Teotihuacán pyramids are about 30 miles away from Mexico City. My husband really wanted to visit…read morethe pyramids during our trip to Mexico City.
We visited last month on a Thursday morning. We arrived around 9 am (but you can come in as early as 8 am. We would have arrived around that time but had trouble finding an uber driver who would take us from our Airbnb. Normally if you travel during peak tourist travel, you shouldn't have trouble finding a rideshare to bring you to the pyramids but one driver told us that he did not want to drive us out there because it was not peak season, even though this was in May. But the 3rd driver we reached out to was fine driving us and we did not have trouble finding a rideshare to head back to Mexico City). We entered through gate 2 and paid 210 MXN (or ~$12 USD).
Because there is no shade, you want to make sure you come early (much cooler temperatures in warmer months) and bring a hat, wear sunblock, water and a few snacks. And you may also want to consider bringing toilet paper, although I was lucky to have had toilet paper in all of the restrooms that I had used during our visit but have read that others did not see any toilet paper towards the end of the day.
So it is believed that Teotihuacán pyramids were built as ceremonial centers, temples, and monuments. But is unknown who actually was the one who built them. Teotihuacan was the home to a multi ethnic culture where some of these ethnicities no longer exist to today, such as the Otomi, Zapotec, Mixtec, Totonac, and Maya.
There are 3 pyramids here (Pyramid of the Sun, Pyramid of the Moon and Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl which was formally known as the Temple of the Feathered Serpent). The only pyramid you may climb is Pyramid of the Moon, but only about half way. The ability to climb the pyramid was recently allowed since this year, as for the last 5 years, it was not permitted (Although 8 years ago people were still able to climb the Pyramid of the Sun, which is the tallest of the 3).
While climbing up or back down on the Pyramid of the Moon there is a rope like handlebar that you can hold onto. Because the steps are rather steep, it is best to probably walk down sideways. Although a rather challenging climb (but very doable for the average person), it is worth the effort. I saw a few people climbing up as we were coming back down saying they can't go any more, lol. I encouraged those to keep going so that they can enjoy the scenery from above.
Besides the pyramids, you can see the museum and also some of the historic buildings, like the Palace of Quetzalpapálotl. The carvings on the walls are amazing and quite intricate. They are so well preserved and surprised that you can still see them,
Throughout your visit, you will see many, many vendors selling jewelry, handmade wares and craft, carved statues, blankets, jaguar whistles and other animal whistles (I actually wish I purchased some of those whistles for my nephews so that they could annoy my brother, lol). A lot of these vendors can also speak English in case you are interested in purchasing something.
Although none of these vendors sell food or water (which surprises me that they don't), there is a small store that does sell popsicles, chips/ other packaged snacks, bottled water and other beverages.
There are also quite a lot of stray dogs that walk the ruins. They are generally friendly, at the least the ones we had interacted with. They sleep in some of the surrounding caves and also will climb part of the pyramids. One dog that was near us while we were eating our apples that we brought looked really thirsty. So my husband gave him some water that we brought and that dog drank that up so quickly.
Because we walked most of the area, my husband and I were here for about 3 hours. And on this day, we both walked over 14,000 steps during our visit. So bring comfortable walking shoes and enjoy your visit.
