The Best Kids Museum in Mexico City

The Papalote Museo del Niño is the quintessential kids attraction you will find in Mexico City. The museum, located in Chapultepec Park, offers hands-on activities and play areas, all for various age groups.

I am not usually big on “kids museums,” but I warmed up to Papalote and am glad we had the opportunity to visit! In the days following our visit, my 5-year-old would ask, “When can we go back to the kids’ museum?”

We acknowledge that the land in and around Mexico City is the stolen land of the Mēxihcah people.

BASE COST

Admission: ~$10-$13 USD/person*, including children (half-off if you visit Tuesday-Thursday!)
Transportation (~$5-$10/USD Uber ride, or $2.50 USD/day to park in Chapultepec)

Add-Ons:

Meals & snacks

*This was one of the more expensive activities we did on our trip

About Our Visit

AGE OF OUR KID: 5 years

LENGTH OF VISIT: ~3+ hours

DAY OF THE WEEK: Saturday

Top Tips to Make the Most of Your Visit

What to Pack

Standard diaper bag essentials
Umbrella stroller, if needed
Ergobaby or soft baby carrier, if needed
Snacks and/or lunch, if desired

Time Your Visit

The museum is open until 7pm, which made for a great late-afternoon activity when all the other museums had closed for the day!

Admission is half-off on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, so if you can swing those times you’ll enjoy some savings.

We went on a Saturday afternoon and the museum was quite overrun with children and their families, but not in a stifling way. The rain also made the indoor areas more crowded than usual.

Know Before You Go

We went to the museum with no prior research other than how to get there and their opening hours, which was totally fine! While it may have been initially overwhelming with the crowds of families and colorful exhibits, the layout of the museum lent itself to organic exploration and following our child’s interests.

While not necessary, you can visit the Exhibitions page on the museum website to read high-level descriptions about the current exhibitions. At the museum itself, the exhibitions and help text are all in Spanish.

Tickets have optional add-ons, such as admission to the museum’s in-house IMAX movie theater and/or the domodigital planetarium. There was plenty to do without these add-ons, but they’d be great options for your movie-going youngsters.

Go "Shopping"

One of our kindergartener’s favorite activities was to go grocery shopping in the museum’s “market,” complete with little carts, payment cards, and lots of realistic-looking items you’d typically find at the grocery.

The children are encouraged to purchase ~10 items for dinner. After pulling items off the shelves and placing them in their carts, the children line up and “self-checkout” their items.

This activity requires you to line up, since only a limited number of children and their families can be in the shopping area. Between waiting in line and the actual activity, you could easily spend ~30 minutes on this activity, so plan accordingly.

Beware of Height Requirements

Our kid was slightly disappointed when we realized she was not yet tall enough to climb on the large play structure. Still, she had plenty other things to do!

Take Breaks

The museum felt like sensory overload when we first entered and made our way through the exhibits. Plus there were tons of kids and families all gathered indoors because it was raining and the outdoor play areas were all wet. These factors made it imperative for us to take a quiet break so as not to overload ourselves!

Try to find a quiet corner where you and your family can have a snack with some peace and quiet. The museum has a nursing room, so I recommend taking full advantage of it! Had it not been raining, the outdoor play structures and nature areas would’ve been great places to take a break.

The museum also has an outdoor food court where you can grab a meal (we got sushi) or a snack if you didn’t bring your own. The options are quite limited (think McDonald’s, Subway, and Domino’s), so come prepared!

Kids museums don’t usually make it to the top of my bucket list, especially in destinations we visit because our family’s itinerary is often jam-packed as it is. Plus, on the Venn diagram of kid- and adult-oriented activities, I gravitate towards the latter end of that spectrum because I’d prefer not to spend several hours of my vacation around crowds of strangers and their children…

But since we factored in a bit of unstructured time during our first trip to Mexico City, I made an exception 😀 And in the end, Papalote Museo del Niño was well worth the visit if you have some extra time during your trip to Mexico City. It was lovely to see local families enjoying themselves, and we did, as well!

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Angelica

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Angelica (she/her) is of Cebuano(Pilipinx)-descent and was born and raised in Huchiun Ohlone territory (the East Bay Area--pay your Shuumi Land Tax!), where she also now resides with her partner and their toddler. She loves to spend her time sipping on boba and dirty chai lattes (sometimes together), and eating pescetarian goodies at BIPOC-owned cafes and restaurants.