Teotihuacan

How to visit without wasting the day

The thing to fix first is how you get there. Hotel desks and tour operators will sell you a day trip for £40–£70, but Teotihuacan is a do-it-yourself trip: take Metro Line 5 to Autobuses del Norte, walk to the Autobuses Teotihuacan desk on the far left of Terminal Central del Norte, and ask for “Los Piramides” — not the town of San Juan Teotihuacan, which is a different stop. Buses leave every 15 to 30 minutes from about 06:00, cost roughly 60 pesos each way, and take around 1 hour 15. Tell the driver you want one of the pyramid gates so you’re dropped at Gate 1 or Gate 2 rather than in the town.

Then go early. The site opens at 08:00 and there is almost no shade across the whole complex — you’re at about 2,300m, the UV is fierce, and it bakes from late morning. Being at the gate at opening buys you the cool air, the long light down the avenue, and a couple of hours before the coach groups arrive. Avoid Sundays, when Mexican nationals and residents enter free and the crowds double, and a weekday (Tuesday to Thursday) is quieter than Saturday.

Tickets, what you can climb, and is it worth it?

There’s only one ticket and you buy it at the gate — there’s no real “skip the line” to pay for here. From 1 January 2026 the INAH fee for non-national (foreign) adults is 210 pesos, about £8.50 (Teotihuacan is a Category I site, so it went up); Mexican nationals pay 105 with ID, and under-13s are free. Bring cash and small notes.

Set expectations on the climbing, because it’s changed. You can no longer climb the Pyramid of the Sun — that’s been banned since 2020 to slow erosion and it hasn’t reopened for 2026 (there’s a fine of up to 20,000 pesos for trying). The Pyramid of the Moon reopened in May 2025 but only to its lower section — the first five platforms and 47 steps, with the upper levels still closed — which is honestly the better viewpoint anyway: it looks straight down the Avenue of the Dead at the Sun pyramid. Check the signs at the ticket booths on arrival, as that access is occasionally suspended for conservation.

It’s worth it for the scale, not for bagging a summit. Walking two kilometres of monumental avenue between two of the largest pyramids in the Americas is the experience, so allow two to three hours (five to six if you add the painted compounds at Tepantitla and the museums). Pack water, a hat and sunscreen — there is nowhere to hide from the sun — and pair it with a relaxed afternoon back in Mexico City rather than cramming another sight in once you return tired and sunburnt.