Best From Mexico City to Teotihuacan Day Trip 2023

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Greetings, Internet Stranger! I’m Stella Jane, author of the travel guide Get Lost, and welcome to a perfect from Mexico City to Teotihuacan day trip!

This from Mexico City to Teotihuacan day trip is one of the most exciting tours in North America. In olden times, before Europeans arrived, Mexico was populated with many different groups of Mesoamericans who each left their own architectural stamp on the country.

In the Yucatan, the most famous Mesoamerican city is Chichen Itza, but in the Mexico City area, it is Teotihuacan, with its majestic Sun and Moon pyramids that stand as the shining monument to Mesoamerican ingenuity. You simply can’t come to Mexico City and not explore this fascinating place.

I wanted the chance to spend 24 hours with this from Mexico City to Teotihuacan day trip, but I also wanted to see the more recent Shrine to Our Lady of Guadeloupe, and I conveniently found a tour that provided both!

You can book this tour that I recommend if you want to follow in my footsteps!

Check rates and availability right here!

I do recommend this tour, or I wouldn’t blog about it, but if you are more of an independent traveler, I would still suggest following this from Mexico City to Teotihuacan day trip itinerary because it was plenty of time to see two of the most important sights in the area around Mexico City.

Join me for a from Mexico City to Teotihuacan day trip trip of miracles, roses, cacti, hairless dogs, and magical felines. Bonus! Before the day is over, I promise to cry in public! Join me and find out why!

from Mexico City to Teotihuacan day trip

Morning: Our Lady of Guadalupe

We began our from Mexico City to Teotihuacan day trip with a brief stop at the Plaza de las Tres Culturas. It is important to remember that Mexico is a delicious combination of at least three periods of history: the pre-Columbian Native Americans, the Spanish settlers, and the present-day country, which is a mixture of both.

Here you can see the stone and mortar Aztec ruins (yes, those are authentic remains), but the church in the background is from the Spanish colonial period. And of course there are modern buildings too.

I am not a practicing Catholic, but I come from an extremely long line of Irish Catholics. To anyone who is even nominally Catholic, the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe has a special significance. It is the most popular pilgrimage site for Catholic pilgrims and a Catholic friend of mine who was recently married planned to go here after the wedding with her new husband for a blessing.

The tour gave us a good hour here to explore the buildings and statues in the complex. I was pleased with how our guide thoroughly explained the significance of the area. As usual, I come prepared with…

THREE FUN FACTS ABOUT OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE

1) Why are there two buildings?

The brown and gold building is the old Basilica, but unfortunately, it became too small to be used, considering the popularity of the shrine. 

Therefore, the new blue and white Basilica was built.  The colors are meant to be symbolic of the Virgin Mary. (Her traditional color is blue, which is why blue used to be considered a feminine color.)

2) Why is it important?

The reason this area is so significant to Roman Catholics is that the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to a Mexican peasant, Saint Juan Diego, here several times. (To be clear, he wasn’t declared a saint until after Our Lady appeared to him.) The archbishop of Mexico City did not believe Juan Diego and asked him for proof of this apparition.

The Virgin Mary helpfully arranged for her image to appear on Juan Diego’s cloak when he presented it to the archbishop. The image of the Virgin Mary on Juan Diego’s cloak is kept in the basilica. You can see it pictured above. It is so popular that we had to ride a little conveyor belt inside the church to see it. I suppose the lines would be too long if we didn’t.

3) Um, who are these people? 

The people who are most devoted to Our Lady of Guadalupe are called Guadalupians (pictured above). They go on a pilgrimage in her name, and as they walk, they stop, kneel, and say Ave Marias. It was quite remarkable to watch them process. As I’m sure you can imagine, they move very slowly.

24 Hour Treasure

My favorite part of the story of Guadalupe was that the Virgin Mary apparently also caused Spanish roses to bloom on a barren hill called Tepeyac, and that placing these roses in Juan Diego’s cloak is what caused her face to appear. Sadly the flowers were not in bloom when we visited, but you can see the event commemorated in the statue above.

from Mexico City to Teotihuacan day trip

Afternoon: Explore the Teotihuacan Area

There are so many things to do on a from Mexico City to Teotihuacan day trip, that I’m sure it would take me more than 24 hours just to list them all. I felt like our tour hit all the food, sightseeing, and shopping related highlights I would want! I’ll give you the best with…

Approximately top 5: from Mexico City to Teotihuacan day trip

1) Silver shopping

Before we stopped for lunch, we had a little shopping stop at a silver store where the designs are inspired by traditional Mesoamerican patterns. We each had a free drink (I got a Diet Coke) and watched the silversmith carve patterns into tiny squares of silver.

