EXCURSIONS FROM MEXICO CITY

Roads radiate from Mexico City in all directions, providing ample opportunities for day-trippers and weekenders to explore the region. This chapter covers the major cities and sights within about two or three hours’ drive from Mexico City, maximum; many destinations are not more than an hour away.

  It’s amazing how much variety you’ll find in Central Mexico, just a short trip from the capital. Several different prehispanic ruins, most notably Teotihuacán but also more obscure sites like Malinalco, Cacaxtla, or the Baños de Nezahualcóyotl, are easy day trips, as are jewels of colonial architecture like the Catedral in the city of Puebla, the 15th-century monastery at Huejotzingo, or the colonial art museum in Tepozotlán.

No matter which way you leave the city, the scenery is dramatic, with highways winding up the steep mountains flanking the Valle de Mexico, passing through pine forested parks dotted with lakes and meadows. These are favorite spots for chilangos (capital dwellers) to escape for a day of fresh air. Don’t forget to pull over on the highway stops lined with little restaurants selling mushroom soup, tacos de cecina, (cured-meat tacos) and some of the best blue-corn quesadillas you’re ever likely to have.

Adventure-sport enthusiasts will be gratified to hear that they can have a blast putting themselves in danger’s way in a variety of ways, including rock and ice climbing, mountain biking, paragliding and hang gliding, and white-water rafting. There are also endless kilometers of quiet mountain paths for hiking, and quiet walks through patches of forest literally blanketed with monarch butterflies in their winter home.

But be sure to catch your breath and take the time to enjoy a day (or three, or ten) puebleando, a wonderful Mexican verb meaning something like “wandering around small towns.” Dozens of towns and villages dot the countryside, some with little hidden treasures like a gorgeous baroque chapel or a 17th-century hacienda converted into a museum. Others don’t have anything in particular to do but are nonetheless fine places to stroll through the town market to buy a torta and fresh fruit juice, then head over to the zócalo (main square)and sit down on a bench to take in the atmosphere along with your snack, remembering in a flash exactly what it is you love about Mexico.

When leaving from or returning to Mexico City from visiting the destinations in this chapter, choose your times carefully. Nothing’s worse than having a lovely, relaxing weekend in some bucolic spot, and then getting caught in endless Sunday afternoon traffic on your way back to the city, leaving you even more frazzled and stressed than when you left! Friday afternoons leaving town and Sunday afternoons and evenings returning are the worst, so if you can schedule your trip to avoid these times, you’ll be happier.

Most Impressive Aztec Ruins: Right outside of Mexico City stands one of the greatest prehispanic cities in all the Americas, Teotihuacán, dominated by the towering Pyramid of the Sun. This ancient city housed 200,000 people at its height, rivaling its contemporary, Rome. (read more)

Best Place to Pitch a Tent: In the hills outside of Pachuca, Parque Nacional El Chico is full of idyllic meadows in the pine forest, perfect for pitching a tent. This safe area is full of trails for taking walks or bike rides and old mining villages to explore. The adventurous can even take find guides to take them on rock climbing trips on the mountaintop cliffs. (read more)

Best Roadside Food: Up at Tres Marías, a village in the mountains between Mexico City and Cuernavaca, hungry travelers can feast on some of the most scrumptious antojitos in one of the dozens of little restaurants lining the road. Try a quesadilla with flor de calabaza (squash flower), a taco of cecina (cured, flattened beef), or a sopa de hongo (mushroom soup), all at criminally low prices. (read more)

Best Views by Car: As long as there’s no snow, follow the dirt road winding up to the extinct crater of Nevado de Toluca (4,691 meters). Enjoy the fantastic views across the mountains of central Mexico, or if you get motivated, hike up to the crater rim. (read more)

Best Hidden Getaway: There’s a myriad of little-known towns to explore near Mexico City, but Malinalco is particularly charming. Tucked into a narrow, lush valley, this pueblo has a huge and beautiful early colonial monastery right in the middle, and an unusual prehispanic temple cut into a nearby mountainside. (read more)

Best Arts and Crafts: The silversmiths of Taxco are second to none, but for overall variety of artesanís, the shops and markets in and around Puebla are better. Take a walk through El Parian, a market housed in a former 18th-century warehouse, thronged with stalls selling Talavera pottery, woven indigenous rebozos (shawls), silver cowboy accoutrements, and alebrijes (animal-like sculptures carved of wood or fashioned from papier-mâché). (read more)

Best Colonial Monastary: Built by one of the first Catholic missionaries to arrive in Mexico in the early 16th century, the monastery Huejotzingo near Puebla is at once a monument to the dedication of these Spanish friars and a testament to the indigenous spirit. The elaborate artwork decorating the stone facade contains many prehispanic symbols. Inside, the retablo (altarpiece) is one of the loveliest in Mexico. (read more)