Destination: Mexico City : The Fine Art of Rediscovering a Metropolis : From museums and galleries to a neighborhood hotel, this is the Mexico City many visitors overlook.

A charming, family-run, Victorian-style hotel with rooms for about $25. Espresso and fresh-baked pastries at a neighborhood cafe. Streets lined with sophisticated art galleries--and no fewer than four major modern or contemporary art museums a few minutes away by taxi. . . . What undiscovered, bargain-priced European cultural capital is this?

Why, it’s Mexico City.

Mexico City is a difficult place, crowded beyond all reason (with a population of more than 20 million) and choked with smog and traffic. But it’s also one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world, a metropolis bustling with international trade and glittering with trendy night spots and restaurants, a capital of fashion and the entertainment industry--and a city with a long tradition of hospitality to the arts.

The guidebooks tend to point visitors mostly toward Aztec ruins and Spanish churches, often giving the impression that the pre-Columbian/ colonial circuit reveals about all the art the city has to offer. But Mexico City was home to such giants of Mexican art as Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Jose Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros, all of whom are amply represented in local collections (and often on local walls). The capital also lured many famous artists from other countries, among them photographers Edward Weston and Tina Modotti, and surrealist painter Andre Breton. And today, the city is full of exciting young artists, supported by a thriving local gallery scene--and we’re not talking here about artists who paint watermelons or colorful peasants, or Madonnas on black velvet.

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And there are those four museums.

Museo de Arte Moderno, or the Museum of Modern Art, in Chapultepec Park, designed by Pedro Ramirez Vasquez (whose most famous structure is the National Museum of Anthropology just down the street), is a serious-looking edifice with lots of marble everywhere and a grand staircase dominating the main lobby. The exhibition space consists of four large main galleries and a satellite building across a small moat behind the principal structure.

One of the four galleries houses a permanent collection of 20th-Century Mexican art. A leisurely stroll through its rooms will convince any visitor of the breadth of style and vision in modern Mexican art. The requisite representations of Rivera, Siqueiros and Orozco (the big three in the nation’s art history) are present in all their commanding glory, as are works by Rufino Tamayo (No. 4 in some books).

The museum’s other galleries are set aside for changing exhibits, often solo shows by contemporary Mexican artists. (The current major exhibit here is by Giorgio de Chirico, the founder of the metaphysical school of Italian painting; it closes Jan. 16.) The building across the moat features smaller exhibitions.

Museo Rufino Tamayo, also in Chapultepec Park, may be one of the few places in Mexico City where you won’t see any paintings by Tamayo. Tamayo was himself a serious art collector, and just as the museum of the same name in the city of Oaxaca houses the noted artist’s accumulation of pre-Columbian art, this one is devoted to his modern collection. Originally opened as a joint venture between the Mexican government and the communications conglomerate Televisa (which has since dropped its sponsorship), the museum owns works by Picasso, Magritte, Francis Bacon and other such luminaries. Unfortunately, despite the institution’s stated purpose, Tamayo’s collection is often packed away to make room for traveling exhibits. *

Museo de Arte Alvar y Carmen T. Carrillo Gil (Carrillo Gil, for short) in the San Angel district far south of downtown, occupies a sleek four-level building. Municipally owned, the museum often showcases mid-career Mexican painters and sculptors, and offers exposure to more avant-garde artists than might be invited to show at the more mainstream Museo de Arte Moderno. It also sometimes shows lesser works by grand masters from around the world--the engravings by French expressionist Georges Rouault, for instance. A recent contemporary exhibition by young Mexican artist Adolfo Patino featured such works as “Self-Portrait as Santa Frida,” lampooning the current mania for Frida Kahlo, and a large installation composed of red, white and blue model soldiers in the shape of an American flag.

Centro Cultural de Arte Contemporaneo, or Contemporary Art Cultural Center, north of Chapultepec Park in the posh Polanco section of the city, is the most inviting of these four museums. The welcome starts on the building’s front steps, where vendors line up selling weavings, straw figures and other handicrafts. Another treat is the splendid gift shop inside the front door, which offers carefully selected silver jewelry, toys and decorative items. The Contemporary Art Cultural Center feels like a rich museum, with its spacious, well-lit galleries, its gleaming escalators, its handsomely dressed guards. In fact, the museum is owned by Televisa, which founded it after it pulled out of the Tamayo Museum.

Televisa has a fine corporate collection of modern and contemporary art, which is on display here through Jan. 3. The museum also presents temporary shows for a wide variety of tastes. I saw an exhibition of avant-garde art from Cuba, another of Robert Mapplethorpe photographs and another of a group of Mexican paintings (including quite a stash of Frida Kahlos) belonging to collectors Jacques and Natasha Colman.

Not technically a modern art museum, but well worth visiting anyway, is the Palacio de Bellas Artes, or Palace of Fine Arts. Dedicated to the preservation and exhibition of Mexican art of all periods, it is famous for its third-floor collection of murals by Rivera, Siqueiros and Orozco. It also mounts fine special exhibits, such as last year’s “Hechizo de Oaxaca” (“Witchcraft from Oaxaca”), featuring several centuries of paintings, drawings, sculpture and photography from this southern state, with emphasis on Oaxaca’s contemporary artists.

