Why A Day Trip to Teotihuacan
Well I am a history buff and have a special corner in my heart for ancient ruins. Yeah that may sound boring, but I can’t help it when I find myself in proximity to historical architecture or timeworn relics but find myself getting dragged by some unknown forces to explore them. I don’t know what it is exactly that attracts me. Maybe it is the mystery surrounding them, maybe it is the untold stories, or maybe it is the window to have a glimpse at their ancient times. But I am obsessed with them.
Hence Teotihuacan was always a not so hidden agenda in our list when we decided to visit Mexico City. Named by the Aztecs, this ancient city is more than 2000 years old, seen the rise from a vibrant metropolis to being systematically sacked, burned and destroyed, and is one of the oldest sites in Mexico to feel the vibrant Mesoamerican culture. And just 50 kilometers away from the Mexico city, A day trip is pretty easy to do. This site is particularly a must visit for its two massive pyramids, “Pyramid of the Sun” and “Pyramid of the Moon”.
This was our story about a day trip to Teotihuacan by bus. We are a roaming couple who likes short trip and budget travel. We generally don’t spend a long time in a particular place. As our blog name suggests, we hop around quite frequently. So if we suit your travel style please subscribe to us or connect with us on social network of your choice.
-Quick Facts-
- Entry fee is 70 Pesos per person for foreigners
- Opening hour is 9AM everyday, but when we reached at 8:45 AM, we were allowed to enter and already there were people inside. So it is advisable to reach early to get crowd free experience.
- Buses run from Terminal Central de Autobuses del Norte with frequent departures almost every 10 minutes and cost 52 Pesos each way per person
- Carry Water, Hat and Sunscreen as it will be sunny there and can get extremely hot without much shade.
- Be ready to climb many steep stairs to the top of the Pyramids.
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The primary attractions that you would like to visit are:
- Pyramid of the Sun – Largest and Tallest Pyramid of the site
- Pyramid of the Moon – Second largest Pyramid of the site and, even though shorter, provides a better view of the site than the Sun counterpart
- Palacio de Quetzalpapálotl – Home of the ancient royals and full of murals and wall carvings
- Museo de Sitio Teotihuacán – A museum with a collection of old relics and artifacts to understand the history of the place
Journey Towards Teotihuacan
Now the easy way out is to book a tour from Mexico city and there are hundreds of choice in that case. But since we like to travel on a budget, we generally avoid booking tours. And since it is so easy to do a day trip to Teotihuacan by bus that it almost doesn’t make sense to book a tour unless you want to spend extra for the comfort.
We started our journey from or airbnb in Coyoacan in Mexico city pretty early in the morning. We wanted to catch one of the early buses to defeat the crowd. Mexico city has a pretty good public transport network, and it cost us only 5 Pesos each for a very comfortable bus ride from Coyoacan to Terminal Central de Autobuses del Norte.
Once inside the terminal, we headed left form the main entrance until we saw the stall selling tickets to Teotihuacan with a sign saying “Autobuses Teotihuacan”. It was not at all difficult to find, and if confused, you can always ask one of the many attendants of the terminal who are easy to find with their high visibility vests.
The lady in the ticket stall spoke decent English and we didn’t face any issue to get two return tickets for Teotihuacan. The rates are pretty cheap and it cost us 52 Pesos per person per direction, so a total of 208 Pesos total for two of us. Keep in mind though that the onward journey towards Teotihuacan has a specific bus time in the ticket while the return ticket was open to pick up any bus.
The Site
The journey was extremely comfortable and hassle free with wonderful views of mountains studded with dense housing along the way. The bus took a short stop at the town of San Juan finally reached our destination and dropped us near the Gate 2 (Puerta 2) of the site. The ticket booth was right at the gate.
Now we thought that the opening time of the site was 9AM. And the ticket office was closed too. But we were so wrong. Happily as we entered around 8:40 AM thinking that we will beat the crowd, reality struck us as the site was already crawling with people. As we stood there confused, a guy who was standing just outside the ticket office sold us the tickets. So it seems the entry to the site starts much earlier than the advertised 9 AM opening. The entry to the site passes through a street lined with shops, but most of them were closed at that time.
But all our disappointment was soon overwhelmed by utter wonder as we entered the site and faced the first pyramid, the Pyramid of the Sun. It was massive, intimidating and felt almost like a small mountain. And such a nice view it was with the hot air balloons drifting slowly behind the magnificent construction with the morning sun brightly shining. It had over 200 steps to climb, and even though the climb was not very steep, the difficulty was more due to the heat and the sun.
The next biggest attraction in the complex was the Pyramid of the moon. Now the walk from the sun Pyramid to the moon pyramid is along the main street called the Avenue of the Dead, and is lined by ruins from the ancient times. The Pyramid of the moon is a much shorter and less toiling climb, but the view from the top is absolutely amazing. The great thing about this pyramid is that, even if it is shorter than the sun one, this one lines up perfectly with the Avenue of the dead and gives a much more stunning sight from the top. So if you decide to climb only one pyramid, climb the moon pyramid instead.
In between the sun and the moon pyramid, there is another interesting place called the Palacio de Quetzalpapálotl. This was the ruins of the houses where the important people of the old city used to live. This place is studded with beautiful murals and wall carvings. This place had a controlled entry though and didn’t allow a lot of people inside at a time. But we were lucky as there wasn’t a long queue when we arrived.
Getting Back
At the end of our trip, we came out of the same Gate 2 from where we entered. There were a lot of souvenir shops selling all kinds of merchandise from t-shirts to stone sculptures and we spent some time checking those out. They had good affordable collections of obsidian stone sculptures and jewelries.
There is no particular structure for the bus stand, but there is a sign saying bus on the other side of the road. We had to wait for around 15 minutes in a queue till the bus arrived. We were tired and slept on our way back for most of the time and in an hour were back to Mexico city.
Estimated Cost of the Trip
Here is an estimated cost for 2 persons for a day trip to Teotihuacan by bus based on what we spent.
Bus from Mexico City to Teotihuacan : 52 Peso x 2 = 104 Peso
Bus from Teotihuacan to Mexico city : 52 Peso x 2 = 104 Peso
Entry tickets to the site of Teotihuacan : 70 Peso x 2 = 140 Peso
Misc costs like Mexico city bus to terminal and water/snacks ~ 30 Pesos
Total cost ~ 380 Pesos for 2 person
It was a tiring but amazing day indeed. Not only Teotihuacan is a place of great historical importance but also it is stunningly beautiful and a dream destination for shutterbugs. Hope you include Teotihuacan in your list and this story helps you with your trip.
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