A city of over 100,000 people that was already a thousand years abandoned when the Aztecs found it and named it the place where gods were born.
Teotihuacán was, at its height around 450 AD, one of the largest cities in the world — perhaps 125,000 to 200,000 people across twenty square kilometres, with multi-storey apartment compounds, workshops and a population drawn from across Mesoamerica.
It collapsed around 550 to 650 AD, apparently with internal burning of the elite precincts.
Nobody knows who built it. The language is unknown. The name is Aztec — Teotihuacán, “the place where the gods were born” — given by people who arrived some seven centuries after it was abandoned and assumed only gods could have built it. The names of the pyramids are theirs too.
The site
The Avenue of the Dead runs about two and a half kilometres north–south, aligned some 15.5 degrees east of north, and the whole city is laid out on that grid.
The Pyramid of the Sun — 65 metres, the third largest pyramid in the world by volume. A tunnel was found beneath it in 1971 leading to a four-chambered cave, which may be why the city was sited here.
The Pyramid of the Moon at the northern end, smaller but on higher ground, so the summits are level.
The Temple of the Feathered Serpent in the Ciudadela, with carved serpent and Tlaloc heads still bearing traces of paint. Over 200 sacrificial burials were found beneath it.
Murals survive in several compounds — Tepantitla has the Tlalocan mural, and Atetelco and Tetitla are worth the extra walk.
Climbing
Climbing the pyramids has been restricted. Access to the Pyramid of the Sun was closed for conservation, and the rules for both pyramids have changed more than once — reopening, closing again, and limiting numbers.
Check the current position before going. The site is worth the trip regardless; the Avenue and the murals are the substance of it.
Getting there
Bus from Terminal del Norte — the Autobuses Teotihuacán service, roughly every twenty minutes, about an hour, and very cheap. Ask for las pirámides, not the town of Teotihuacán, which is different.
Organised tours from the city are plentiful and typically add the Basilica of Guadalupe and a shopping stop.
Balloon flights at dawn over the site are widely sold and are spectacular. They are also weather-dependent and operators vary considerably; check the operator’s safety record rather than booking the cheapest.
Practicalities
Ticketed and inexpensive. Five gates; Gate 1 at the Ciudadela is the usual start and lets you walk the Avenue northwards.
Take water, sun cover and a hat. There is no shade on the Avenue.
Allow four to five hours on site. There is a museum near Gate 5 included in the ticket.
Vendors selling obsidian and whistles are constant and persistent.
