Start in the Rosary Chapel at Santo Domingo, then cross to the cathedral and the Palafoxiana, the oldest public library in the Americas. Give an afternoon to the Museo Amparo and a morning to a talavera workshop, which is the craft the whole city is tiled in. Eat mole poblano once and a cemita once. Three days covers the centre. A fourth buys Cholula and its pyramid.
Puebla was laid out on empty ground in 1531, on a grid, by Spaniards who wanted a city with no indigenous past to build over. What they got was a baroque workshop: gilded chapels, tiled facades and a ceramic trade that still runs. The volcanoes sit on the western skyline, and Mexico City is two hours away by bus.
A side chapel of Santo Domingo, consecrated in 1690, gilded from floor to dome and dense enough with carved plaster that no flat surface survives. It is the single best argument for a trip here. Opening is split around services, 10:00 to 12:15 and 16:30 to 18:00, so a late morning arrival can find the gates shut.
The bell towers are about 70 metres, among the tallest in Mexico, and the interior runs to a Manuel Tolsá altar canopy. Tourist visiting is fitted around mass: roughly 10:00 to 17:45 on weekdays, mid afternoon at weekends, and the doors close whenever a service starts.
Founded on Bishop Palafox de Mendoza's donation of 5,000 books in 1646 and held by UNESCO on its Memory of the World register since 2005. Three tiers of carved cedar, read from a rope line rather than browsed. General entry is 45 pesos and Sundays are free.
The city's serious museum: pre-Hispanic and viceregal collections in two joined colonial houses, and a roof terrace looking straight across at the cathedral towers. Open Wednesday to Monday, 10:00 to 18:00, closed Tuesdays, and free to everyone on Mondays.
Uriarte has thrown, glazed and painted here since 1824, and the factory tour walks the whole sequence: clay, first firing, glaze, stencil, brush, second firing. Certified talavera is a protected denomination, so the tour is also the fastest way to learn what you are buying.
Toyo Ito's International Baroque Museum sits out in Angelópolis, a white concrete building whose curved walls are the exhibit as much as what hangs on them. Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 19:00, 100 pesos general, free on Sundays and on Tuesdays for several categories.
An Augustinian Recollect convent that kept running in secret after the religious orders were suppressed, now the country's museum of convent life, with sacred art gathered from four Puebla houses. Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 17:00, run by INAH.
Loreto and Guadalupe are the hilltop forts where a Mexican army held off a French one on 5 May 1862, which is what the rest of the world now calls Cinco de Mayo. Two INAH museums, both open Tuesday to Sunday, and the best long view back over the grid.
El Parián is the old craft market, 112 stalls under talavera-clad arcades, open daily 10:00 to 20:00. It runs straight into the Barrio del Artista, where painters work in open studios and the weekend tianguis sets up from 10:00. Prices drop a street back from the arcade.
A purpose-built food hall rather than a produce market: cemitas, tacos árabes, molotes, memelas and the sugar counters selling camotes and tortitas de Santa Clara, all in one room. Daily, 08:00 to 20:00, and a 15 minute walk west of the zócalo.
The Dominican church that holds the Rosary Chapel, and worth entering for the main altar alone.
Two 70 metre towers over the zócalo, and Tolsá's canopy under the crossing.
Puebla's first convent, a churrigueresque tile and brick front, and the venerated body of Sebastián de Aparicio.
The Jesuit church on the university corner, and the burial place tradition assigns to the China Poblana.
The 1646 bishop's library, on the UNESCO Memory of the World register since 2005.
One room, every poblano street dish, and the cheapest good lunch in the city.
Snack stalls around the craft market, useful when the sightseeing runs past lunch.
Open painters' studios behind El Parián, with a tianguis at weekends from 10:00.
Cemitas, tacos árabes, molotes and memelas in one hall, daily 08:00 to 20:00.
The antiques alley on 6 Sur, with the street market out on Saturdays and Sundays, 11:00 to 17:00.
The sweet street off 6 Oriente: camotes, tortitas de Santa Clara, borrachitos, muéganos.
A working neighbourhood market west of the centre, and where the city shops rather than browses.
The 1531 grid, inscribed by UNESCO in 1987, and where almost everything on this list sits.
A flower-growing Pueblo Mágico 31 km southwest, under Popocatépetl. Colectivos run all day.
Cloud forest, a stepped stone town and a Sunday market. 176 km north, so an overnight suits it better.
The neighbouring state capital, with a painted government palace and the Ocotlán basilica. About 40 km.
Apple country, a flower clock and a glass walkway over the canyon. 130 km north.
The costumed battle re-enactment in Huejotzingo, 30 km northwest, over the four days before Lent.
Holy Week fills the churches of the centre, and museums and workshops cut their hours around it.
Eighteen days of concerts, rides and regional food at the Centro Cívico 5 de Mayo by the forts.
The parade and re-enactment marking the 1862 battle fought on the hills above the city.
The dish is seasonal, tied to the walnut and pomegranate harvest. Every fonda in the centre runs it.
The grito from the balcony of the Palacio Municipal on the 15th, the civic parade on the 16th.
Altars go up in the museums and public buildings, and the bakeries switch to pan de muerto.
The Christmas light installation that takes over Atlixco, 31 km southwest, through the whole month.
Puebla Hermanos Serdán sits at Huejotzingo, about 25 km northwest, and handles a short domestic list. Estrella Roja runs a shuttle to the CAPU bus station in roughly 40 minutes.
The usual arrival. Estrella Roja and ADO run from TAPO and from Mexico City airport through the day, and the trip takes two to three and a half hours depending on traffic.
RUTA is the bus rapid transit network, paid by prepaid card, and it is the cheap way out to Angelópolis or the forts. Ordinary colectivos cover everything the trunk lines miss.
The UNESCO grid is flat and walkable end to end in about 25 minutes. Ride-hailing and sitio taxis cover the museums out at Angelópolis and the climb to the forts.
Stuffed poblano chile under walnut cream and pomegranate. Only from July to September.
A sesame roll with breaded meat, stringy quesillo, avocado and pápalo. Order it at a market.
Fried corn-dough parcels stuffed with potato, chorizo or cheese. A standing breakfast.
Chiles, chocolate and a long list of spices over turkey or chicken. The city's signature dish.
Spit-roasted pork in a pita-style flatbread, left by Lebanese migration in the 1930s.
Small tortillas fried in lard, sauced red or green, with onion and shredded meat.
Sweet potato candy rolled in paper, sold by the box on the Calle de los Dulces.
Shortbread rounds glazed with pumpkin seed paste, from the convent that named them.
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