Mexico City is reportedly home to more museums than any other city on earth (except for perhaps London, depending on how you count them). During my most recent visit to Mexico’s capital, I explored one of the city’s trippiest museums: the Museo del Juguete Antiguo Mexico (Mexico Antique Toy Museum). It was impossible not to be mesmerized.
The museum owners say it’s the world’s largest collection of toys. And the owners may just be right. After one visit to the toy museum , I felt I’d barely scratched the surface of this dizzying, multi-level exhibit of all things playful.
••••••
MEXICO TRAVEL TIPS: $57 Airbnb in Mexico City: What You Get for the $$
••••••
Open since 2006 in a former apartment building in the neighborhood called Doctores, this museum is not some clean, cold institution with stuffy exhibits and extensive, scholarly signage providing meticulous details about each and every item. This Mexico City museum is more like if your grandmother happened to save every one of the toys she owned as a girl, and then every single toy owned by your mother, father and you, too. And that’s part of the appeal.
The owners did only minor updates to the building, piling exhibits into the floor plans of former apartments and even converting several bathrooms into exhibit halls, complete with toilets still in tact. Four floors are stuffed to the brim with toys from various centuries, with a large percentage from the 1900s.
••••••
MEXICO HOTEL REVIEW: New Tech & Pandemic Travel Protocols at Brand-New Fiesta Americana Viaducto
••••••
Exhibits include fashion dolls (lots of recent and vintage Barbie dolls, as well as an impressive collection of Lily Ledy, a Mexican brand that even features Aeromexico and Mexicana flight attendant and pilot dolls). Also on a grande scale is the exhibit of colorful lucha libra toys and King Kong memorabilia (which I believe is a temporary exhibit). Toy vehicles are well represented too, as are souvenirs from the 1968 Olympics, which took place in Mexico City. The exhibits are packed so full that it’s overwhelming, and you could easily spend hours taking it all in.
During our visit during the coronavirus pandemic, the museum was following special protocols that limited our time there; they had capacity controls and guided small groups through each room (without narration). Our guide assured us that when things go back to normal, it will be possible to spend hours there. We will definitely be going back. There are so many fascinating things and fun things to do in Mexico City, and this museum is just one example of the colorful surprises that await in North America’s largest metropolis.
Follow my travels and get more insider travel tips on Instagram! @Mundera