Get your Mexican flags (and Tums pills) ready, because September 2025 is here and some of the best culinary events will fill our taste buds with delights from across the country. Beyond enjoying “El Grito,” Mexico’s traditional cry of independence, our civic festivals, architectural and theatrical performances also await. Here’s our digest of what’s on in Mexico City in September 2025.
Chiles Rellenos Festival by Sanborns
Every year, Mexicans eagerly await September to try the seasonal dishes. Honoring this long wait, traditional restaurant Sanborns celebrates our cuisine with its yearly Festival de Chiles Rellenos. Although traditional chiles en nogada will be the stars of the event (as expected), customers will also be able to try different stuffed chile recipes from across the country. If you visit your nearest Sanborns store, don’t even ask for the menu — just order chiles en nogada. You can thank us later.
Dates: Running from Sept. 1-30
Location? Any Sanborns store in Mexico City!
Cost: Varies according to menu items ordered
Bosque de Chapultepec annual race
Covering 15 kilometers, the 2025 edition of the Chapultepec Park Race is designed to allow participants to explore every corner of the park. Organized by the Chapultepec Forest Trust and Asdeporte, the event has a clear goal: to raise funds for the conservation work needed by Mexico City’s “greatest lung.” From Gran Avenida, within the First Section of the Forest, to the Monument to the Child Heroes, the route is divided into 3 categories: 5, 10, and 15 kilometers, depending on the skill level of each participant.
Date: Sept. 7
Location: Follow the official route here
Cost: Entrance fees starting at 500 pesos
Piano Festival at the National Center for the Arts
The Blas Galindo auditorium, one of the National Center for the Arts’ largest concert halls, will host the “Blanco y Negro” piano festival this year. On its 28th edition, interpreters from the United Kingdom, Belgium, Switzerland and Cuba will take the stage in eight different concerts. As “the most important piano showcase in the country,” as described by CENART’s authorities, the program is one of the most ambitious of the year.
Dates: Every weekend in September, from Sept. 6-28
Location: Río Churubusco 79, Country Club, Coyoacán.
Cost: 250 pesos
Leviatán
View this post on Instagram
This soundscape exhibit feeds an algorithm with each visitor’s voice. In this way, the chatbot – the centerpiece of the tour – responds to new visitors with a mix of the voices of previous attendees. In the context of the AI boom, according to museum authorities, Leviatán “invites us to look beyond technological wonder and explore the profound questions about what it means to be human.”
Dates: Until Sept. 28
Location: Justo Sierra 16, Centro, Cuauhtémoc.
Cost: 50 pesos
‘El Grito’ at the national palace
For the first time in Mexico’s history, a woman will perform ‘El Grito’ from Mexico City’s Palacio Nacional. President Claudia Sheinbaum is expected to lead the traditional Independence Day Ceremony from her office’s balcony. During the event, she will ring the same bell that leader Miguel Hidalgo used to call for an armed uprising 215 years ago. In a country with a daily toll of 10 feminicides, this is not only a victory over gender violence but a milestone for gender struggle across the country.
Date: Sept. 15
Location: You can watch “El Grito: online or watch it on TV
Cost: Free of charge
Watch the fireworks and light show in the Zócalo
The best way to enjoy ‘El Grito’ and the fireworks is from above. Of course, watching the show directly from the Zócalo has its own charm. However, it’s far more comfortable to enjoy the show from a terrace or balcony of one of the hotels surrounding the main square. The mapping and fireworks last for about an hour, during which you could have a hearty Mexican dinner from a lovely terrace or balcony. My best suggestion would be to book a room at the Grand Hotel, where you can spend the entire night away from the crowds, with the best view.
Date: Sept. 15-16
Location:16 de Septiembre 82, Centro, Cuautémoc.
Cost: Fees vary depending on the room
MEXTRÓPOLI 2025
Mexico City’s most important architectural festival is up in September. Expecting roughly 100,000 visitors this year, the event addresses “Collective Housing” as its main theme. The open-air exhibition seeks to rethink how we inhabit cities and how we can design spaces that respond to current challenges. Through several workshops and talks, MEXTRÓPOLI 2025 will question balanced urban density, architectural flexibility, recycling materials and the creation of community environments.
Dates: Sept. 18-21
Location: Several locations across town. Check the route here
Cost: Free, but workshop fees may vary
Museo Universitario del Chopo’s 50th Anniversary
Celebrating a 5-decade journey through contemporary art and exhibits, Museo Universitario del Chopo has announced a multidisciplinary program that spans across every discipline the venue has hosted. The iconic cultural venue in the Santa María neighborhood will showcase iconic moments in its history, from being brought piece by piece from Germany to its time as an archaeology museum. Karol Wolley, a representative of the curatorial team, emphasized that this is not a typical chronological exhibition: it is presented as a collection of curiosities, to show an “intimate relationship with the history of the site itself.”
Dates: Aug. 21-Nov. 25
Location: Museo del Chopo, Dr. Enrique González Martínez 10-P.B., Santa María la Ribera, Cuauhtémoc.
Cost: General entrée starting at 30 pesos; children and seniors, 15 pesos.
Japan: from myth to manga
“The Great Wave off Kanagawa,” an icon of Japanese art, arrives like a tsunami in Mexico City with the exhibition “Japón: del Mito al Manga.” Hosted by the Franz Mayer Museum, in the capital’s Historic Center, the exhibit showcases legends, iconography, fashion, design and technology “to create a sensorial journey that connects the past with the present,” museum authorities note.
Dates: Aug. 8-Sept. 30
Location: Museo Franz Mayer. Hidalgo 45, Centro Histórico, Cuauhtémoc.
Cost: Entrance fees starting at 180 pesos.
Watch EGREGOR, director Santiago Cumplido’s latest creation
“Egregor” refers to a thought that gives life to a non-physical entity. In the boom of AI, director Santiago Cumplido designed, staged and choreographed this performance, staged at the iconic Capilla Gótica theater, which transports us to a futuristic Mexico where time has been fractured. The show features dance, clones, and post-humans “in a world where the collective unconscious has given birth to an entity that feeds on human energy,” said theater authorities.
Dates: Sept. 25-Oct. 19
Location: Teatro de la Capilla at Instituto Helénico. Avenida Revolución 1500, Guadalupe Inn, Álvaro Obregón.
Cost: Entrance fees starting at 650 pesos
Andrea Fischer contributes to the features desk at Mexico News Daily. She has edited and written for National Geographic en Español and Muy Interesante México, and continues to be an advocate for anything that screams science. Or yoga. Or both.
