Palacio Nacional (National Palace)

The Palacio Nacional is the seat of legislative power in Mexico City.

It's like their Congress and White House put together. This is a must-do trip, but has some logistical challenges. The Palacio Nacional has some of the most famous Diego Rivera murals. They are incredibly large, intricate, and cover hundreds of years of Mexican history. The building is an old, hundreds of years old Spanish castle that was gifted to the government.

X Marks the Spot of the entrance to Palacio Nacional!

This is the entrance to Palacio Nacional on Moneda

The entrance to the National Palace is on the side street Moneda. It is an entrance approximately 100 yards from the Zocalo square

National Palace closes at 5 PM. You want to get in that line at 3 PM at the latest.

There May be a long line to get into Palacio National. Do not be scared by it. The line is on a busy street, and there will be thousands of people and complete chaos churning by. Just enjoy the people watching at that moment. The line goes much faster than you would expect. You should only be in line for 30-40 minutes tops. It is not as bad as it looks.

Important: They will hold your ID, while you go in. You cannot get into the Palacio National without a photo ID.

I recommend bringing a driver's license because leaving a passport is scary. You will get the ID back, just trust in the system. But make sure to bring an ID. This is also another place where you can't bring water into.

When you walk into Palacio National, there will be immediately to your right a historical museum. Skip that. When you walk in, go straight back, straight through the courtyard toward Diego Rivera murals. That's what you're there to see. 

Also at Palacio National is a recreation of the Mexican congress chambers, which is very beautiful.

Something that will surprise you about Palacio National is how pro-Communist and pro-socialist the murals are. I think for an American, that was really surprising in government buildings to see anti-government, anti-capitalist paintings.

Diego Rivera mural. Person on bottom left to show scale.