Tepexpan travel guide
Mammoth hunters, Acolman's convent and the road to the pyramids
A suburban town in Acolman, State of Mexico, where the Tepexpan Man skeleton and mammoth kill sites were found, close to the Acolman convent and Teotihuacan. Visit in the dry months from November to April; half a day here fits well with a pyramid trip. Prices are moderate, and many nationalities need no visa.
On the old shoreline of Lake Texcoco, about 35 km northeast of central Mexico City, Tepexpan is the largest town in Acolman municipality and a busy commuter suburb on the road to Teotihuacan. Its claim to fame lies underground. In 1947 excavations here turned up the skeleton known as Tepexpan Man, first hailed as one of the oldest humans in the Americas though later tests made it far younger, and mammoth bones from the same marshy ground show that hunters drove the animals into the bogs some 9,000 years ago.
Most travellers pass straight through on the way to the pyramids, which is a pity if you have a free morning. A small site museum tells the Ice Age story, the Santa María Magdalena church by the main plaza dates from the first decades after the Spanish conquest, and a few kilometres away stands the fortress-like Augustinian convent of Acolman, one of the finest 16th-century buildings in the valley.
Tepexpan is not a holiday town and has few hotels, but it makes a practical, less touristy approach to Teotihuacan and the Acolman area, especially in December, when the municipality celebrates its claim to be the birthplace of the Christmas posadas and the piñata.
Explore Tepexpan by theme
Find your kind of trip: 24 travel themes, each with the packages in Tepexpan.
Tepexpan at a glance
The essentials first-time visitors ask about, in one place.
Explore more of Mexico
Pick a place by travel style: beaches, nature, cities, heritage, islands, desert.
Nothing in that category yet.
Top things to do in Tepexpan
Ice Age bones, a 16th-century convent and the pyramids of Teotihuacan, all within a short ride.
No things to do in Tepexpan are listed yet. Browse all things to do
Best time to visit Tepexpan
Month by month, so you can pick the weather and the crowds you want.
Sunny days and cold mornings at about 2,250 metres; December brings the piñata fair and April is the warmest, haziest month.
Mornings are usually clear and storms roll in during the afternoon, so plan sightseeing early.
Around the spring equinox in late March, thousands of people dressed in white head to Teotihuacan; the roads through Tepexpan clog, so travel at dawn or avoid that weekend.
Packages in Demand
A Journey to Remember
Tours, activities and day trips in and around this destination, with the details you need before booking.
No packages in Tepexpan are listed yet. Browse all packages
Create Your Custom-Made Trip to Tepexpan
Traveling to Tepexpan? Chat with a Local Travel Specialist in Tepexpan Who Can Help Organize Your Trip.
START HEREOur Travel Experts are Recommended by
Plan your trip
Practical answers before you go. Pick a topic.
Getting there
Pyramid buses from Terminal del Norte and the México–Pirámides toll road
Tepexpan lies about 35 km from both Mexico City's Benito Juárez airport (MEX) and Felipe Ángeles (AIFA), roughly an hour by taxi or Uber outside rush hours. Autobuses Teotihuacan also run from the capital's Terminal Central del Norte about every half hour. Combis and local buses also run out from the Indios Verdes Metro terminus. Drivers use the México–Pirámides toll highway, which has an exit for Tepexpan and Acolman.
- MEX airport
- Taxi or Uber, about 1 hour, more in rush hour
- AIFA (NLU)
- Taxi or Uber, around 45 minutes to an hour
- Pyramids bus from Terminal del Norte
- About every half hour, 45 to 60 minutes
- Combis from Metro Indios Verdes
- Local routes toward Tepexpan and Acolman
- Tell the driver where you want to get off when you board the pyramids bus; drop-offs are on request.
- Avoid the trip back to the capital on Sunday evenings, when traffic toward Mexico City backs up for kilometres.
Where to stay
Tepexpan, the pyramid villages or the capital
Few visitors sleep in Tepexpan, which has a handful of main-road business hotels and motels. San Juan Teotihuacán and San Martín de las Pirámides, beside the archaeological zone, have small hotels and guesthouses with pyramid views, and many people stay in Mexico City and come out for the day.
