Teotihuacan’s huge Avenue of the Dead, Taxco’s silver shops, Puebla’s tiled churches, and Xochimilco’s colorful boats give this tour a lot of Mexico in one week. I especially like the wide mix of ancient, colonial, and living Mexican culture, plus the airport transfers and six hotel breakfasts that simplify a first visit. I also like … Read more
Cholula’s enormous pyramid is the headline, but the Baroque Indigenist churches of Tonantzintla and Acatepec may be the day’s biggest surprise. Their ornate interiors show how European Catholic forms took on local Mexican character, while Puebla adds grand colonial streets, talavera, onyx, a cathedral, and the famed Rosario Chapel. I like this tour for two … Read more
The most memorable moment comes in Cholula, where an enormous pre-Columbian pyramid lies beneath a hilltop church. The Great Pyramid of Cholula, called Tlachihualtepetl, has a base nearly 1,300 feet wide. From below, you look up at the Church of Our Lady of the Remedies, a striking collision of Indigenous history and Spanish colonial power. … Read more
The Great Pyramid of Cholula is the star of this outing, not because it looks like a classic stepped pyramid today, but because much of it lies beneath a broad grassy hill crowned by a colonial church. Add Tonantzintla’s astonishing church interior and Puebla’s pretty old center, and you get a compact lesson in how … Read more
Cholula gives you one of Mexico’s great visual surprises: a church perched on the enormous base of an ancient pyramid, with a steep cobbled approach and broad views. From there, this full-day trip adds the extraordinary indigenous baroque of Tonantzintla and Puebla’s handsome colonial center. I like the easy transport from Mexico City and the … Read more