During its prime almost 1000 years ago, Teotihuacan was the largest city in the America’s, and one of the largest in the world. Despite this, the city that once had a population of 200,000 inhabitants is still a historical mystery. We don’t know who built it, how to read the language, or why it was suddenly abandoned in 750 A.D. The city was found by the Aztek’s in the 15th century. They named it Teotihuacan, meaning “the place where Gods were created” after being amazed by what they had found.
Nowadays, Teotihuacan is just a one-hour drive from Mexico City. I very nearly skipped a day trip to explore the ancient city as I knew I would be seeing a lot of ruins on my trip throughout Central America. However, I met a few people who were going and made a last-minute decision to join them. I am SO glad I made this decision, this day trip ended up being one of my highlights of Mexico City.
Even if you are not massively interested in history, I really recommend taking a day to explore these ruins. Stepping off the bus into the shadow of the Temple of the Sun and realising the scale of the pyramids for the first time is incredible. Not only this but getting there without paying for a tour couldn’t be easier.
*TIP: If you have a bigger budget you can take a sunrise hot air balloon ride over the site which looks incredible! This amazing activity costs about £150. However, I did meet 3 people who did this whilst in Mexico and all 3 had misty mornings and couldn’t actually see the pyramids until the balloon was almost landing. I’m not sure if this is a coincidence or a common occurrence!
How to get to Teotihuacan
The easiest way to get to the ancient city of Teotihuacan from Mexico City is to get a bus from the Northern Bus station.
To do this, take the metro to the Autobuses del Norte metro station, exit the metro, and cross the road to the bus station. Once inside, turn left and walk down to Gate 8. Here you will find a small ticket booth named Autobuses Teotihuacan, with an image of the pyramids on it.
Here you can buy a return bus ticket for £8.30/160 pesos. A time is printed on your bus ticket, probably within the next 15 minutes. Head straight into the room on the left of Gate 8 to wait for your bus.
When stepping onto the bus, make sure to tell the driver that you are heading to the pyramids. The pyramids are slightly further than the town and the driver will let you know when to get off. The journey is about one hour and the bus will stop right outside the Gate 1 entrance to the site.
To get back to Mexico City at the end of the day, leave the site back through Entrance 1 and turn right. Don’t walk too far, only about 1 minute and a bus should show up.
At the entrance
Once you get off the bus you will see the Temple of the Sun directly in front of you and I can guarantee it will be bigger than you expected! At this time there will probably be several people asking if you need a guide.
It is not necessary to hire a guide, but if you do want to walk around on your own, I would recommend doing some research beforehand. I listened to a podcast and being able to remember facts about the buildings I was looking at definitely made them more interesting.
However, I know travelling can be busy, with not much time left for researching the places you are going. I have written down some key facts further down this blog post!
Just before you enter, you will need to pay entrance into the park which is just £4.15/90 pesos. This includes entrance into the museum within the site.
Inside the site
The first building you will see if you are entering at Gate 1 (the main entrance) is the Temple of the Sun. This is the biggest temple in the city and the 7th biggest pyramid in the world. As we were driving towards Teotihuacan, we could see the Temple of the Sun in the distance. It looked so big we couldn’t work out whether it was a mountain or a pyramid!
If you are facing the front of the Pyramid of the Sun, the temple further down the Avenue of the Dead to your left is the Pyramid of the Moon. Next to the Pyramid of the Moon is a palace that you can walk inside.
About halfway down the Avenue of the Dead, off to the side, is the museum. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the museum. There were many artefacts and a room-sized model of what the city would have looked like. There were also skeletons taken from inside the pyramids! I spent about 45 minutes inside.
From the museum it took about 15 minutes to walk to the Temple of the Feathered Serpent. This is the most beautifully decorated temple in the whole city, covered in serpent heads. Almost all of these carved heads were destroyed, but one side of the temple remains intact. Walk up the stairs in front of the temple to get a view of the serpent heads. We sat and rested and admired the temple for 15 minutes before moving on.
Give yourself around three hours to properly explore all the main sights within the city.
Facts about Teotihuacan
- Teotihuacan was the biggest city in the America’s at its peak, home to up to 200,000 people.
- We still don’t know who built the city. We have found writing at the site, but it is not a language we know how to read yet.
- The pyramid of the Sun is the biggest temple in Teotihuacan and the 7th biggest pyramid in the world. It isn’t hollow like the other temples, instead it is thought to be solid.
- The big avenue through the city is called the Avenue of the Dead. This would have been 3 miles long, with colourful buildings either side. The Aztek’s named the road after the tombs that were found along the road.
- At one end of the Avenue of the Dead is the Temple of the Moon. It is designed to line up perfectly with the mountain behind it, so that when you are close, the mountain completely disappears behind the temple.
- The Temple of the Moon is hollow and a burial was found inside it. What makes Teotihuacan unique is that this burial is thought to be for a military figure, not a royal one. This is not the case in any other similar ruins from this time. We know this because of the objects buried with the figure such as weapons and animals related to the military.
- The Temple of the Feathered Serpent is also hollow, and a burial with more than 200 people was found, some of them were women which is unusual. A ruler was probably once buried inside this temple, but there is evidence of the body being looted and we don’t know who it was or where the body went. The Temple was mostly destroyed by the people of Teotihuacan, which means the ruler probably became unpopular at some point in history. Therefore, we can only see the impressive serpent heads on one side of the temple today.
- Teotihuacan was abandoned in the 700’s and we don’t know why. It was later discovered by the Aztek’s in the 1400’s.
Final tips for Teotihuacan
I would recommend visiting Teotihuacan as early as you can, both to avoid the crowds that come when tour groups start to arrive in the late morning, but also to avoid the midday sun. There is hardly any shade in the site so bring a hat and sun cream!
I would also recommend wearing comfortable shoes. You will be walking around for at least a few hours, and the site is huge! There is a 40-minute walk between the Temple of the Moon and the Temple of the Feathered Serpent. I did 27,000 steps when I visited!
There is a beautiful restaurant in a cave a 5-minute walk from Entrance 5 of Teotihuacan called La Gruta. I came for lunch and was shocked at the prices, I only shared some guacamole and got a starter and it cost me £13. The food wasn’t anything special, but the setting was extra beautiful because of how it had been decorated for Day of the Dead. I would only recommend coming here if you aren’t on a budget!
Even if history doesn’t normally interest you, I would really recommend a day trip to Teotihuacan. It is easy to do without paying for a tour and the return bus and entrance fee cost me just £12.45 in total. The pyramids are sure to impress you even if you don’t know anything about the history!
For more recommendations on what to do on your trip to Mexico City, see my blog: https://onheradventures.com/2023/12/13/mexico-city-top-10-things-to-do/
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