He gave me an image of the sun and moon and told me it would be good luck for my love life. If all you needed to do to give someone good luck in love was carve a little picture on silver, silversmithing would be a lot more popular as a profession.

I admit that some people really hate shopping stops on tours. There was even one older English couple on the from Mexico City to Teotihuacan day trip who refused to get off the bus and enter the shop as a protest, but this Shop Stop didn’t bother me. I like shopping, there was no pressure to buy anything, and we got a free drink and a bathroom break.

Plus it was interesting to watch the silversmith make his designs by hand. I bought the pair of silver earrings you see pictured above for about 40 dollars. It was a good value for me. I try to make a point to buy earrings in every city, and just looking at these guys makes me think of my time in Mexico!

2) lunch at la catrina

Lunch was even better than the shopping, though. We stopped at a restaurant near Teotihuacan called La Catrina. We were all offered a three-course lunch prix fixe and I opted for the Teotihuacan soup, made with cactus…

the enchiladas verdes…

and a small flan for dessert.

They were all tasty, but the cactus soup was really special. The soup was light, and the cactus added this wonderful smoky flavor. This was one of the most memorable dishes that I had in Mexico City.

3) 24 hours with Teotihuacan Time!

So after lunch it was finally time for the big show of our from Mexico City to Teotihuacan day trip! We had arrived at the ancient Mesoamerican “City of the Gods”, Teotihuacan.

Our guide led us on a tour for about half an hour and then left us for an hour to explore and climb the pyramids on our own. Of course the tour left me with plenty more than…

THREE FUN FACTS ABOUT TEOTIHUACAN

A) when was teotihuacan?

Our guide told us that Teotihuacan lasted as a city from the 1st century AD to the 8th century. The Mesoamericans who lived here would have built their pyramids over a long period of time. Archaeologists have even found pyramids here built on top of ruins of older pyramids.

It’s a shame that the records of these peoples have been lost to time because it would be amazing to see how they were able to construct these massive buildings thousands of years ago. I have a hard enough time fixing my cheap bed I ordered on Amazon when it collapses from time to time, so I’m pretty sure this is beyond me.

B)  what do the decorations mean?

The interiors of the homes of wealthy Mesoamericans, as well as the interiors of the temples, would have been decorated with elaborated red murals of the gods, and some of these murals have been preserved, albeit faintly. Our guide told us that one popular image in these murals is the Jaguar god, who is often depicted as a musician.

I wonder what the association between jaguars and music could possibly be? I kind of suspect that if you ever gave a real jaguar a musical instrument, he would just eat it and then possibly eat you. But maybe if his name were Mick Jaguar, things would go a little better.

C) Where did I take this picture?

The two most important monuments at Teotihuacan are the Pyramid of the Sun and the smaller Pyramid of the Moon. Our guide advised us that if we only had time to climb one, it should be the Pyramid of the Moon because it’s easier and you get better views of the majestic Pyramid of the Sun that way.

Of course, I had to do both because if someone waves a red flag of a challenge at me, I must face it right away, like a jaguar who has been invited to compete on American Idol.

24 Hour Tip

Your guide will leave you for an hour and tell you which parking lot to meet him at. MAKE SURE YOU FIGURE OUT EXACTLY WHERE THIS PARKING LOT IS BEFORE WANDERING ON YOUR OWN! The cell phone reception here is bad, so you might not be able to call for help.

I did not and wound up 20 minutes late at the bus and I am never late. When I finally got to the bus, I cried out of embarrassment, heat exhaustion, and relief that the bus didn’t abandon me there.

24 Hour Treasure

The climb up the Pyramid of the Sun is hard, but if you are in good shape, I suggest giving it a shot. The views of the surrounding countryside are great, and you’ll feel a sense of smug satisfaction as you reach the top, and who doesn’t like smug satisfaction?

4) Casa Museo de las Piedras

Our final stop of the tour was this small but interesting museum/store devoted to the culture of the region around Teotihuacan.

The grumpy old English couple remained grumpy about shopping being an option, but we really didn’t need to buy anything, I learned some fun facts, and we got another free drink/bathroom break.

