Anyone know how this works? My understanding is that the building is free but in order to see the Rivera murals you need to have an “educational guide” with you. Are there licensed folks hanging around waiting to take in groups like the 7 I’ll be traveling with next month? Or do I need to arrange with a tour group like Pie a Mexico?
Posted by
Detroit, MI
1107 posts
If the procedure is the same as when I went to Mexico City in August 2023, this is the only way to see the murals: you look up which days and times the tours will be offered. When I was there it was at 10:30 am on certain days. You can't make advance reservations. There were no guides outside the building. You show up early, perhaps a half hour or 45 minutes early. You go into a room with ticket windows along one wall, you walk up to a window, hand the employee your passport, they have to hold your passport while you are on the tour, you have to remember to get your passport back, you tell the employee in Spanish that normally you speak English, can I join a tour?, they take your passport and direct you to wait in a courtyard in the building a few feet away for the tour guide to show up. If you get a tour, great, if not, the city has other murals, art museums and other artwork.
Edit: I lost my passport in Mexico City, or had it stolen. When I got my passport back after the tour and I thought I was putting it away was the last moment I saw it. Maybe I dropped it and it was my fault. Maybe somebody grabbed it as I was thinking I was putting it away. Maybe somebody dug it out of my bag after I put it away.
Posted by
OP
7 posts
Thanks for this!
Follow up question: I've seen several mentions of having to hand over our passports for this tour. Does it have to be a passport or can it be a driver's license or other photo ID?
Posted by
Ajijic, Jalisco, Mexico
2049 posts
This site (https://mexicocity.cdmx.gob.mx/venues/national-palace/) has a little info about it.
Visits are by guided tour only. Prior reservations should be requested to [email protected] or at the entrance to the SHCP Museum, Museo de la Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público.
This is completely new since I was there in 2017. I was able to walk right in and wander about freely. I had a guidebook that explained the murals (which give a historical survey of Mexico). They are magnificent. I imagine a guide would make them come alive.