- Tepexpan main road
- Practical motels for drivers; nothing to do after dark
- San Juan Teotihuacán
- Small hotels close to the pyramids and the town market
- San Martín de las Pirámides
- Quiet guesthouses near the northern gates; few evening options
- Mexico City
- Every kind of hotel; long commute out
Getting around
Combis along the Pirámides road and taxis to the Acolman convent
Tepexpan's centre around the plaza and the Santa María Magdalena church is walkable, but the sights are spread across the municipality. Combis and local buses run along the main road to Acolman and San Juan Teotihuacán, and taxis or Uber link the museum, the convent and the pyramids. With a car, the distances are short, about 10 minutes from Tepexpan to Acolman and 20 minutes to the pyramid gates, though weekend traffic slows everything.
- Combis
- Main road between Tepexpan, Acolman and Teotihuacan; cash to the driver
- Taxi or Uber
- Easiest way to combine the museum, convent and pyramids
- Car
- About 10 minutes to Acolman, 20 to the pyramids
Know before you go
What makes Tepexpan worth the trip, and what catches visitors out.
Why travelers love it
- The Museo del Hombre de Tepexpan, a small site museum about the skeleton found here and the mammoth hunters of the lakeshore.
- The carved plateresque façade of the Acolman convent, one of the best preserved in Mexico, with its cloister murals behind.
- An early start at Teotihuacan from this side of the valley, at the gates before the coach groups arrive from the capital.
Good to know
- Weekday traffic toward Mexico City can turn a one-hour trip into two; plan returns outside rush hours.
- The highland sun is strong at about 2,250 metres, even on cool mornings; bring a hat for the pyramids.
Trip fit
BookingMentor editorial ratings out of 5, based on a first-time visitor's experience.
Weather in Tepexpan, month by month
Month-by-month climate figures for Tepexpan are being researched.
The Tepexpan Man museum, the Acolman cloister and the Pyramid of the Sun
From Tepexpan, start at Teotihuacan, about 20 minutes away by taxi, at opening time. Walk the Avenue of the Dead to the Pyramid of the Moon in cool air before the heat and coaches arrive; the Pyramid of the Sun is closed to climbers at present, but the Moon can usually be climbed to its first platform.
Give it three hours at least, and leave time for the site museum and the painted walls of the Tepantitla compound.
Late morning. Head back toward Tepexpan and stop at the Museo del Hombre de Tepexpan, a modest museum on the spot where the skeleton was found in 1947. Its displays cover the Ice Age lakeshore, the mammoths that were driven into the marshes and the debate about who Tepexpan Man really was; some researchers now argue the bones belonged to a woman.
Afternoon. Ten minutes away is the ex-convento de San Agustín Acolman, founded by Augustinian friars in the 1530s. Its stone façade, carved in the plateresque style, is the reason to come, but go inside too: the cloisters keep their black-and-white friar murals, and the quiet courtyards are a contrast to the crowds at the pyramids. Finish at the plaza in Tepexpan, where the Santa María Magdalena church dates from the first years after the conquest.
Evening. Eat early, then return to Mexico City after the evening rush, or stay in San Juan Teotihuacán for a dawn balloon flight the next day.
Barbacoa, xoconostle and pulque around the Teotihuacan valley
The valley between Tepexpan and the pyramids has eaten from the same fields for centuries. Nopal cactus grows everywhere, as does the xoconostle, a sour prickly pear used in salsas, in mole de olla broth and candied as a sweet; find both at the markets of Tepexpan and San Juan Teotihuacán.
Weekends are for barbacoa, lamb wrapped in maguey leaves and cooked overnight in an earth pit, sold by the kilo with hot tortillas and a cup of consomé. It is a morning meal; the best stalls are often finished before noon. Street stands make tlacoyos, thick oval masa cakes stuffed with beans or fava paste and topped with nopales and cheese, and quesadillas filled with squash blossom or huitlacoche, the corn fungus that is a delicacy in the rainy season.
Restaurants near the pyramids keep the pre-Hispanic dishes alive: escamoles, ant larvae fried with butter and epazote in spring, and maguey worms served with guacamole. To drink, try pulque, the fermented sap of the maguey, sold plain or blended with fruit as curados.
December brings its own menu. At Acolman's piñata fair, stalls sell buñuelos, thin fried discs drenched in syrup, and hot ponche, a spiced punch of guava, tejocote and sugar cane, to drink between the parades of handmade piñatas.
Travelers are asking
No questions yet about Tepexpan. Ask the community or our travel team, and the answer will show here once it is published.
