By Harry Nara · Last updated
- Fair opensWednesday 3 February 2027
- Final daySunday 7 February 2027
- Where
- Centro Banamex
- Tickets
- Ticketed
- Time of year
- February
- Dates
- Around the same dates every year
Zona MACO runs 3 to 7 February 2027 at Centro Banamex, as stated by the organiser. The opening is Wednesday 3 February from 5pm to 8pm, on its own ticket; then Thursday 4 and Friday 5 from 1pm to 8pm, Saturday 6 from noon to 8pm and Sunday 7 from 11am to 6pm. A day costs MX$540 online or MX$620 at the box office, the opening MX$640 online, a Thursday-to-Sunday pass MX$1,800, and students and INAPAM card holders MX$370; online prices carry a 15% service charge, and under-12s with an adult go free. An HSBC cardholder presale on 6 and 7 November 2026 is about 15% cheaper. The satellite fairs and gallery openings that fill the same week announce their dates separately and much later.
The fair itself is a ticketed convention-centre event in the north-west of the city. The week around it is the reason to come: satellite fairs, gallery openings and museum shows across Roma, Juárez and San Miguel Chapultepec, most of them free and far easier to get into than the main hall.
What Zona MACO actually is
The largest contemporary art fair in Latin America, drawing galleries from across the Americas and Europe to a convention centre in Lomas de Sotelo for five days in the early part of the year.
It is a commercial fair rather than an exhibition. Work is for sale, gallerists are working, and the sections cover contemporary, modern, design, photography and antiques in separate halls.
Around it has grown a week that is arguably larger than the fair. Satellite fairs run in hotels and private houses, commercial galleries across the city open at the same hour on the same nights, and museums time major shows to coincide.
Where to watch Zona MACO
- The main hall at Centro Banamex. Ticketed, and the best part of a day if you intend to see all of it.
- The satellite fairs. They take over hotels and private houses and change venue year to year. Smaller, cheaper or free, and where the younger galleries are.
- Roma Norte, Juárez and San Miguel Chapultepec on opening nights. More commercial galleries than anywhere else here, and the openings cluster on the same evenings so you can walk between several.
- The museums, at normal admission. Major shows across the city are timed to the week and are open to anyone.
Tickets and what it costs
The fair sells through its own site and at the box office, which costs more. A single day is a little over five hundred pesos online, a pass for the four public days about three times that, and the site adds a 15% service charge at checkout. Students and holders of the INAPAM senior card pay less, and children under twelve with an adult go free. The figures are on the card above.
The opening is the first evening, three hours long and on a ticket of its own that costs a little more than an ordinary day. It is open to anyone who buys one, not only to invited guests. The platinum pass covers all five days and adds the VIP hours.
The satellite fairs and the gallery openings are mostly free and need nothing booked. That is the half of the week that costs nothing, and it is the reason most people who live here take part in it at all.
Official information and booking: zsonamaco.com
Getting there
Centro Banamex, formerly Centro Citibanamex, sits in the north-west of the city and is not close to a Metro station. Ride-hailing is the normal way, and it is a long way from the centre in traffic.
Allow far more time than the distance suggests, particularly in the late afternoon, when the route back through Polanco is slow.
The gallery districts are the opposite problem and a pleasure to solve: Roma Norte, Juárez and San Miguel Chapultepec are close enough to walk between over an evening.
Mistakes worth avoiding
Going only to the fair
The convention hall is one building in a week that fills the whole city. Most of what is worth seeing is free, in galleries, and nowhere near Lomas de Sotelo.
Underestimating the journey
The venue is far out in the north-west with no Metro, and the drive back through Polanco in the late afternoon is slow enough to lose an evening.
Booking a hotel in the week without checking
Roma, Condesa and Polanco price up for the fair week. It is the one expensive stretch of an otherwise good-value month.
Expecting a museum
It is a commercial fair. Gallerists are there to sell, the labels carry prices, and the pace is nothing like an exhibition.
Missing the opening nights
The gallery openings cluster on particular evenings and that is when the art world here is visible at all. Check listings the week before rather than wandering.
Assuming last year’s satellite venues
The satellites move, sometimes to a different hotel or a private house entirely. Confirm each one rather than going where it was.
Other Mexico City events
Frequently asked questions
What is Zona MACO?
The largest contemporary art fair in Latin America, held over five days at a convention centre in the north-west of Mexico City. Galleries come from across the Americas and Europe, and the fair divides into contemporary, modern, design, photography and antiques sections. It is a commercial fair, so the work is for sale and the labels carry prices.
Do you need a ticket for Zona MACO?
For the main fair, yes, sold through the organiser’s own site and at the box office: single days, a pass for the four public days, and a separate ticket for the opening evening, with the prices on the card above. Children under twelve with an adult go free. The satellite fairs and the gallery openings around the city are mostly free.
Is Zona MACO worth visiting for non-collectors?
The week is, more than the hall. Satellite fairs, gallery openings across Roma, Juárez and San Miguel Chapultepec, and museum shows timed to coincide put the whole art scene of the city on view at once, most of it free. The main fair is worth a day if you want the scale of it in one place.
How do you get to Centro Banamex?
Ride-hailing, in practice. The venue is in Lomas de Sotelo in the north-west and is not near a Metro station, so allow considerably more time than the distance suggests, especially coming back through Polanco in the late afternoon.
Can an ordinary visitor buy anything at Zona MACO?
Yes, and not everything is at collector prices. The design, photography and editions sections carry work at far lower figures than the contemporary halls, and the satellite fairs exist partly because younger galleries price below the main floor. Prices are on the labels, gallerists will talk to you, and nobody is checking whether you are a collector.
When is the best time to go during the fair week?
Midweek for the hall, which is calmer than the weekend, and the opening evenings for the galleries, because that is when the doors are open and the art world here is out. Check gallery listings in the week beforehand, since the satellite venues move year to year.
Sources
Dates on this page are checked against the organiser’s own listing and confirmed through 2029. Written and maintained by Harry Nara.