Happy New Year, MND readers! It’s already January and we’re ready to enjoy our beloved Mexico City — and more importantly, she’s ready for us! This year, as our country will be one of the World Cup host countries, Mexico aims to break several Guinness World Records, given our nation-wide passion for soccer — and we surely will, with your help! However, for those of us who are not exactly panboleros, the capital has a lot to offer in art, photography and theater. Continue reading and find out all about it.
Electro MegaRAVE 2026
The Mexico City government revealed that the Ángel de la Independencia will be transformed into a giant dance floor to celebrate the arrival of the new year. Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada recently confirmed that 2026 will start with a massive electronic music party. The rave is expected to begin on the evening of Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025, and end in the early hours of Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. A monumental dance floor will be set up at the foot of the Angel of Independence and along Paseo de la Reforma, with lights, dancers, lasers and one of the best sound systems in the country.
Dates: From Dec. 31, 2025, to Jan. 1, 2026
Location: Avenida Paseo de la Reforma, centered at the Ángel de la Independencia monument
Cost: Free admittance
Light Cycles 2026
Light Cycles arrives in Mexico City with a wonderful tour through Chapultepec Forest. This January 2026 will be your last chance to experience this immersive adventure, which begins in Rosario Castellanos Park and extends to the capital’s largest park. Featuring five light and sound installations, this nighttime tour unveils “a sanctuary that celebrates the beauty of nature through cutting-edge technology,” as described by event organizers. Sounds like the perfect winter plan, especially with the cold weather, right?
Dates: All January long!
Location: Parque Rosario Castellanos, Chapultepec Forest, 2nd Section; entry through the Calzada Flotante accessible via the Jardín Escénico Chapultepec
Cost: Tickets starting at 295 pesos for adults. Get yours here!
Stranger Things: The Experience
Netflix and Blast Entertainment teamed up to create this immersive experience, where visitors become scientists at Hawkins Lab, the terrifying setting for the most macabre events of Stranger Things. With the fifth season just released, the hype is at its peak. Visitors can unleash their psychic powers, like Eleven and Kali, in immersive rooms themed around the 1980s. There will also be exclusive merchandise, as well as photo opportunities with Demogorgons and other characters from the series.
Dates: All January long!
Location: Expo. Reforma, Avenida Morelos 67, Juárez, Cuauhtémoc
Cost: Tickets starting at 616 pesos. Get yours here!
Rosca de Reyes Fest 2026
It’s Rosca de Reyes season, just in time for Día de Reyes festivities in Mexico City. Finally! And the Rosca de Reyes Fest organizers know it. This gastronomic has everything that we, pan de muerto lovers, need, from chocolate-stuffed rosca to vegan and keto options. All ingredients are produced locally, as tradition dictates for these bread-themed culinary festivals. No Rosca de Reyes experience is complete without café de olla and hot Mexican cocoa, which will be available on site, of course.
Dates: Jan. 3-4, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Location: Huerto Roma Verde, Jalapa 234, Roma Norte, Cuauhtémoc
Cost: Free of charge
‘Soft Math’ (Cloud in The Eyes) exhibit at Lago Algo
New York-based artist Jonah Freeman arrives in Mexico City with his first solo exhibition in Latin America, Soft Math (Cloud in the Eyes). Organized by Lago Algo gallery, it showcases his “experimental narrative, material abstraction and cinematic logic to explore the hidden infrastructures of contemporary life,” as described by the curatorial team. Several drone-captured, abstract images flood the gallery, as a way to portray how “human-made machines that observe equally human-made environments.”
Dates: Running until Jan. 4
Location: Lago Algo, Bosque de Chapultepec, Pista El Sope S/N, Miguel Hidalgo
Cost: Free of charge
Watch Mr. Gwyn at Teatro Helénico
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At the height of his career, fictional author Jasper Gwyn decides to disappear from the literary world. In the midst of a terrible midlife crisis, he decides to invent a new profession for himself: portraying people with words, capturing their soul rather than their appearances. Each session becomes an act of emotional revelation. As described by the Teatro Helénico team: “A profound gaze that transforms both the model and Gwyn himself.” Adapted by Mexican playwright Juan Cabello, this is a story about art, identity and intimacy directed by renowned Alonso Iñiguez.
Dates: Running from Jan. 15 to Feb. 15.
Location: Av. Revolución 1500, Guadalupe Inn, Álvaro Obregón
Cost: Tickets starting at 410 pesos
Indie Fest 2026
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Remember the cool, alternative guy you dated last year? He probably already has tickets for the Indie Fest 2026. Highlighting Mexican independent music with emerging and established artists, the festival is expected to grow as a platform for the local scene, with calls for Mexican rock, pop and electro local bands. If you’re really into delving into the newest and quirkiest music, this is your plan to kickstart the year, as underground artists like Oralia will be performing.
Dates: Jan. 18 and 25.
Location: Donceles 12, Centro Histórico, Cuauhtémoc
Cost: Tickets starting at 100 pesos. Buy yours here!
Bazar Resiliente
Independent Mexican creators make a line to be a part of Bazar Resiliente, one of the most iconic creative gatherings of the year. The best of local ceramists, fashion designers, eco-friendly makeup brands and graphic talent in Mexico City get to showcase their latest production. No CDMX It Girl should miss it, honestly! Moreover, on Jan. 24, Colonia Roma’s Centro Gallego will host Workshop Resiliente, a series of entrepreneurship talks in which eight speakers will share their experiences as independent creators.
Dates: Jan. 24-25.
Location: Centro Gallego, Colima 194, Roma Norte, Cuauhtémoc
Cost: Free of charge. Workshop entry fee starts at 850 pesos.
Visit ‘Fijar el Tiempo,’ the latest Graciela Iturbide exhibition
Last year, after decades of photographic production, Mexican photographer Graciela Iturbide was awarded the 2025 Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts. Honoring this major achievement in her career (and her 83rd birthday!), Fomento Cultural Bamanex curated a fantastic selection of self-portraits by the artist. The exhibition starts with endearing pictures of her wedding (the only piece in color, as the others were taken in black and white), and recreates her photographic work throughout her career. Everything from her earliest works for the National Indigenous Institute to her emblematic series in Juchitán, Oaxaca. This is a January must in Mexico City.
Dates: From Nov. 28, 2025, to Feb. 8, 2026
Location: Fomento Cultural Banamex, Francisco I. Madero 17, Centro Histórico, Cuauhtémoc
Cost: Free of charge
Velasco’s Garden
Featuring 2,500 previously unseen pieces from the José María Velasco Collection, the Kaluz Museum presents a journey through the artist’s paintings, notebooks, sketches, letters, manuscripts, books and personal belongings. The exhibition is both intimate and scholarly, encompassing pieces that reflect “his naturalist, scientific and artistic side, as well as his private life,” said curators in a statement. As an avid observer of the Valley of Mexico in the 19th century, the painter found in nature a space for study and contemplation that “contributed to shaping a mineral, zoological, botanical and archaeological vision” of the country at that time.
Dates: From Oct. 26, 2025, to May 25, 2026
Location: Fomento Cultural Banamex, Francisco I. Madero 17, Centro Histórico, Cuauhtémoc
Cost: Free of charge
Andrea Fischer is an editor for Mexico News Daily. She has edited and written for National Geographic en Español and Muy Interesante México, and continues to advocate for anything that screams science. Or yoga. Or both.
