Puebla

I visited this WHS in December 2021. Puebla is the fourth largest city in Mexico after Mexico City, Monterrey, and Guadalajara, so it is always going to seem crowded when compared to other cities or towns. That said, the incredible amount of churches, monuments, historic buildings and squares Puebla has on offer, paired with the never-ending gastronomical possibilites, make it one of Mexico's top WHS and colonial cities so I was glad to allow 3-4 days here.

Although the cathedral's sheer size is impressive, I was more attracted to the surrounding colonial buildings with several spires, balconies, stained glass and stucco decorations. The highlight here was the Biblioteca Palafoxiana (free entrance), known as the first and oldest public library in the Americas, It has more than 45,000 books and manuscripts, ranging from the 15th to the 20th century, and it was listed on UNESCO's Memory of the World Register in 2005. In the middle of the square, you'll surely spot the UNESCO WHS plaque on a yellow marker. In front of the San Cristobal Church there's also an information board with a copy of the UNESCO WHS inscription certificate.

The main highlight, surely not to be missed when visiting Puebla is La Capilla del Rosario in the Templo de San Domingo (closed on Mondays and open only for 2.5 hrs in the morning and 2.5 hrs in the afternoon; but better double check online with quick communication on Facebook Messenger!), described in the 17th century as the Eighth …

Puebla is an exceptional colonial city, probably the most beautiful in Mexico along with Guanajuato. I spent three days there in March 2019. The remarkable, heterogeneous and often flamboyant architecture made a particular impression on me.

Several outstanding buildings are scattered throughout the city centre. Among them, I began and ended my stay in Puebla at the Catedral de Puebla. A nice sound and light show was then projected on the façade of the cathedral every Friday and Saturday night, which I admired on my last night in town, under the first rain in over a month. The towers of the cathedral (the highest in Mexico) and its imposing façade are impressive, but it is not the most richly decorated. In this kind, you have to turn to the decadent Templo de Santo Domingo and its Capilla del Rosario.The ubiquitous gold and silver of this chapel are blinding and, as Els describes it, make taking impressive and representative photographs an impossible task. One block away from the Zócalo, the Templo de la Compañía de Jesús is magnificent. However, my favourite is the Templo de San Francisco, with its façade in a variety of styles (Churrigueresque, Plateresque), notably covered with azulejos (large photo accompanying the description of the site). I also visited the Biblioteca Palafoxiana, the oldest public library in the Americas. Its shelves are filled with historical books and antique accessories and furniture are on display.

However, the real charm of the city lies in the many colourful …

Grid system of roads, arcaded squares, baroque buildings and ornate Catholic Churches, it felt so familiar, but where from? Then it hit me: Kraków! (or even Wroclaw) I wasn't expecting this Mexican city to remind me so much of Poland, but that was what came to mind over our delicious dinner on our first evening in Puebla.

I rather liked it here; it felt different to other cities in central Mexico. There was a rather nice and somewhat laid back atmosphere perfect for an evening paseo and a slow breakfast on a terrace overlooking the zocalo.

The undoubted highlight was the Marian chapel of the church of Santo Domingo. The church was already rather impressively decorated but nothing quite prepares you for the sheer ornate “baroqueness” of the chapel proper.

The other reason to visit Puebla is the magnificent food. The famous mole pueblano we tried was excellent, although another local treat proved to be even better, tinga poblana. Also if you have more of a sweet tooth it is really worth exploring Av. 6 Oriente especially at night as pretty much every shop sells an astounding amount of locally produced candies, especially camotes.

I really liked Puebla, it was a lovely place to spend our last night on the road, and it even rewarded us with wonderful views of Popocatépetl puffing away as we eased our way back to Mexico City.

[Site 7: Experience 8]

My flight from Cancun landed in Mexico City airport around 5 AM, after checked in at the nearby airport hotel, I decided to go to Puebla immediately because it was so convenient to travel from airport to Puebla by frequent direct bus, one of many reasons why I decided to stay in airport hotel during my time in this big city. There are two bus stations for Puebla, CAPU and 4 PTE I chose Puebla 4PTE bus station as this station is closer to the city centre and historical core zone and that’s mean cheaper taxi cost. I comfortably sat on the bus with compliment drinks and snacks as well as Mexican drama on TV.

