News, Tips & Offers delivered to your inbox.

Take a stroll or sit at a café, enjoy a mariachi band or street performers-Mexico's old-town plazas are just made for lovers.

The colonial Plaza de la Liberación in Guadalajara

From mariachis to mole sauce and Mayan ruins, Mexico boasts muchos cultural icons. But none is as vital as the plaza, the large open space in the middle of every city, town and village that functions as the heart of local life. Plazas are not only the focal point for festivals, political gatherings and solemn expressions of faith, but they’re also places to shop, eat and catch a ride home. Most often called zócalo, the town square surrounded by a colonnade was a concept imported from Spain. Yet some experts believe the idea actually predates colonial times, noting that large plazas were also integral to the economic, religious and civic life of pre-Columbian cultures like the Maya.

In addition to their religious and economic importance, plazas are also very romantic. Lovers stroll hand in hand, stopping to toast one another with the world’s best tequila and dine by candlelight at an outdoor café to the strains of a mariachi band. Here are four very different, but equally delightful, Mexican plazas.

The Zócalo in Mexico City

The enormous flag in Mexico City's Zócalo

Mexico City’s main square was built on the site of the ancient Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, and is one of the largest plazas in the world. (Only Moscow’s Red Square and Tiananmen Square in Beijing are bigger.) The vast space, which can hold more than 40 football fields, isn’t just the soul of Mexico City, it’s also the heart of the nation. At its center is a towering flagpole surmounted by a giant tricolor that waves in the high-altitude breeze. It is at this spot that the Mexican president makes his National Day speech every year. And it has been the site of many historic political gatherings, popular events and famous demonstrations.

With its constant ebb and flow of people headed to church, home from work or simply hanging out, the Zócalo is a sight to behold. You’ll see Aztec dancers in feathered headdresses, incredible acrobats, folk musicians and “soapbox” speakers rendering impassioned speeches. On Christmas and Easter the square holds large celebrations, and on September 15th it overflows with Independence Day festivities.

Bordering the plaza are grand colonial buildings, many of them constructed of stones from Aztec structures that once occupied this space. Dominating the square’s northern end is the massive Metropolitan Cathedral, so big and elaborate it took the Spanish nearly three centuries (1573-1813) to finish it. The first thing you’ll notice are the double 200-foot-tall neoclassical towers, housing 18 bells, and the huge wooden main doors that were carved in the 17th century. Inside, you’ll find five naves, 14 side chapels, an enormous gold-leaf altar and a gargantuan pipe organ. Around the back of the cathedral are deep pits surrounded by a scattering of cut stones—ruins of Aztec's Templo Mayor, a massive step pyramid that was demolished by the Spanish conquistadors. The adjacent archeological museum contains many relics, like an eight-ton stone statue of the Aztec moon goddess, Coyolzauhqui. Other historic buildings around the large square include the Spanish-style Palacio Nacional with its striking Diego Rivera murals.

After braving the Zócalo's crowds, ascend to the rooftop Terraza Restaurant of the nearby Hotel Majestic, where you'll enjoy a bird's-eye view of the square while siopping margaritas or cold Coronas beneath blue umbrellas. Then check into the the Gran Hotel Ciudad, a romantic gem of a building with Tiffany stained-glass ceilings and wrought-iron elevators, located at the southwest corner of the square. Ask for a room on the third floor and you'll have spectacular vistas of the Zócalo below, through tall windows and a balcony (granhotelciudaddemexico.com.mx).

The Plaza de la Liberación in Guadalajara

Catching an evening concert in the Plaza de la Liberación

Mexico's second largest city has four old Spanish squares forming a cross around the cathedral in the city center. Most lively of these is the Plaza de la Liberación, which sprawls across the spot where a handful of colonial families founded this central Mexican city in 1542. Today the plaza brims with laurel trees and flowering jacarandas as well as shops and restaurants and fountains. In the plaza's market, you'll find vendors selling local favorites, like corn-wrapped tamales and homemade soups, and such regional handicrafts as pottery, wood carvings and leather goods. And there are plenty of other distractions: You can take a spin in a horse-drawn carriage, watch an alfresco fashion show or march with miliary cadets during the flag-lowring ceremony held every Thursday.

(Top) Inside Guadalajara's ornate cathedral. (Bottom) the soaring exterior of the cathedral of Guadalajara.