We also got to see…

Hairless dogs! Apparently these hairless wonders were important to the Mesoamericans who lived here in pre-Columbian times, I assume because they didn’t inspire allergic reactions. Fun Fact: Hairless dogs are cuter than hairless cats.

Then we got to know some agave. This plant is responsible for all manner of wonders. You can make paper, needle, and thread out of it, as well as the more famous tequila and (my personal favorite) mezcal.

But I did not know that you can also make a kind of low alcohol drink called pulque out of the agave. They gave us a little cup of it to try for ourselves, and it has a mild, sweet flavor. I drank enough tequila in college that I was surprised to find any drink made from agave described as “low alcohol”, but this really hit the spot on a hot February day.

Obsidian is also native to the region and you can make anything out of it from jewelry to mirrors. Obsidian is so shiny it doesn’t need anything else to help you see your reflection. But I of course bought some obsidian earrings because I am an earring buying fool, although this time they were as a thank you present for my roommate for catsitting my (nonhairless) cat.

24 Hour Tip

Those are all the secrets of the from Mexico City to Teotihuacan day trip that I can share for now. You’ll have to go ahead and book the tour to find out more!

Check rates and availability right here!

from Mexico City to Teotihuacan day trip

Evening: Dinner at El Cardenal

El Cardenal is a classic three-story Mexican restaurant, in the heart of the city center. It closes kind of early, at 6:30, so you’ll want to head there as soon as your tour is over. I got there at 5:30 and it was plenty of time for dinner.

You might want to start with some Mexican quesadillas, which are different from American quesadillas. These were rolled up corn tortillas filled with oodles of melty cheese and lumps upon lumps of fresh avocado. Fat on fat on carbs is the only way to live, I say.

Honestly, these are tasty and filling enough to be your entire dinner. However, I thought of you, Internet Stranger, and imagined that you might want to know what the entrees at El Cardenal taste like. So I forced myself to consume more.

For the main course, I gobbled a chile relleno, a mild poblano chile stuffed with cheese, fried, and covered in rich, chocolatey mole sauce.

I think this must actually be good for you because the main part of this dish is a chile, and a chile is a vegetable, no? Or is it a fruit because it has seeds, like a tomato or a cucumber? Anyway, I’m sure the fact that it’s a plant balances out all the frying and cheese.

Fun Fact

Moles are more of a Oaxacan thing, but they seemed really popular in Mexico City. The food in Mexico City kind of reminded me of the food in Paris in that it seems to be a place you can go to try specialties from all over the country, rather than just the specialty of one region.

For dessert, I ordered the light and tangy guanabana mousse, aka soursop. I had never eaten guanabana fruit before, but I loved the sharp citrusy taste. The small and delicate dessert was just what I needed after a long day of traveling and a big dinner.

After this, I had no more energy and just went back to my hotel and climbed into bed. I suggest you do likewise! After all, we climbed up two pyramids during our from Mexico City to Teotihuacan day trip, so we deserve an excellent night’s sleep before we explore the rest of Mexico City tomorrow.

from Mexico City to Teotihuacan day trip

Where to Stay?

Since this from Mexico City to Teotihuacan day trip leaves from Mexico City, I suggest finding a hotel in Mexico City itself. And my recommendation for Mexico’s capital would be Casa Lomah. It’s a B&B right in downtown Mexico City with a super friendly staff. The area felt very safe even at night.

Best of all, a delicious breakfast was included everyday. I like staying at bed and breakfasts because as a solo traveler you can make friends. When I stayed there, the other guests were all French speakers like me, so I truly lucked out!

If you want a great deal on this hotel, click here.

And if you’d rather explore over 2000 great deals on hotels in Mexico City, just click here. This search engine will help you find the perfect place to stay. With plenty of options to choose from, I’m sure you’ll find something for your schedule and budget.

That’s a Perfect from Mexico City to Teotihuacan day trip

What would you do on a from Mexico City to Teotihuacan day trip? Are jaguars musical? And is Mick Jaguar my worst pun ever? Please email me at stellajane@aroundtheworldin24hours.com and let me know!

Note: If you want to know how I put my travel itineraries together, just click here.

You can also try the best Chichen Itza tours from Merida. You can also add a what to do Merida day. Or add on 24 hours in Mexico City. You can also try one day in Mexico City.