The first place I visited was the famous Santo Domingo Church, at the church front yard, there was a market and fair going on, the tent obscured my view of the church, but fortunately that the entrance was still clear for me to see the beautiful white stucco on the right side of the entrance. When I entered into the church, I was already happy to see its beautiful golden altars, but when I turned left and saw the Rosary Chapel, I was so shocked to see such an unbelievable and so ornate place. Gold is almost everywhere; the art is very beautiful as a prime example of New Spanish Baroque. Then I walked around the town, seeing market, Puebla is a very prosperous city, and looks very Spanish than I thought …

From Mexico City’s TAPO bus station I took a comfortable Estrella Roja bus to Puebla. The journey takes 1 hour and 45 minutes (on a traffic-low Saturday) and passes the not-so-nice neighbourhoods of the capital before taking a winding road up to Puebla. Puebla’s location was selected by the Spanish because of the agricultural possibilities of the area, and that still proves to be true although the city nowadays has important industries too. There’s a large Volkswagen plant for example.

The bus let me off at Puebla’s CAPU bus station, and from there I took a taxi into the historic center. The city is huge (1.5 million inhabitants) so you have to rely on public transport. I asked the taxi driver to drop me off at the Santo Domingo church – when I did my preparations the church’s Rosary Chapel came out as the no.1 thing to see in Puebla. It is closed during mid-day (1-4 p.m.), so I scheduled my visit for the morning. I was already happy to see the colourful exterior of this church, but I knew I had to find my way to the chapel in the back. And there it was - Wow! So much gold. “Baroquissimo” a guide described it to its group of 30 people gazing at it with open mouths. The sun lights it from above, so it all shines nicely. It’s difficult to get good pictures of it because of all the glitter, you really have to go and see …

Puebla in my view is not only a beautiful city full of history and great architecture. Puebla has simply the greatest cuisine in America, no other city in Mexico or other country in this continent has the variety of superb dishes that Puebla has, no doubt, Puebla also has some the most valuable cooks in USA.

With a population of c1.4 million, the city of Puebla was by far the largest of the WHS-inscribed provincial “colonial” Centros Historicos we saw during our tour of Central Mexico in Mar 2008 (as well as being the 7th we had visited in 11 days!). As a result I was somewhat doubtful both whether it would have preserved much worth seeing and whether it could really offer anything new. On both counts I was pleasantly surprised.

The compact central area (50 blocks or so) is well preserved and conveys a distinctive impression which sets it apart from other Mexican cities. This is partly due to a significant external use of “azulejo” tiles which have traditionally been made in the region (photo 1). Most of the buildings are 19th century but with reasonably large numbers from the 17th/18th Centuries too – with the later ones managing to maintain the overall feeling of “grandeur”.

Now we were getting pretty “churched out” on our trip and Puebla’s enormous Cathedral seemed, to our taste, rather oppressive in atmosphere and mawkish in iconography. However, when we moved on the 4 blocks to the Rosary Chapel we were just “blown away” by its magnificence. Nowhere before have I ever seen so much decoration so tightly fitted in to such a large area as the walls and ceiling of this chapel (photo 2). It is of course totally OTT, but this ultimate in “Baroqueness” should definitely be seen. In my view this building alone justified our visit …

Puebla, a baroche town. But the baroche has a different meaning overthere, because it is not anymore an academic style, it is a laboratory of the style, ussing arabs, aztecs and catholics influences. The new convention center, designed by legorreta, it is a great sample of respect for the city, history, tradition. It is a panoramic balcony (360') to the town. the main view is the San Francisco church.

I arrived Puebla after my high school studies to begin with my undergraduate at UDLA in Cholula, Puebla. After i came for the first time i told myself "is the right place to be, because everyday of my life here, i will have some historic place to visit" There are lots of historic elements in the city to consider the character of a "Colonial" city where you could feel the history as you had been at that time, "el cilindrero", "el algodonero", and specially the marvelous gastronomy that involves the old elements of traditional cooks with some new from the world. If you are planning to visit Puebla, let me tell you that you have chosen a really nice and interesting place to be.