Located at the plaza's eastern end is Teatro Degollado, one of Mexico's most celebrated theater and concert venues, which echoes the chords of everything from Italian opera and Mozart concertos to mariachis. Ranchera concerts, a form that is rooted in traditional rural music and uses guitar, horns and accordian, are also common. On Sundays don't miss what many people consider the country's best folklorico performances of Mexican music, costume and dance. Traditional dance forms in Mexico reflect the nations's history—pre-colonial, colonial and post-independence—so depending on the era, participants may wear loincloths and deer antlers or flouncy flamenco-style costumes. Don't forget to stop inside the cathedral, which houses a collection of 17th-century paintings.

Located less than a block off the plaza is the Hotel Francés, lodged in a 1610 building that is now a national monument. Reserve a corner room on one of the upper floors and enjoy views of the city (hotelfrances.com).

The Zócalo in Oaxaca City

Way down south, Oaxaca's version of the Zócalo is a small, intimate square, where the outdoor cafés and bars literally spill out onto the street. Unlike the central plazas in many other Mexican cities, the Oaxaca version doesn't boast a lot of historic buildings. Tucked into the southwest corner is a small Jesuit church, and the Palacio de Gobierno (with its intersting murals) sprawls along the Zócalo's southern edge. Otherwise, the plaza is given over to commerce—in particular, Mexican eateries and places to sample local favorites like mescal with lemon and café de olla, flavored with raw cane sugar and a pinch of cinnamon. There's a wrought-iron bandstand in the middle of the plaza, which features live music on most evenings. And leafy trees provide plenty of shade for a lazy afternoon on a park bench. Sit a spell and watch Oaxaca pass you by. There goes a parade of people in ropa tipica (traditional costume, which includes brightly colored rebozo shawls and richly embroidered blouses) and balloon bendors holding their wares aloft. You'll see old men selling kitschy animal figurines carved from copal wood, ever-eager shoe shiners and ice cream vendors, followed by a crowd of kids.Over in one corner, there's a faith healer; beneath a tree, a cricket vendor; and beside the fountain, a woman selling fresh corn on the cob.

Oaxaca City's quiet main square

At the end of October, the Zócalo reaches fever pitch during the vibrant Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration. For two days and three nights, hundreds of people in fantasical costumes crowd into the square—some on stilts and others wearing giant papier-mâché skulls—and parade around town. Everyone is invited to tag along as the group winds its way to a nearby cemetery for an all-night tequila and tamale party.

No matter when you visit, you'll want to stay at the chic Casa Oaxaca. Located four blocks north of the plaza, the five-room boutique hotel has whitewashed walls a sapphire swimming pool and hammocks perfect for lounging (casaoaxaca.com.mx).

The Plaza of a Thousand Columns in Chichén Itzá

One of Mexico's most intriguing sites is the pre-colonial Plaza of a Thousand Columns, which sits in the middle of the ancient Mayan city of Chichén Itzá on the Yucatan Peninsula. Experts aren't exactly sure what the area was used for, nor do they know whether the space was an outdoor plaza or the ground floor of an enormous building.

Today, the plaza is surrounded on three sides by rows of stone columns, many of them richly inscribed in Mayan glyphs. Flanking the square are two ball courts, a steam bath, the public market and the area's famed Temple of the Warriors. And hovering above the plaza is the massive El Castillo, the ancient city's foremost temple and place of sacrifice. It's easy to imagine the bustling scene that must have unfolded here each day, with Mayan warriors and priests mingling, and peasants and slaves doing the marketing for their masters. It all ended abruptly in the 13th century, when the city was inexplicably abandoned. Theories on the cause abound, including drought, civil war or a pestilential disease. By the time the Spanish explorers reached the site 300 years later, the city was a shadow of its former glory.

The plaza (and the rest of the ruins) are at their best early in the morning before the crowds arrive, when the sun i s low and everything is shrouded in an eerie mist. After dark, the Sound & Light show unfolds against the dramatic background of El Castillo. As a historical drama plays, colored lights flash across the monuments. The Hacienda Chichén is a great place to spend the night. Here's archeologists like Sylvanus Morley, the inspiration for the fictional Indiana Jones, stayed while excavating the area in the 1920s. Located on the entrance road to the ruins, the property features whitewashed bungalows with wood-beam ceilings, colonial reproductions furnishings and modern bathrooms (haciendachichen.com).

Photography: Mexico Tourism Board.