Our travel desk answers questions about Tepexpan
How we research our Tepexpan travel guide
Tepexpan's museum, Teotihuacan access and bus links are checked against UNESCO's listing for Teotihuacan and the town's Wikipedia record, with entry rules from Mexico's Instituto Nacional de Migración.
Last updated . Spotted something out of date? Tell us.
Checked against trusted sources:
Instituto Nacional de MigraciónUNESCO World Heritage Centre
See all 2 sources
Before You Go...
Discover Trips & Info
A Travel Network Connection Travelers and locals
Incredible Event & Festival, Don't Miss!
Most Popular Event & Festival of Tepexpan
Festivals and events in this destination, with dates, venues and ticket details where available.
No upcoming festivals or events in Tepexpan are listed right now. Browse all events
Memorable Experiences
Where to Go (& NOT Go) In Tepexpan!
Roaming the World one Adventure at a Time: Travel Tales, Tips, and Inspiration for wanderlusters.
Subscriber
Popular car hire destinations
Explore more options to hire a car for cheap
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Quick answers to the questions travelers ask most before visiting Tepexpan.
General
A human skeleton found by Helmut de Terra in 1947 in the old lake sediments here. Mammoth finds nearby first suggested an Ice Age date, but later radiocarbon and uranium tests put it at a few thousand years old. One archaeologist argues from DNA work that it was a woman, a claim that remains unconfirmed.
Yes, if you are curious about early humans in Mexico. It is small, covers the 1947 find and the mammoth kill sites, and needs only about an hour.
The 16th-century Augustinian ex-convento de San Agustín Acolman has one of Mexico's best plateresque stone façades and cloisters with original friar murals. It is about 10 minutes from Tepexpan.
Yes. Mammoth bones found here and at nearby Santa Isabel Ixtapan show that hunters drove the animals into the lakeshore bogs and killed them with stone points, roughly 9,000 to 7,000 BCE.
Half a day covers both: about an hour at the Museo del Hombre de Tepexpan, an hour or more in the Acolman cloisters, and a 10-minute ride between them.
Tepexpan's centre around the plaza and the Santa María Magdalena church is walkable, but the sights are spread across the municipality. Combis and local buses run along the main road to Acolman and San Juan Teotihuacán, and taxis or Uber link the museum, the convent and the pyramids. With a car, the distances are short, about 10 minutes from Tepexpan to Acolman and 20 minutes to the pyramid gates, though weekend traffic slows everything.
Getting there
About 15 km, roughly 20 minutes by car or taxi, or a short ride on the buses and combis along the main road.
Buy a ticket for the Teotihuacan buses at Terminal Central del Norte and ask the driver to let you off in Tepexpan; the ride takes about 45 minutes to an hour.
Both MEX and AIFA are roughly 35 km away. MEX has far more flights; AIFA usually means lighter traffic on the drive.
Balloons launch from fields around San Juan Teotihuacán and San Martín de las Pirámides just after sunrise; you see them from the road and from the archaeological zone.
Tepexpan lies about 35 km from both Mexico City's Benito Juárez airport (MEX) and Felipe Ángeles (AIFA), roughly an hour by taxi or Uber outside rush hours. Autobuses Teotihuacan also run from the capital's Terminal Central del Norte about every half hour. Combis and local buses also run out from the Indios Verdes Metro terminus.
Timing & weather
Each December in the run-up to Christmas, with piñata contests, music and seasonal food. Acolman claims the posadas began at its convent.
The best time to visit Tepexpan is Nov to Apr. Dry, sunny highland weather; December adds Acolman's piñata fair.
- Dry season: November - April (Sunny days and cold mornings at about 2,250 metres; December brings the piñata fair and April is the warmest, haziest month)
- Rainy season: June - September (Mornings are usually clear and storms roll in during the afternoon, so plan sightseeing early)
Visa & documents
Tourist stays in Mexico are visa-free for citizens of the US, Canada, the UK, the EU and many other countries. Immigration officers decide how many days you can stay (up to 180) and stamp your passport or issue a digital record. Holders of valid US, UK, Canadian or Schengen visas may also be exempt.
Health & safety
Most tourist areas are visited without problems, but violent crime linked to organised crime is high in some states. Governments advise against travel to parts of several states. Petty crime and scams occur in tourist areas.