Mexico City’s top independent art galleries are scattered across the city, in business and elegant residential sections. Many have taken up residence in the Polanco neighborhood, near the Contemporary Art Cultural Center. This is a great strolling area for art lovers, a bit like 57th Street in New York. Three galleries here, Galeria Praxis, Galeria Torre del Reloj and Galeria Arte Nucleo all show the brightest stars of the Mexican art world--museum-quality work that is coveted by serious collectors.

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Now, about that family-run hotel and neighborhood cafe. Frankly, I never found Mexico City particularly charming, whatever its artistic attractions, until I discovered Colonia Cuauhtemoc, a neighborhood just north of the famed Zona Rosa (the brassy, Melrose-ish tourist section). This is a real middle-class residential quarter, with well-kept old houses and newer apartments side-by-side with dry cleaners and small markets. Street vendors open early, squeezing fresh fruit juices and frying up hot tortillas for passers-by on their way to work. The Pasteleria del Angel, keeping long hours, sells hot muffins, breads and pastries and, in its sister cafe next door, strong espresso to go with them.

Best of all, Colonia Cuauhtemoc is the home of Casa Gonzalez--the only pension I’ve discovered in all Mexico City, and by far my favorite place to stay.

The Casa Gonzalez is not a well-kept secret. The Gonzalez family has been welcoming visitors since the 1920s, when they converted two adjoining mansions into a 22-room inn.

The stately Victorian parlor and dining room haven’t changed a bit since then, and the rooms have probably been updated only slightly, but Senor Jorge Gonzalez, the third-generation proprietor, with his impeccable English and solicitous air, welcomes a diverse clientele--ex-cheerleaders from Texas with their cheerleader daughters, in search of exoticism and great shopping, tobusinessmen scuffling for starting positions in anticipation of NAFTA.

True, the rooms are minimal. The furnishings have seen better days. But once most people stay there, they wouldn’t stay any place else--even if they can afford much higher-priced lodgings. To stay in an impersonal hotel would be unthinkable to anyone who has discovered this haven with its hidden patios, great food and convivial guests. (The meals are optional, at $10 each, but so homey, so “Room With a View”-ish, that guests would be foolish not to take a few meals in--especially on Sunday evenings, when many of the city’s restaurants close.)

And the Casa Gonzalez is a perfect jumping-off point for a tour of the city’s museums and galleries. Most of them are but a short cab ride away from Colonia Cuauhtemoc, and taxis are easy to hail on Rio Lerma. (Look for the ubiquitous yellow Volkswagen bugs, which are cheaper, faster and more likely to be metered than the big sedans.)

Within walking distance of the Casa Gonzalez, too, are the Paseo de la Reforma, a busy, grand thoroughfare once lined with stately mansions and embassies and now full of banks and office high-rises, and the Zona Rosa, where the sidewalks and walk streets are crowded with everyone from businessmen in serious suits to prostitutes with cellular phones. It’s great for local color, and for restaurants and shops. That’s the way to see the Zona Rosa, in fact: a foray out for a bit of excitement, then a scurry home to the soothing ministrations of Casa Gonzalez.

GUIDEBOOK

The Art of Mexico City

Getting there: Aeromexico, Delta, Mexicana and United offer nonstop daily service to Mexico City; fares start at about $326 round trip.

Where to stay: Casa Gonzalez, 69 Rio Sena, in Colonia Cuauhtemoc; from U.S. telephones 011-52-551-433-02. Rooms run $26-$45. Meals about $10. Reservations are essential. If you can’t get into Casa Gonzalez, or prefer more amenities without sacrificing too much charm, another hotel in Colonia Cuauhtemoc is the Maria Cristina, 31 Rio Lerma; tel. 011-52-556- 696-88. 150 rooms, inviting corner location; $55-$110 double. The closest luxury hotel, on the edge of Colonia Cuauhtemoc next to the American Embassy, is the Sheraton Maria Isabel, 325 Paseo de la Reforma; reservations tel. (800) 325-3535 or 011-52-520- 739-33. Room rates begin at $235, double, and there are occasional weekend specials.

The museums and galleries: Museo de Arte Moderno and Museo Rufino Tamayo are both on Paseo de la Reforma in Chapultepec Park. Museo de Arte Alvar y Carmen T. de Carrillo Gil is on 1608 Avenida Revolucion in the San Angel district. (This one is a slow and expensive cab ride from the Colonia Cuauhtemoc; the best bet is to take Metro Line 3--marked Universidad--to M. de Quevado station and flag a cab from there.) Centro Cultural Arte Contemporaneo is on Calle Campos Eliseos and Avenida Jorge Eliot, in the Polanco district. El Palacio de Bellas Artes is on Avenida Cinco de Mayo and Avenida Lazaro Cardenas.

Admission to all of these is about $3 per person, and all are open Tuesday through Sunday 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; closed Monday.

These galleries are in the Polanco district: Galeria Arte Nucleo, 308 Avenida Edgar Allan Poe; Galeria Praxis, 175 Avenida Arquimedes, and Galeria Torre de el Reloj, Avenida Edgar Allan Poe at Parque Lincoln. All are closed Sunday.

For more information: A free guide to museums and gallery exhibits--published monthly by ARKA, a currency-exchange house--is usually available at the Tourist Information Office on the corner of Calle Londres and Calle Amberes in the Zona Rosa district and at the information desk in the Palacio de Bellas Artes. Although it’s printed in Spanish, it contains mainly proper names, addresses and hours, so it is quite helpful even to non-Spanish-speakers.