Palacio de Hierro Polanco, the palace of the palaces

A mall that is part of the Palacio de Hierro group. It is a quiet plaza with various trendy shops and restaurants.

What it is. This is El Palacio de Hierro's flagship store and, at the same time, a luxury shopping centre: more than a hundred brands across fashion, beauty, jewellery, homeware and electronics, plus fine-dining restaurants. It opened in 1997 to a design by the Sordo Madaleno practice —the same studio behind the San Ignacio de Loyola church, directly across Horacio— and was substantially extended in 2015, adding retail space on the lower levels. The complex also holds the corporate offices of Grupo Bal, the chain's owner, which runs around twenty stores nationwide.

Why it is worth a stop. Even if you are not shopping, the building works as a comfortable break in Polanco: cafés, clean bathrooms, air conditioning and a restaurant floor that solves lunch without going back outside. The perfume and beauty hall is one of the most complete in the city, and during sale periods —El Buen Fin in November, the January sales— it pays to arrive early, as fitting-room and checkout queues get long.

Getting there and hours. The address is Moliere 222, Polanco II Sección, one block from Avenida Masaryk. Open daily 11:00 to 21:00. By public transport, the nearest metro station is Polanco on Line 7, about a fifteen-minute walk; the Turibús Polanco circuit and the Capital Bus also stop here. There is parking, but the streets around Masaryk clog up on Friday afternoons and Saturdays.