The historic center of the city still contains much Spanish Colonial architecture and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Many of the old buildings were severely damaged in the 1999 earthquake. In recent years some of the historical buildings have been restored while others, however, are in a state of disrepair.

Of all the colonial buildings, the most impressive are without any doubt the Puebla Cathedral, which was built in a mixed neoclassical style; the gold-covered Capilla del Rosario (Rosary Chapel), in the nearby Iglesia de Santo Domingo is a dramatic example of Mexican baroque being a chapel inlaid with gold. Other important landmarks are El Barrio del Artista ("The Artist's Neighborhood") where local arts are produced and the Centro y Zócalo (downtown) where the Cathedral of Puebla and the Palacio Municipal are located.

Puebla is also the home an Automobile Museum, containing a collection of rare and classic, vintage cars. This collection also includes the "Popemobile" used by John Paul II on one of his visits to Mexico. The Museo Nacional de los Ferrocarriles Mexicanos (National Museum of Mexican Railroads) located in the old Mexicano station, houses a collection of many unique specimens, including steam engines, passenger coaches, cabooses and diesel engines. Most notably it has a pair of PA1 diesel engines, the last specimens of their kind, with one of them still in working condition (the DH-19).

Located in the Casa de la Cultura, the Biblioteca Palafoxiana is a baroque-style library containing forty-two thousand volumes in a carved wood setting, collected by the Spanish bishop Juan de Palafox y Mendoza. The collection was donated to the Colegio de San Juan y San Pedro on September 5, 1646, by Palafox y Mendoza. This donation was formalized by a Royal Decree 1647 and by a Bull in 1648.

Red double-decker buses, known as "turibuses", give tourists an opportunity to enjoy the city's architecture, museums and monuments located at the historical downtown. One of the most famous museums in the city is the Amparo Museum. Another tourist attraction is the Africam Safari zoo, intended to recreate a safari experience.

Also, worth visiting is the pyramid of Cholula, a city within the metropolitan area of Puebla. Cholula was one of the most important cities under the Aztec empire, and its pyramid is the largest in the New World, both by in terms of base-size and total volume. The town, with a population of only 200,000 inhabitants, is said to boast a chapel for every day of the year, albeit some of the churches are quite small and even makeshift.