A Day Trip: Mexico City Pyramids Tour (2022)

A Day Trip: Mexico City Pyramids Tour

After months of wanting to go, I finally made the trip to the pyramids near Mexico City.

It’s common to think the pyramids are in Mexico City, but they are actually just next to it at a place called Teotihuacán.

Overall the car ride from Mexico City, or Roma Sur (Roma/Condesa area) to be more exact, only took 45 minutes to get to the pyramids.

Logistics for a Trip to Mexico City’s Pyramids

A Sunday morning at teotihuacan pyramids

There’s different ways you can do the pyramids. If you wanted to get the best all-inclusive tour, I would suggest doing below.

Best All-Inclusive Pyramid Tour

  • Go when it’s less busy – Going when it’s a weekday morning is better than a weekend. The gates open at 9AM, so if you’re there then, you can skip the crowds and get better travel photos.
  • Hire a guide – I like to get the full breadth of experience when I visit an archaeological site or tourist destination, and having a local Mexican tour guide can help you do that with a wealth of information. The going prices for this is about $38 USD per person and should be booked a day in advance. It took 2.5 hours to finish the tour.
  • See the pyramids from a hot air balloon – The going rate for this is around $140 USD per person. This should be booked at least 2 days out. You’ll also be asked to arrive early ~6AM. 
  • Eat at Ranchito – There is a high quality restaurant that is 10 minutes walking distance from the pyramids.They have a great menu for local foods at fair prices.
  • Hire an Uber – Sometimes you can get off the app and pay the driver cash to wait for you. This is especially true in Latin America. Because Teotihuacán is not the same busy metropolitan as Mexico City, it’s good to make this arrangement before leaving CDMX.

What We Did

Restaurant in near Mexico City's pyramids

(Chicken in mole from a nearby restaurant called Ranchito)

I wanted to do the all-inclusive pyramid tour. But the people I went with were not about waking up at 5AM in the morning to go ride a hot air balloon. Instead we ended up leaving the apartment we were at in Roma Sur around 8:10AM on a Sunday.

We got to the pyramids right at 9AM. For Mexicans the entrance to the pyramid is actually free on Sundays. But for non-locals there will always be a general admission charge of $70 MXN Pesos or $3.50 USD.

We chose the tour option. So all of our tickets, regardless of the Mexican locals in our group, were bundled in with the group tour.

When our Uber dropped us off, I handed him $1200 MXN Pesos equivalent to $60 USD. He then parked and waited for us to finish our tour. I then paid the other half when he dropped us back off in Mexico City.

We also ate at Ranchito. I ordered the chicken in mole (a Mexican sauce). The mole is a taste I’m learning to acquire. But I did like it overall. As was the case with the foods my friends ate as well.

How to Visit the Mexico City Pyramids Tour on a Budget

It’s very easy to get to the pyramids by public transportation. This would be the first thing I would tackle if I were to do this on a budget. To do this go on Google Maps, and set the destination for the pyramids and select the option for public transportation. This will tell you exactly which metro station to go to to get to the pyramids. The cost of this for me would be around $133 MXN Pesos or $6.65 USD.

If you don’t want to hire a tour guide, it may be worth watching a few YouTube videos before going to the pyramids, or reading a wiki page on it. That way you’ll get a good idea of what you’re seeing during the tour. (However I like hiring guides as often as I can. I’ve experienced that after going to Mexico City’s Cathedral, that having a tour guide can leave you with a fuller experience of a place.)

A final tip would be to skip the hot air balloons and restaurants, and bring your own food.

The Tour of the Pyramids

Selfi

(Me with friends looking through an obsidian rock at the Sun)

As I mentioned, we arrived at the pyramids around 9AM. Supposedly it’s better to get there earlier to beat the crowds. I didn’t take into account that it was a weekend and it would be free to locals. So as you can expect, that combination made for a crowded morning.

However, unless you’re a photographer it shouldn’t be a bother. It was never a point of complaint amongst us that there were other people there.

Our orange-hat wearing tour guide greeted us at the entrance and proceeded to walk us towards the archaeological site.

There are two pyramids here: Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon.

The Pyramid of the Sun is the largest among the two. It has a construction start date of around 200 AD. This is also the biggest pyramid in Mexicoamerica.

Parallel to the Pyramid of the Sun is a road called the Avenue of the Dead. It connected to this site together for a walkable path to the archeological sites. On this road, we also happened upon a structure that covered an intact painting of a puma. It was amazing to think this painting also lasted thousands of years.

The Avenue of the Dead also ends connecting to the Pyramid of the Moon.

The Pyramid of the Moon was constructed around 100 to 450 AD. It was believed to be a place for rituals and sacrifice of humans and animals.

Our walking tour ended at one of the residential areas. We saw they had an irrigation system as well as art depicted in stone in these buildings.

Related Questions

How far are the pyramids from Mexico City?

The pyramids are 31 miles away from the center of Mexico City. It takes roughly 45 minutes to get there if you leave in the morning by car. Or 1.5 hours by public transportation.

Can you climb the pyramids in Mexico City?

You can no longer climb the pyramids in Mexico City as of September 2022. Grave accidents have occurred in the past for some who have attempted this.