Mexico's most celebrated dishes: mole poblano (the complex sauce of 30+ ingredients including chocolate, chilli, spices and turkey, created according to legend by the nuns of Santa Rosa convent in the 17th century) and chiles en nogada (the Mexican Independence Day dish: poblano chilli stuffed with picadillo of minced pork, fruit and nuts, covered in walnut cream sauce and garnished with pomegranate seeds and parsley — the white sauce, red pomegranate and green parsley representing the Mexican flag). The 5 de Mayo battle (May 5, 1862) — when a Mexican force under General Ignacio Zaragoza defeated a French Imperial army at the Battle of Puebla (the most celebrated military victory in Mexican history and the origin of the Cinco de Mayo holiday) — is commemorated with extraordinary civic pride in the city that bears Zaragoza's name.
The Puebla Cathedral (begun 1575, consecrated 1649, the tallest church towers in Mexico at 69 m) dominates the Zócalo (main square) — the churrigueresque main altar by Manuel Tolsá, the onyx and marble Chapel of the Kings (Capilla de los Reyes, 1649) and the imported Baroque pipe organ are the highlights; the Zócalo itself (officially Plaza de Armas) has the arcaded Portales with cafés and the 16th-century buildings surrounding.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Capilla del Rosario in the Dominican church of Santo Domingo (1690) is considered the finest example of Mexican Baroque (Churrigueresque) decoration in Mexico — the entire interior (walls, vault, dome, altar) is covered with gilded stucco decoration, paintings and gold-leaf; described by Alexander von Humboldt as the "eighth wonder of the world"; the chapel is 30 m x 15 m and took 40 years to build.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuidePuebla's most famous dish: mole poblano (turkey or chicken in the complex sauce of 30+ ingredients — dried chillies, Mexican chocolate, tomato, pumpkin seeds, sesame, cinnamon, cumin, cloves and more, slow-cooked to a thick, dark, complex sauce) at Fonda de Santa Clara (established 1965, one of Puebla's historic restaurants); the legend says the nuns of Santa Rosa convent invented it for a visiting archbishop.
The Barrio del Artista (the artist quarter near the theatre district) has open-air painting studios in the arched portales where you can watch painters work; the Talavera pottery workshops (Uriarte Talavera 1824, the oldest operating factory, and Talavera de la Nueva España) show the process of creating the distinctive polychrome ceramic tiles and tableware — the only UNESCO-recognized Talavera in Mexico is made in Puebla (and Tlaxcala).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideCallejón de Los Sapos (Alley of the Frogs, the antique and artisan market street) and the surrounding streets of the artists' quarter have the best mezcal selection in Puebla — the mezcal bars of Puebla serve Oaxacan mezcal alongside the local Milenio and Wahaka varieties; molotes (the Pueblan fried masa turnover filled with chorizo and potato) and memelas (masa cakes with beans and Oaxacan cheese) are the street food.
The Great Pyramid of Cholula (Tlachihualtepetl, "Man-Made Mountain" in Nahuatl) is the largest pyramid by volume on earth — larger than Giza (450 million cubic metres vs 260 million) — built over 4 construction phases (300 BCE–900 CE) by 4 different indigenous cultures; the Spaniards built a church (Nuestra Señora de los Remedios) on top in 1594 specifically to demonstrate Christian triumph over indigenous religion; 8 km of tunnels are open to exploration.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe church of Santa María Tonantzintla (20 min from Cholula) has the most extraordinary indigenous-Baroque interior in Mexico — the entire interior is covered with polychrome stucco figures of angels, saints and corn plants created by indigenous Nahua artists who merged pre-Columbian imagery with Catholic iconography; the adjacent San Francisco Acatepec (tiled Talavera facade, 1730) is equally spectacular from the outside.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Fuertes de Loreto y Guadalupe (the twin forts where General Zaragoza's outnumbered force of 4,000 defeated Napoleon III's 6,000 professional soldiers on May 5, 1862 — the only time a European imperial army was defeated in a field battle in 19th-century Latin America) have the Museo del 5 de Mayo and panoramic views over Puebla and the volcanoes; Cinco de Mayo is a minor holiday in Mexico but enormous in the United States.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideChiles en Nogada (the Mexican Independence Day dish, August-September season only when fresh walnuts and pomegranates are available) — the poblano chilli stuffed with picadillo of minced pork with peaches, raisins, almonds, pine nuts, spices and candied biznaga cactus, covered in walnut cream sauce (nogada) and decorated with red pomegranate seeds and green parsley, representing the Mexican flag; available only in Puebla and a few elite Mexico City restaurants.
Museo Amparo (the finest museum in Puebla, in a converted 17th-century colonial hospital) has a world-class collection of pre-Columbian art — Olmec jade masks, Aztec calendar stones, Mixtec codices, Maya stelae and an extraordinary collection of Pueblan colonial Baroque paintings; the museum's integration of the colonial building with modern exhibition design won several international architecture prizes.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Mercado de Sabores (Market of Pueblan Flavors) is dedicated entirely to regional Pueblan food — the cemita poblana (the distinctive Puebla sandwich: sesame-seeded roll filled with milanesa (breaded cutlet), avocado, chipotle, Oaxacan quesillo cheese and pápalo herb — one of Mexico's great regional sandwiches), tacos árabes (the Lebanese-Mexican taco on pita bread with al pastor-style pork and chipotle), and the full range of antojitos poblanos.
Popocatépetl (5,426 m, "Smoking Mountain" in Nahuatl, one of Mexico's most active volcanoes — erupting phases have been ongoing since 1994; the security zone changes with activity level) is visible from Puebla on clear days as a perfect white cone above the city; the best viewpoints are from the Amozoc pass (35 km east) or from the San Andrés Cholula church; the view of Popo and Iztaccíhuatl together ("The Sleeping Woman") at sunrise is legendary.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideA final Pueblan dinner of romeritos (the pre-Columbian green vegetable — sea-purslane-like — cooked in mole negro sauce with dried shrimp and potatoes, a Lent dish in Mexico City but a year-round Puebla specialty) and chicken en pipián (the other great Pueblan sauce: pumpkin seed mole with epazote herb and serrano chilli); Mesones Sacristía or Casona de la China Poblana for the finest Pueblan setting.